Rating: 
Summary: Plotless fluff, but really good plotless fluff!
Review: A connundrum here. This book really doesn't tell a great or ingenious story, as other Sandman collections often do. But it remains good. It can be divided, basically, into three parts. The first part is the story of the wake. It is brilliantly illustrated, done entirely in pencil. Not much happens in it, but we get some nice insights into various characters from accross the series, as each of them makes their own comments on the death of Dream. This part also contains a story about Hob, which is, again, not brilliantly original, but still a nice piece of work. The next one is an experiment that doesn't quite do anything. It tries to be a sparse rendition of a Chinese poem, and suceeds, but seems somewhat empty, and unrelated to the rest of the story. The only real justification I can see for why it had to be part of _The Wake_ is that it includes Daniel, but still, it seems like it should have happened earlier in the story. It's a sequal to an earlier story, "Soft Places," which was a good story, but hardly one of the best in the series. The last part of the story is "The Tempest," a sequal to the acclaimed "A Midsummer Night's Dream." It is differant, in many ways, than it's predicessor. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was the story of a performance. This is the story of a writing. It is, in many ways, a fitting end to the story, with quite a bit of fun symbolism. But despite the cleverness of its parts, _The Wake_ is somehow lacking much of the spark that has always been so clear in _The Sandman._
Rating: 
Summary: Waking up from a 5 year dream.
Review: A fitting title to one of the best comic series ever printed. The reader who has followed the Sandman series finally wakes up from the incredible 5 year 'dream' saga. It is not as heavy to read as some of the other earlier collections since it is made up of short stories. This collection wraps up the loose bits and pieces to the Sandman series. The first part sees the wake for Morpheus and Daniel taking up the mantle as the new Dream. The rest are individual stories. We see Hob's reaction to the departure of his friend, a story of a traveller trapped in The Dreaming and finally concludes, appropriately, with Neil Gaiman's take on Shakespere's "The Tempest". To really understand and appreciate this book, the reader would be have to have read at least "The Kindly Ones". As for me, I really liked this book and would have given it a 10 if I didn't have to wake up from this fantastic dream Gaiman has taken me, and countless others to.
Rating:
Summary: Awaking Dream
Review: A great ending to a great series, "The Wake" ends the Sandman with dignity. Old characters reappear and bid farewell and it was all I could do to hold back tears. Michael Zulli's artwork is just breathtaking. My favorite however, is the last issue "The Tempest" which picks up from "Midsummers Night's Dream" and is a fitting farewell to both the Sandman series and William Shakespeare. Charles Vess' art on that is amazing. Just try holding back tears. I dare you.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect Ending
Review: A great ending to a great series, "The Wake" ends the Sandman with dignity. Old characters reappear and bid farewell and it was all I could do to hold back tears. Michael Zulli's artwork is just breathtaking. My favorite however, is the last issue "The Tempest" which picks up from "Midsummers Night's Dream" and is a fitting farewell to both the Sandman series and William Shakespeare. Charles Vess' art on that is amazing. Just try holding back tears. I dare you.
Rating:
Summary: The king is dead...long live the king.
Review: First off, I'll just say that I think the wake has the finest art of all the SANDMAN collections, save for maybe Season of Mists. The Wake is a story about death and endings and farewells, and it is an end to the series, but only in the sense of the Death tarot card: representing transformation, rebirth, the closing of a door and the opening of a window. As Dream told Orpheus: "You attend the funeral. You bid the dead farewell. You grieve. Then you go on with your life." That's what the characters are doing in this book. It also contains the story of another wanderer in the shifting zones, (a parallel to "Soft Places"), and the writing of Shakespeare's last play (a parallel to "Midsummer Night's Dream.") All told, The Wake is a graceful coda to the bittersweet symphony (so shoot me for the reference) that is SANDMAN. The king is dead. Long live the king.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest of a great series.
Review: I haven't been so bowled over by a book since The Lord of the Rings as I was by the Sandman series. It is simply the greatest work of literature by a post-WWII author, period.
Rating:
Summary: The Wake closes a cycle in Sandman's series
Review: I started reading Sandman when a friend of mine, who desperately needed money at the time, sold me his first issues of Sandman. I immediately fell in love with Gaiman's series, and Sandman was part of my gradual internal growth. Even when the publisher cancelled the Brazilian edition, I continued to buy the American issues. My Sandman collection is a mess: partly in Portuguese, partly in English, in either books or individual issues. The only hardcover edition I own is "The Wake".
"The Wake" is the last story of the Sandman series, but, more than an end, it represents a transition, or the beginning of a new cycle.
After reading most great novels, of all times, we feel that our souls are somewhat closer to heaven, because the author has the ability to close a cycle, showing how the facts are all intertwined, and that these links - inevitable, essential, wise and apparently complex, lead to simple, effective solutions.
The Wake does close a cycle. It gives us the ability to see the whole of the series in its completion. It acts as the last piece of a puzzle. It shows us there is a Spring after Winter, a rainbow after a storm. It is peaceful, calm, mature.
Moreover, the hardcover edition is incredibly beautiful, a real collector's piece. Anyone who is a Sandman fan should have it. And, if someone who is sensitive to art manifestations but does not know the series sees this volume, he will become eager to read all the past stories.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story
Review: I thought this would just tie up some loose ends and finish The Sandman anticlmatically. It was a great story though and truly makes the whole series seem even more literary than it was before (even though you thought that was impossible). Don't be mad at Neil for ending The Sandman; the story was over. He wouldn't have been trying to do something great if he just kept going on and on like Batman. I keep telling myself this is the best installment even though I feel like it shouldn't be.
Rating:
Summary: All good things must come to an end....
Review: It is in losing something (or someone) that you discover their true value. And it is beautifully portrayed in the final chapter of the Sandman series. It is a fitting conclusion to wonderfully woven tale. It is where the dreamers come- to mourn, to rejoice, to remember, and ultimately... forget. Loose ends are tied up... reconciliations (of sorts) are made... and we must wake up and move on. As the title suggest...... it's a party where people go to celebrate, or to mourn a death... or it's what you do after emerging from a dream.... your choice.
Rating:
Summary: All good things must come to an end....
Review: It is in losing something (or someone) that you discover their true value. And it is beautifully portrayed in the final chapter of the Sandman series. It is a fitting conclusion to wonderfully woven tale. It is where the dreamers come- to mourn, to rejoice, to remember, and ultimately... forget. Loose ends are tied up... reconciliations (of sorts) are made... and we must wake up and move on. As the title suggest...... it's a party where people go to celebrate, or to mourn a death... or it's what you do after emerging from a dream.... your choice.
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