Rating: 
Summary: THE BEST SANDMAN NOVEL
Review: Of the longer Sandman stories, this is my favorite. Gaiman and Thompson make a great team, and the only Sandman tpb I may like better is "Fables and Reflections."
Rating:
Summary: Brief encounter with Omnipotence
Review: Oh, yes! Change is indeed the topic debated throughout Neil Gaimans masterpiece volume in the highly thought-stimulating saga of the Dreamlord. It is the book that sees Gaiman making his main character emotionally vulnerable (whereas "Preludes & Nocturnes" portrayed his "physical" weakness), thus more human in action, thought and word. By doing this Gaiman's genious sends this fascinating, somewhat inexplicable dark and mute, "human" incarnation of dreams from the rather easily awoken sense of a "sympathetic" prothagonist in action, to the empathetic core of our hearts. His clumsy approach at establishing a dialogue with the elf-housemaid Nuala on his return to the dreamcastle, stands out as proof of change - actions and reactions within this brief conversation bear witness to the Dreamlords waking will to take other beings welfare into consideration, within the limits of all realms.The turning points are, due to the non-linear narrative, generally spread out through most of the volumes of the Sandman story, but to me the ultimate change of the storyline occurs as Morpheus initiates a final rendez-vous with his human son, as described in this wonderful, and not least powerful, collection of beautiful stories. In short a powerful set of thoughts on the nature of "the word for things not being the same always". The presence of the Almighty is felt briefly through actions, beyond the control of even the Endless Seven, and dialogues reflecting an inevitable masterplan that will seal the fate of Morpheus as we have come to know him.
Rating:
Summary: A Daring and Brilliant Cautionary Tale
Review: The most elegiac tome in the Sandman canon, "Brief Lives" is as ambitous, sprawling, and powerful as any modern work of fiction. If you let the fact that this is an illustrated work stand in the way of reading it, you are sorely missing out. Neil Gaiman is to graphic novels what Tony Kushner is to playwriting; full of big ideas that tie the world together, relationships and brief encounters that create our future. Gaiman's poetic vision draws from every corner of the imagination, creating his own mythology that is as vital and surprisingly prescient as anything I've read in years. When's the last time a work of fiction truly challenged the mind? Read this and discover it's been far too long.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Sandman
Review: The only reason I gave this story 5 stars is because there wasn't six, or ten, or a hundred available as choices. Simply put, the Sandman is one of the greatest, most involving, most touching, (even for a hard to touch person such as myself) work of literature (yes, despite being a mere comic book it is literature, or as Peter Stuab says, nothing is) in the past century, perhaps in the past several centuries. And Brief Lives is the best volume in the Sandman series, hands down. The story, plot wise, is about a quest to find a missing brother. The story is really about so many things more; about death, fate, redemption, mercy, terrible kindness, the meddling of gods and endless in human affairs, what happens to a family when the person that is its glue leaves, what it means to have a conscience, pride, honor, and much more. Brief Lives is, even more than the other Sandman volumes, rich with beauty, imagery, imagination, and scenes that fire the imagination and touch the heart. Who cannot be moved by the anguish of Delirium and Despair, who is not awestruck by the scenes in the garden of Destiny or the conversation with Destruction, who is not genuinely saddened by the death of Orpheus and at Dream's terrible grief after the act, and who cannot be uplifted by the ending and the bond of love between Orpheus and his servant. As an aspiring writer, I can honestly say that Brief Lives is both an inspiration and a goal; I hope that I may be able to write a single work that compares to it. I will admit to being initially reluctant to pick up Brief Lives, perhaps because I sensed where Gaiman would take the Sandman in the last four issues, the inevitable turn to tragedy. Brief Lives is like the last warm day before winter or the last flash of light and color at sunset. The course of the Sandman was always destined to be a tragic one, and Brief Lives is the beginning of the end, the movement from dreamy stories to true tragedy, and watching it happen to an incredible character like Dream only makes it that much more affecting. Towards the end of the story, Desire, foretelling the future, says that Dream was wreck waiting to happen, and that has been true. Dream has been a wreck waiting to happen since he escaped his captivity, or maybe since Orpheus went down to Hades, or maybe before that. Up till now, though, there was always the chance that things would go another way, that there was a way around that destiny, but after Brief Lives, that is no longer the case. There is only one possible outcome, and it is only a matter of time. That knowledge, heart wrenching as it is, is what makes this the best of all the Sandman series, and the best story, of any type or genre that I've read in quite some time.
Rating:
Summary: a beautifully, ingeniously woven tale
Review: The words above pretty much epitomize this book of The Sandman series. This is, quite possibly, the best one among the ten Sandman books, and with good reason. The plot is simple enough, and it's a plot that we've all been waiting expectantly to see since we read the words "about the prodigal one?" or anything of the like. This is the book wherein they look for their missing brother. This is also the book where we see Morpheus' path to self-destruction, his willingness to face this. This is the book that opens what we have all been dreading, but somehow, knew was coming. This is the beginning of the end of Lord Morpheus. In this one, we are able to see more of most of the characters, are introduced to more facets of their personalities. For instance - we are able to see Delirium more composed, more sensical, when a distraught Dream falls apart for passing moments. Seeing Dream fall apart is a new facet of his personality in itself. This is simply a foretaste of what else you will see in this magical, masterful tale. Destruction, the prodigal brother, is introduced here as well, along with a rather interesting dog, and many other characters. This book was an utter masterpiece. This is the defining tale in the Sandman series. This is the story that made Neil Gaiman my absolute idol, even my hero.
Rating:
Summary: A little bit of this, a little bit of that...
Review: This book is wonderful--from the child-like Delirium to the eerie, but charismatic, Dream. As for Tori Amos' lyrics, the reason they are placed there is because Neil and Tori are great friends. They met after Tori recorded the song "Tear in Your Hand" and had a friend give it to Neil at a book signing. He listened to it--especially the lines that stated, "if you need me, me and Neil'll be, hanging out with the Dream King." And since they became friends, in every album, Tori makes a reference to Neil in one song. In "Horses" she says that "Neil makes me a tree." And sure enough, in one of Neil's stories, there it is--a tall red tree, Tori-tree. And as Neil Gaiman once said of Del and Tori, "Tori and Delirium steal from each other shamelessly." That's all for now!
Rating:
Summary: Neil Gaiman has done it again!
Review: This installment of The Sandman is, in my oppinion, the best of the whole collection. Intensely thought provoking, it could stand alone. No true fan should be without this one!
Rating:
Summary: A Priceless Story About Change and all things Ending.
Review: This is my first Sandman book, and it has not only hooked me onto the series, it's given me something I can't stop thinking about. The story begins with a slightly lost Delerium wandering the streets, talking to homeless people, going to night clubs, and trying to recall what the "gunky stuff in people's eyes" is called. At this night club Desire makes a very poetically laid-out first appearance, and kindly takes Del back to her/his realm. And that's when Delerium gets a funny little idea: she wants to look for Destruction. And she wants someone to come with her... The answer from Desire is very blunt: "No." And then she asks Despair: "No." Then, very reluctantly, because her big brother can be VERY scary, she asks Dream. After much hesitation, Dream says yes. As their journey through the human world takes way, we watch what is possibly the oddest possible pairing of two of the Endless traveling together, and at first it is, surprisingly, very funny, just like all of the Sandman comics tend to sneak in a little humor here and there. Though possibly Dream and Delirium themselves are unaware of it, we know that there is some bonding between the two of them, even throughout a conflict they must overcome before continuing on the journey later. The last three or four chapters are the most touching, as Dream's son Orpheus, who he has before sworn to never speak to again, is brought into the ending for a very sad conclusion. The intriguing thing about the ending is that almost all of the characters, save Destiny and Death who have nothing to hide, show us a different part of them that we haven't really seen before. Particularly Dream, who swallows his pride and does the right thing in the end, a very selfless act on his behalf. To conclude, here's a quote-one of my favorites-from Brief Lives: "Your life is your own. Your death, likewise. Always and forever, your own. Farewell..."
Rating:
Summary: A Priceless Story About Change and all things Ending.
Review: This is my first Sandman book, and it has not only hooked me onto the series, it's given me something I can't stop thinking about. The story begins with a slightly lost Delerium wandering the streets, talking to homeless people, going to night clubs, and trying to recall what the "gunky stuff in people's eyes" is called. At this night club Desire makes a very poetically laid-out first appearance, and kindly takes Del back to her/his realm. And that's when Delerium gets a funny little idea: she wants to look for Destruction. And she wants someone to come with her... The answer from Desire is very blunt: "No." And then she asks Despair: "No." Then, very reluctantly, because her big brother can be VERY scary, she asks Dream. After much hesitation, Dream says yes. As their journey through the human world takes way, we watch what is possibly the oddest possible pairing of two of the Endless traveling together, and at first it is, surprisingly, very funny, just like all of the Sandman comics tend to sneak in a little humor here and there. Though possibly Dream and Delirium themselves are unaware of it, we know that there is some bonding between the two of them, even throughout a conflict they must overcome before continuing on the journey later. The last three or four chapters are the most touching, as Dream's son Orpheus, who he has before sworn to never speak to again, is brought into the ending for a very sad conclusion. The intriguing thing about the ending is that almost all of the characters, save Destiny and Death who have nothing to hide, show us a different part of them that we haven't really seen before. Particularly Dream, who swallows his pride and does the right thing in the end, a very selfless act on his behalf. To conclude, here's a quote-one of my favorites-from Brief Lives: "Your life is your own. Your death, likewise. Always and forever, your own. Farewell..."
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST SANDMAN
Review: This is the best Sandman story, without a doubt. I have read each of the ten volumes many times, and have come safely to this conclusion. Brief Lives has more meaning, heart and humanity than any comic book ever produced. This is It. This is the Big One. There are no substitutes. There is no comic book better than this; there is no comic book that means this much. This is also the volume of the series in which all the various past threads begin to converge, forming one tight whole, leading into the last three volumes, World's End, The Kindly Ones and finally, The Wake. If this book doesn't move you, you have problems.
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