Rating: 
Summary: A wonderfully dark graphic novel!
Review: This is an incredible story by Neil Gaiman. If you enjoy mythology, grand themes, dark humor, and mature themes, this is the book for you! The continuing themes of greek, roman, egyptian, celtic and norse mythology make this a wonderful read for people who are familiar with them, but do not detract from the story if you have no clue who Bast, Odin or Titania are. ONE WARNING: If you cannot handle death, destruction, gore or characters going mad, do NOT read this.
Rating:
Summary: The most powerful emotional experience literature can offer
Review: This is an order of magnitude better than the rest of this already best-of-the best comic series known as the Sandman. Gaiman takes every single plotline he's ever touched on and weaves them all together into one fiery coruscation of pain and joy and love and hate and comedy and tragedy and death and birth and...well, I could go on forever! Even better, for once it's a story arc that can last quite a long time (that graphic novel's nearly an inch thick!). It's the most immensely satisfying read(graphic novel or normal printed book!) that I've ever set eyes upon. PLEASE take my word, if you haven't read the Sandman, and read from the beginning to the end. Not only do you get the ingenious works preceding this, but you get THIS!!! Sorry for the capitals, but I feel more strongly about this than any other creative work I've ever seen.Now, here's a more analyzing, less gushing side to why I love this so much. Let's start with the art. The art is amazing. It's a big change from the basic comic style of the other Sandman novels. This one is very expressionistic and the lines are very simple and nearly abstract. It makes a few characters hard to recognize until they're called by name, but it adds wonderfully to the drama, and a few characters look better than ever before(Delirium especially, not to mention ole Murphy and Death). The overlying drama is in the form of a towering tragedy, and it is in The Kindly Ones where we finally see the developments of everything that came before match up to drive home a truly powerful feeling. And the elusive, "is it good" criteria? This one went off the charts for me. And the end...oh, what an end. I _don't_ cry(Not because I'm some overly macho guy. I wish I could, but I'm so dead inside...thank you Neil for making me FEEL.), but I felt those tear ducts on the verge of pouring out years of unshed tears of pain and joy and affirmation and...didn't I already list those off? In short, though short will never do justice to it, The Kindly Ones is the best story from the best series by my favorite author: no mean feat at ALL to be all of those. Please, pick this up after the first 8 Sandman graphic novels. Comics aren't just for kids anymore, and this one is too achingly beautiful to go unshared. Neil Gaiman is truly a god in his field and must be worshiped accordingly :). Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Beginning of the end...
Review: This is probably one of the top three Sandman comics and the thickest. The 'Kindly Ones' is where is the climax of the Sandman series takes place and the break down of Morpheus's realm begins. It is also slightly more sassy and somewhat more complicated and plot-based then earlier works like 'Season of Mist' and ''Brief Lives.' This is quite possibly the worst Sandman to begin on, and is about the only Sandman work which really requires complete reading of earlier volumes. There is little in the way of character exploration itself, and background knowledge is certainly assumed. However, there is such beauty in the sheer magnificence of the artwork, the intensity of the plot and the wonderful way in which eight volumes worth of characters are brought back to life. 'The Kindly Ones' is an integral part in any Sandman library, and is both a superb read and a marvellous conclusion to an simply amazing series.
Rating:
Summary: Most Prized possesion
Review: This is the very first book I have ever read by Neil. I have to say that Now I want All of the Sandman books! Every time I read it again I find something new that I didn't realize before. I also like the artist, he's was very good at getting the feel towards all the characters. I hope to meet Neil Gaiman in my lifetime to tell him he is truly one of my favorite writers!
Rating:
Summary: Great Vengeance and Furies' Anger
Review: Throughout the series, as a result of his 70-year imprisonment, Morpheus learned a number of humanizing lessons, that have made him a better person(ification) as a result. Here's the one he picks up in this chapter: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." In Frank McConnell's introduction to this particular corner of the Sandman Library, he lets us non-literary critic types in on a little deal called "post-modernism". He defines it as "letting the reader know you're conscious of what you're doing at the very time you do it." And you guessed it, these little ins-and-outs of Neil Gaiman's thought process run rampant through this volume, thanks mostly to an aspect of the three-in-one goddess, the fates. The seamstresses of lives, and the writers of destiny. The ladies are there to comment at the beginning, and the end of this story, and all throughout, as well. As are another aspect of the three (but not exactly them, of course. You and I are not a hand, or tooth or eye, but we have all of those IN us), the Furies/Kindly Ones. When her infant child Daniel goes missing and is apparently killed, Lyta Hall blames Dream, and, in a waking dream-journey of insane and mythic proportions, (aided in no small part by that conniving little former lover of Dream's, Larissa,) Lyta happens across the Kindly Ones, and sets them on Morpheus. Not because of responsibility for Daniel's disappearance, but for mercy-killing Orpheus (spilling of family blood and all that.). Meanwhile, Loki & Robin Goodfellow, who are actually behind the child's disappearance, are being tracked down by the reformed (in more than one way) serial-killer nightmare The Corinthian, and Dream's raven sidekick, Matthew. Drawing some lightness into this otherwise dark tale are Rose Walker & Delirium's quests for things lost along their travels. For Rose, it's her heart, in a journey that leads her into a rather embarrassing moment at an airport, an unusual game of draughts, and that dank basement in Fawney Rig where our story began, meeting with her Grandparent, Desire. Delirium, on the other hand, makes her way around the worlds looking for her dog, Barnabas. Her chit-chat with Dream about some of those things she's said all along that she know that no one else knows, is one of my fave bits. And, thankfully, bumps into Lucifer at his new nightclub, where has a nicely human chat with the young lady about his past encounters with her brother. And he refuses to play a selection from "Cats", for one of his patrons, even when offered a bribe. The walking incarnation of evil, maybe, but at least he's got taste. The Furies, by the by, are attacking the Dreaming, killing its residents. As long as Dream doesn't leave, though, no true harm can come to the land. Better take the phone off the hook, there, Lord Shaper. In the end, though, events take place so that there's only one option left to the Dream King: Taking his sister's hand. And the grand plans he's had for Daniel Hall finally come to fruition. At first, this book came as a minor disappointment to me. Neil's in top form, of course, taking fantasy, humanity, and soap opera and mish-mashing them together seamlessly. Marc Hempel & Teddy Kristiansen's art, while an unusual choice, works great, and is among some of the best and most expressive in the series. The surprising amount of detail in facial expressions comes in handy in the final couple of chapters. Kevin Nowlan's terrfic-looking prologue introduces the characters well. But the disappointment came, in part, because I chose to read this before most of the earlier books and I was a wee confused. Nickel's free advice: DON'T DO THIS. Lots of the plot points went over my head, as well as the conspiracy surrounding Loki & Puck. Gaiman explains in his afterword that he didn't explain this on purpose, and neither will I, though I'm pretty sure I know it. So, yes, now I have a greater appreciation for this book. And in the end, what does that leave you with? A handful of yarn, of course. Same old story.
Rating:
Summary: Really the best
Review: You know, I enjoy reading both comics and more "conventional" forms of literature because of the ability of good writers(or in the case of Gaiman, GREAT writers) to make their fantasy real, and because of my freedom to invest myself emotionally in the characters and events of the story. That said, I surprised myself by the level to which I became emotionally involved in this story. The Climax of the Sandman series, which is wrapped up in the follow-up collection "The Wake", "The Kindly Ones" ties together almost all of the strands from Gaiman's masterpiece story of the Lord of Dream. Even having read the previous 8 collections, I at times found myself having to search through my memory for the relevance of certain characters. So thorough is Gaiman's storytelling that even characters you thought finished and forgotten make their return and somehow impact this story. While the artwork was not among my favorite from the series, it fit well with the bleak, tragic storyline. Harsh, simple, and angular, it cuts away the needless details and helps to focus all elements of the story on the central storyline. For those who have not read this collection or know what it contains, you may want to stop here, as spoilers are ahead: While the story deals with Morpheus' final stand against the Furies, or Kindly Ones as they prefer, his death is not as tragic as I had thought, as the child Daniel immediately steps into his place. I did find myself saddened by the loss of Morpheus, but even more so by the deaths of smaller characters in the storyline. The murder of Gryphon was so simple, and his final words so unimportant, but it was truly moving. It is the genius and skill of Gaiman that the reader becomes attached to even the smallest character. This is a must read.
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