Neil Gaiman
Hardcover | Pages: 217 pages Rating: 4.54 | 59150 Users | 1670 Reviews
Describe Books As Season of Mists (The Sandman #4)
| Original Title: | The Sandman: Season of Mists |
| ISBN: | 1563890356 (ISBN13: 9781563890352) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | The Sandman #4 |
| Characters: | Dream of the Endless, Odin, Charles Rowland, Azazel, Wesley Dodds, Lucifer (Vertigo), Edwin Paine, Loki Grey, Carter Hall, Thor (Norse Mythology) |
| Setting: | Hell The Dreaming |
Narration In Pursuance Of Books Season of Mists (The Sandman #4)
Neil Gaiman is at his best when his imagination is peopled with gods and demons—magnificent, outsize personalities, ranging from the eerily transcendent to the surprisingly human—and the tale he chooses to tell in “Season of Mists” gives him ample room to create a godly and superior fantasy.
The plot is simple. Lucifer abdicates the throne of Hell, sending the damned back to earth, and turns the keys over to Dream. Dream doesn’t really want the property—too vast, too hard to keep up—but a lot of other beings do, including demons, angels, fairies, and (yes, of course) gods): Odin, Thor, Loki, Anubis, Bes, Bast, the Shinto storm god Susano-o-no-Mikoto, and the personifications of Order (a cardboard box carried by a genie) and Chaos (a little girl dressed like a clown). The delightful center of the tale is a grand banquet in the house of Dream, where these beings offer their bids and bribes for the prize of an empty Hell. One of these offers interests Dream greatly: a chance to rescue his lover Queen Nada from the consequences of his youthful anger.
The central story is handled expertly, and the major digression—about dead schoolboys and masters returning to their boarding school during vacation—is very good too.
Gaiman's inspiration for Season of Mists was a remark of Jesuit theologian and anthropologist Teilhard de Chardin: “You have told me, O God, to believe in hell. But you have forbidden me to think...of any man as damned.” An easily resolved paradox, Gaiman thought to himself, provided you empty Hell. The title is derived from Keat’s “Autumn”: “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.” Although the association of “mellow fruitfulness” with Hell may seem ironic, I believe its message is straightforward. In Season of Mists, Dream does become more "mellow'" dying to unwelcome burdens and ancient rages, and gaining the fruits—a small portion, at least—of peace, reconciliation and love.
Finally, I would like to share with you my favorite part of Season of Mists. Isn’t it funny how often a minor character may fascinate you so much he almost blots out the rest? For me, that character is Breschau of Livonia. This imaginary Eastern European noble (I know he’s imaginary, having looked him up in vain) proudly insists he remain in Hell because of the enormity of his deeds, which he relates in detail, proclaiming “I am Breschau of Livonia.” Lucifer dismisses him with these words: “But no one today remembers Breschau. No one. I doubt one living mortal in a hundred thousand could even point to where Livonia used to be, on a map. The world has forgotten you.”
Not I, Lord Breschau, not I.
Specify Containing Books Season of Mists (The Sandman #4)
| Title | : | Season of Mists (The Sandman #4) |
| Author | : | Neil Gaiman |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 217 pages |
| Published | : | March 10th 1999 by Vertigo (first published 1990) |
| Categories | : | Sequential Art. Graphic Novels. Comics. Fantasy. Fiction. Horror. Graphic Novels Comics |
Rating Containing Books Season of Mists (The Sandman #4)
Ratings: 4.54 From 59150 Users | 1670 ReviewsRate Containing Books Season of Mists (The Sandman #4)
Possibly my favourite part so far.This is the point in the series where shit gets real. For one thing, this is the first glimpse you have of how truly mythically all-encompasing this series is. You have Odin, the Lucifer, some Faeries, Demons, a Japanese storm god, Bast and Anubis, two angelic presences, and other assorted powers all hanging out, not just in the same story. But on the same page. And it makes sense. You're left thinking, oh, yeah. Sure. Why wouldn't Thor be hitting on Bast? Even more importantly, this is the
My favorite since the first one.It's been over thirty years since this was published, and it still managed to do things that surprised me. Morpheus, or Dream the Endless, has been informed that consigning his human lover Nada to hell for 10,000 years for the crime of rejecting him and wounding his pride was a not great thing to do, so he sets out to make things as right as he can, which means once again descending into hell and facing Lucifer. He makes his preparations, says his goodbyes, fully
Neil Gaiman is at his best when his imagination is peopled with gods and demonsmagnificent, outsize personalities, ranging from the eerily transcendent to the surprisingly humanand the tale he chooses to tell in Season of Mists gives him ample room to create a godly and superior fantasy.The plot is simple. Lucifer abdicates the throne of Hell, sending the damned back to earth, and turns the keys over to Dream. Dream doesnt really want the propertytoo vast, too hard to keep upbut a lot of other
The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists: Deities scramble to fill a vacancy in Hell After the stand-alone stories of Vol 3, many of which only feature Morpheus in the background, in Vol 4 the Sandman takes center stage once again. The Prologue sets the stage for a new story-arc, as Destiny strolls through his barren garden, in his monks cowl and with his huge book, and encounters the three Fates. As usual, they drop some cryptic clues that big events are afoot and then depart. Destiny checks his
This is a good review. Compared to other reviews, this is a masterpiece lol. I wonder why people think reviews should be summaries.
It is unfortunate that Gaiman seems to be unable to surrender his archetypal cast to either humanity or inhumanity, but lets them sit awkwardly in the middle. Though he often presents Dream and his siblings as falling to love or petty squabbling, their reactions to such are often not to work towards decision, but to subside. In those cases where they do act, it becomes merely a meaningless exercise to continue the story. When this is done for the purpose of framing other tales and interweaving
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