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The craftsmanship of the story telling and writing is equal to any conventional novel, and the stories are completed by striking artwork from a variety of different graphic artists. "Preludes and Nocturnes" sets the stage for the series in Neil Gaiman's uniquely creative style. The Sandman series is a remarkable set of graphic novels for adult readers. Dave McKean is one of my favorite artists in the series, and he did many of the covers. In addition to his own expansive imagination, he draws upon a wide range of mythological allusions to create a new mythology that is every bit as meaningful and self-contained as any "real" mythology such as Judean-Christian, Greek, or Roman. In doing so, he pays homage to those mythologies without taking away anything from them. This series is, in my opinion, among the finest adult-oriented graphic novels ever; and it has earned many national and international awards. If you like The Sandman, you may also want to check out David Mack's Kabuki and JK Woordward's Fallen Angel.MIke
Even in the midst of a story about a supervillain who has one of Sandman's gems, Gaiman spins a unique and horrific tale called "24 Hours," in which a group of people slowly deteriorate into madness and violence. Both Gaiman and his editor readily admit that these first issues of The Sandman are more conventional than the later run of the series, and it's not a comment I disagree with. By the same token, I think both underplay the pleasures to be had from this volume, in which Gaiman takes his first steps with the character and begins to establish a rich and complex cosmology that I can't wait to see develop. Still, nothing quite prepares you for the collection's final tale, "The Sound of Her Wings," which introduces Death and provides not only a sense of where the series will be going, but also the distanced, fascinating way it regards humanity. I haven't read much of what's to come, and I don't doubt that this first volume may not be as groundbreaking as the later ones, but that in no way diminishes the inventiveness and rich world on display here.
As a Gaiman fan, I've read Coraline and Stardust as well as Neverwhere and I would have to say that Preludes and Nocturnes was not as good as some of his other work. Good enough for me to want to buy the next one. Admittedly, it's a graphic novel, a totally different genre and one that I am not an expert on being limited to a little bit of Alan Moore. On the whole though, I thought this book was good. A warning though, having read Watchmen and half of From Hell, I was initially pleased that this book was nowhere near as disturbingly graphic as those two books, that is until I got to the chapter entitled "24 hours". It made me want to throw up it was so disturbing.
I was wrapping for christmas when I started to look throught it and realized it wasn't even appropriate for me. My daughter loves Coraline, so when I bought one of his other children's books this came up as being able to buy both at a deal, so I did. Very sick stuff in this. What a mistake. This is definatly for adults only. So if you are a parent dont get suckered into buying just because it is a deal. I will be returning.
I bought this for my sister for Christmas and she loved it, now I have to get a copy for myself.
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