Customer Reviews

Dreaming: Through the Gates of Horn & Ivory

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but it is. It's really, really good. No, not as good as Neil Gaiman, but you couldn't have expected that. It's excellent, though. It's also a huge improvement on the first "Dreaming" anthology, Beyond The Shores of Night. Caitlin Kiernan (who wrote two story arcs in this collection made up of 3 issues each) is a worthy successor to the Sandman universe--which is not an easy thing to be--and Peter Hogan (who wrote two short stories) is close.

I shall now discuss each story. The first is "Day's Work, Night's Rest" by someone whose name I don't remember. I didn't really like this one. It started out trying to be serious (as far as I can tell), but ended up with a sort of black comedy that didn't work. And the art was really ugly. Next!

"Ice" by Peter Hogan. Ah, much better. This is the one where the story of Cluracan and his nemesis is resolved. We also get to see Nuala working as a barmaid in New York; she gets a visit from Lucien. I very much enjoyed Hogan's characterization of the Cluracan, and the art is superior.

Next is a 3-part story arc by Caitlin R. Kiernan, called "Souvenirs". It's about the Corinthian, a character I have always found fascinating. And this story is fantastic. I honestly think it ranks up with some parts of Sandman; perhaps "Collectors", only more disturbing. (Yes, more disturbing than "Collectors". This story is not for the faint of heart.) Caitlin Kiernan has a lovely and unique style. She invents words ("cricketwhisper") and makes extensive use of the word "and" to join together phrases and thoughts you wouldn't normally join together, creating startling, unconventional-sounding prose which somehow captures the mood perfectly.

Then there's another Kiernan story arc: An Unkindness of One. I didn't like this one as much, but it was still pretty cool. It's about Matthew becoming a man again temporarily, as Lucien becomes a raven again temporarily. I didn't get some of what was going on, but I think I'd have enjoyed it a lot more if I kept up with "Swamp Thing". Kiernan's prose still shines. Something to note: The f-word is probably used ten times as much in this one book than it was during the entire run of Sandman. :)

Lastly, another Peter Hogan story: My Year As A Man. This concerns Dream's raven Aristeas of Marmora (remember, "the one who came back after he was a man again"). As you may have figured out from the title, Aristeas spends a year as a man, then goes back to being a raven. It's a moderately good story, but Peter Hogan really won me over by putting Thessaly in it--quite a bit younger, and now calling herself Hypata, but still Thessaly. I was thrilled to see her again.

This collection far surpassed my expectations--particularly "Souvenirs". If you were devastated when you had no more Sandman to read, definitely check this out!

Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN comics series is categorically a classic in the field. Certainly, a certain trepidation about other authors mucking about with his uniquely defined characters is not only understandable, but expected. Not to worry our continuity-riddled grey matter! In this, the second collected volume of THE DREAMING comic, Caitlin Kiernan proves more than apt to the task. Here we have Gaiman archetypes like Mervyn, Matthew the Raven, Eve (yes, THAT Eve, the first one!), the Corinthian (a very bizarre dream who here deals with his addiction to eyeballs --- no twelve-step program was ever like this!), and my personal favorite, Lucien the librarian of dreams. The stories are all handsomely sophisticated with even more than a touch of Gaimanesque erudition. Additionally, while Ms. Kiernan's style, even semantics and syntax, are mindful of Mr. Gaiman, much of her prose is solely her own. As with Gaiman's masterful oeuvre, this is comics in its finest form. A grand introduction to those who have either forgotten or ever known the pleasure of comics.

I bought this collection because I'm a big fan of Caitlin Kiernan's novel, SILK, and of her short fiction. I'd started reading THE DREAMING early on but dropped it after a few issues; it just wasn't anywhere near as good as its predecessor, Neil Gaiman's THE SANDMAN. However, since Caitlin Kiernan took over the comic has improved 100%! The stories in this collection, set in Gaiman's mythic realm of the Dream King, are Kiernan's first work on the comic (or any comic, I believe) and it's fabulous stuff. Especially her Southern Gothic/noir/horror arc, "Souvenirs." This is a must for fans of Caitlin Kiernan, Neil Gaiman, THE SANDMAN, or good dark fantasy in general.

Well, I suppose that if every comic writer were going to be criticized for not being Neil Gaiman I'd have a very long night ahead of me indeed. But still, the fact that these are almost all characters that he created make the comparisons more obvious. While Ms. Kiernan does a workable job with the storylines and characters left hanging at the end of "The Wake," she just doesn't have the flair that Gaiman did. The biggest annoyance for me was that where Gaiman would hint at a million literary, mythological and pop culture references to be discovered like treasures on the third or fourth reading in his comics, with Kiernan the ones that aren't immediately obvious (which are most of them) are nearly always explained within the story. But for anyone who may have found Gaiman's writing too dense or obscure, they may prefer her method. I personally don't. Still, it was nice to have something left of the Dreaming, even if it's more like the Dreaming Lite.

Caitlin Kiernan has made The Dreaming a truly great comic. Along with The Books of Magic and The Invisibles, it's the only comic I look forward to every month (I also like Gloomcookie, Strangers in Paradise, Bone, Lenore, Poe, and anything by Jhonen Vasquez). This collection is a great introduction to Caitlin Kiernan's world of dreams and nightmares, and a perfect sucessor to Neil Gaiman's marvelous Sandman. Highly recommended.

This collection of monthlies offers a set of brief story lines, set in a world near that of Gaiman's Sandman - and with Gaiman on board as consultant, carries itself very well. The stories range from ironicly drol to dark and macabre. Plots and characters move easily from the real world (whatever that means) to dreamworld and back, and even the players' bodies adapt to the need at hand. This series doesn't stretch the range of the graphic novel the way Sandman did, but it does give the interested reader some very readable stories and characters.

-- wiredweird

Since Caitlin Kiernan took over The Dreaming it's been almost as good as The Sandman, as this collection will demonstrate. She's definitely one of the best writers at Vertigo today.

Comparing this book with Gaiman's Sandman is simply misleading. It has none of the light or spirit that characterizes his work.