Customer Reviews

A Game of You (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (Sandman Collected Library)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have always found this to be an underappreciated chapter in the Sandman series. I don't think people realize what Gaiman has pulled off here. Besides coming up with a fascinating adventure story and a dizzying sideline into how we categorize ourselves (profession, gender, dreams, affinities, relations), he has done something few men have ever done -- written intelligently about what it is like to be a woman and a little girl.

At first this may not seem like much, but the whole tale of Barbie's quest is inherently feminine. The dream world she inhabits is not a boys world. The questors are female (well, most of them and the last one is trying hard), and the ending turns around the whole notion of being a girl (even more than merely a child) that one of my female friends was convinced that someone TOLD Gaiman what to write!

This is also a tale of loyalty. When it all comes down, each of the characters has to make a decision based one what has happened, a decision that could ultimately change each of their lives. Surprising decisions are made, but they are understandable if you stop and think about them.

I love this volume, as I love the Sandman series in general. I only wish (as many did) that Gaiman had written some more. Like any good story, we hate to see it come to an end.

Neil Gaiman does it again! He takes Barbie, a marginal character in the "Doll's House" storyline and makes her into a 3 dimensional character. He also introduces some other great characters like Hazel, Foxglove, Clarissa, and my personal favorite in this volume, Wanda. After reading this tale, I was struck by how the characters matter so much in Sandman stories. How Neil cares about them so much that they keep popping up again and again in unlikely places. Even when someone mentions another person, I can tell that Neil has a character description written up for that person and they will appear in another story. Clarissa will appear again in "Kindly Ones", while Hazel and Foxglove are in both "Death" mini-series. (Also Foxglove is mentioned by another character in the "24 Hours" chapter in "Preludes and Nocturnes.")

That aside, "A Game of You" is probably the most personal story of the entire Sandman oeuvre. It's primarily the story of Barbie and her childhood dreams that become very real. The heart of the story is Barbie's relationship with Wanda which is both funny and touching. Dream doesn't appear much in this one, but the story is so good and the main characters so interesting that you won't mind at all.

I did like this book. I really have enjoyed all the Sandman books so far. But as much as it galls me to admit it, I'm not sure I understand quite what the big deal is. I keep hearing about and reading about how fabulous they are. And yeah, they're interesting. It's an interesting world that Gaiman has created and I think the character of the Sandman is intriguing/fascinating. And the Sandman is good-looking in some of the panels. But I don't understand what about these novels/comics draws people in so much. I don't understand why the Midsummer Night's Dream one won that prestigious award which ticked the other authors off so they had to change the rules to specifically exclude a graphic novel from being entered ever again. I don't understand why this series is supposed to grab women readers in a way that other comic/graphic novel offerings haven't. It's a bit like David Bowie music, to me. I like it a lot. But partly, that's because I Want to like it. I think it (the music, or the graphic novel) is really weird and I don't understand why everybody else, with no inner urging, likes it so much. And then I read the preface to this book and the guy talks about all these layers and all this depth that I guess I'm really just not getting at all. Which also bugs me because I like to think that I'm smart. But, granted, I've only read it one time and that kind of stuff does usually become more apparent with multiple readings.

Of course it's good. All Sandman is good.

In this one, though, I'd suggest you not read Samuel Delany's foreword until you've read the book. He analyzes things as if you've read them, gives some surprises away, and generally kills the mood. It's a fine commentary; it's just that it should be an afterword.

I really enjoyed this TPB. I've read the first four volumes, and this is right up there with Vol. 1 Preludes and Nocturnes, and Vol. 4 Season of the Mist. The defining strength of A Game Of You lies within the distinctive, well developed cast of characters. Because I cared about each of these characters in turn, the mildly epic storyline captivated me as it effortlessly moved along. The whole nature of the journey reminded me in some ways of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, albeit on a smaller scale.

The art always varies throughout the Sandman series because of the use of different artists, and A Game of You continues that practice, with some consistency, thanks to Shawn McManus. McManus contributes the majority of the art here, and his style is perfectly suited to this tale. The guest artists are competent, but not quite as masterful as McManus.

A Game of You is a fine tale, and a great addition to the Sandman series. It certainly makes me look forward to reading the next volume.

I really don't know what to say about this volume of Sandman. It's one of the most--different. Dream is hardly in it; instead, it's about Barbie and the other tenants of her apartment in New York. And it's about identity. One of the (many, many) things I love about Sandman is that it's very deep, with important themes and so on, but the symbolism and deeper meanings will not go over your head--you like (adore!) the story enough that you want to think about it for a long time, teasing out all the meanings and "what-was-he-trying-to-say-here", and you can actually come to understand what he *was* trying to say. I love how Neil Gaiman always treats his themes so subtly, letting you understand what he means (and even when you don't, you don't feel stupid and you still follow what's going on) while never shoving things in your face.

A Game Of You is disturbing, moving, and very thought-provoking at the same time. Wonderful stuff. Also, it's got Thessaly in it. I mean, Thessaly! What more do you want? I LOVE this character. I really, really want to know more about her past...That's just me, though; if you don't like her you'll still find a lot to like in this story. The art isn't my favorite, although it's never ugly. (Like...I don't know, "Calliope" maybe, or "Passengers". Come to think of it, some Sandman art is worse than others, but it's rarely downright ugly.) And the depiction of Dream is quite beautiful.

What else to say? Don't start with this volume. It wouldn't be as bad to start with as, say, The Kindly Ones or The Wake, but still, as a new reader you'd get more of a feel for the series with Preludes and Nocturnes or The Doll's House; or, for less disturbing stuff, Dream Country or Fables and Reflections. If you haven't read Sandman, do so now. Oh yeah; as another reviewer said, don't read the introduction until after you've finished the story. (For that matter, better not to read any Sandman introduction until you've finished the story; the authors tend to give away plot points. But especially don't read this one.)

...and I was listening to 'Horses'. Sure, I'd listened to the song a billion+ times before, but I paid particular attention to the line 'Will you find me if Neil makes me a tree?' I, like any good Toriphile, knew that she was talking about Neil Gaiman. I'd never read any of his books up to that time, and for some reason the song, with all it's subliminal messaging, had peaked my interest. (Why hadn't it done that before, you ask? I dunno, now sit your heiney down and let me tell you my story!) I, being completely Gaiman-illiterate, decided that A Game of You would be as good as place as any to start. Not only had it come highly recommended, but it had the prettiest cover! So, I took $20 out of me pocket and with blind faith bought my first Neil Gaiman/Sandman story. I had never loved a story so much in my entire life... I was totally captivated by the involved storyline, the beautiful artwork, and the incredible way that Neil could weave so many different lives into the story without over-doing it. The ending was so beautiful, and very fulfilling. That was a month ago. Now, 5 Gaiman novels richer, (and $100 poorer) I've decided that these are the most incredible graphic novels ever created. I highly suggest them. And, if you too are Gaiman illiterate, go for this one first. It's one of the best (after the Kindly Ones, but I wouldn't recommend that for your first.) ~N

It has been four months since I read this graphic novel; I have been turning it over in my mind ever since then, trying to figure out what it was really about on a metatextual level. I haven't decided yet; in truth, I haven't yet even decided whether I loved it or hated it, though whichever it is, I know that I do so strongly. But of this I can be sure: the characterization is absolutely magnificent (even in spite of the fact that it reduces Morpheus to little more than a cameo role in his own title). These characters all feel very real (even the imaginary ones), and they force you to care about them (and, in at least one case, to mourn their loss as if someone you know has died). And for that it deserves five stars.

Personally this was one of my favorite books in the series. I loved the characters (well, Wanda and Barbie, anyway) and the storyline, which reminded me a great deal of books I enjoyed as a child. I can't really discuss it without spoiling anything, but trust me, it's a good one.

However.

I am absolutely sick-and-tired of seeing reviews for this book calling Wanda, a transgendered WOMAN, a:
Crossdresser (a person who does not identify as trans but still wears the opposite gender's clothing)
Transvestite (a person who wears the opposite gender's clothing to become aroused--90% of guys who do this are straight, by the way)
Drag Queen (a performer who acts like a woman, usually a stereotyped one at that)
and other things that she is not.

In Neil's own words, this is one of his "female" stories--he classifies his Sandman stories depending on the viewpoints shown. Wanda, is, a, woman. She contributes to the female angle of this story.
To say otherwise is to insult a minority group.

I urge Amazon to edit that part of the review on this site, as it is offensive to people on the LBGT spectrum.

Also I personally think that Hazel & Foxglove are awful people but considering the time period it is indeed conceivable that Hazel wouldn't know a lot about sex. If she didn't learn it at home, she wasn't going to have learned at school.

ANYWAY, look at me prattle on. Go buy the book, you won't be sorry. And don't read it in the car, it's a little nauseating at parts, rather gory, and might make you carsick!

I can't help but think of The Maxx Volume 1 (Wildstorm/DC Comics)) as I read A Game of You - after all, both entail the stories of young women pulled into their fantasy world and the play between the two, complete with heroes, princess fantasies, and a desire to be something else, something more. Of course, whereas The Maxx's fantasy world was a more direct window into Julie's psyche, Gaiman's dream world is infinitely more flexible and less predictable, leading to a far stranger and more threatening fantasy - to say nothing of the way that reality itself is far less stable than we might expect (and our first glimpse of that is an absolutely stellar reveal). And while The Maxx focused on feminism and its corresponding view of the world, A Game of You becomes concerned more fundamentally with identity - gender identity, yes, but also the nature of who we really are and who we allow ourselves to be. Of all the Sandman volumes I've read so far, A Game of You is probably the most complex and the one most open to interpretation, and like the best literature, the questions it inspires are as fascinating, if not more so, than definite answers. Gaiman spins a two-teired tale, but eschews the standard interplay between a princess's quest to save her land and her real-life world in favor of something far more complex - a universe more interested in chromosomes than names, dead faces that tell jokes, and more. Despite Morpheus's relatively small part in the story, don't neglect this one; it's one of the richest and most satisfying chapters yet.