Rating: 
Summary: Excellent story-telling
Review: (but I gave it four stars for the poems, which I could really live without)The stories, however, are absolutely wonderful, "The Price" in particular (especially if you are a cat person)--it is about a cat that protects its adopted home from... well, from something. "Snow Glass Apples" is sick, of course, but what do you expect from a retelling of one of the sickest fairy-tales of all? Another wonderful one is "We can get them for you wholesale," where the Old Firm from the Neverwhere fame shows up again! This book held me riveted--I could not put it down.
Rating:
Summary: A fine book of short stories
Review: While not every story in this collection is perfect hit, "The Goldfish Pond" and "Murder Mystery" make up for any flaws. A great book.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the price of admission
Review: No, not every piece in this collection is a gem, but "Chivalry," "Murder Mysteries (one of Gaiman's finest stories ever, no matter the length)," "Snow, Glass, Apples," and "The White Road" are among the very best of a mostly solid set of short stories, poems and miniatures that I'm quite happy to have in my book case.
Rating: 
Summary: A decent book...
Review: The thing about short story collections is that, if one story doesn't grab you, another will. While some of the stories are hits, others are misses. But fans of Gaiman's other works (particularly Neverwhere) shouldn't miss this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Astoundingly, earth shatteringly good
Review: Very rarely do I read something that proves emphatically the author is smarter than me. I know this sounds conceited but its true, I'm rarely challenged but "Smoke and Mirrors" was just that a challenge. From the first word I was reading with my whole mind, soaking up the brilliance of the prose and complex simplicity of the ideas. Thank you Mr Gaiman please keep creating.
Rating:
Summary: pointless
Review: Being a huge fan of Gaiman's novels I bought this book just to see some of his earlier works. Most of the stories are pointless and don't go anywhere. Diehard fans would give 5 stars for anything he released, so don't go by most reviews. I highly suggest you read a few pages of this before purchasing. If you were totally in awl after American Gods, Neverwhere, and Coraline, don't expect that much brilliance in this
collection. There are two or three stories which are quite impressive but the rest just seemed wish washy and falls short.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Magnificent...
Review: I first read this book when it was forced upon me by a friend of mine named Juan, a guy who was in love from Gaiman from the first time he read the Sandman. So, trusting Juan's taste in literature, I sat down and began to read it.
It is absolutely delicious.
The best story, by far, was Murder Mysteries. That story was chilling beyond my ability to describe...
I loved almost every single story...the only one I found myself slightly bored by was "The Goldfish Pond and Other Stories"... But everything else was...orgasmic.
Rating:
Summary: Lights and Highlights
Review: On a first reading of a short story compilation, I read every story front-to-back. I make my decisions as to what I like and what I can live without, and on subsequent readings, I often head straight to the highlights. The stories that grabbed me the first time. Not so with Smoke and Mirrors. When I revisit this one, I read the entire thing cover to cover all over again. I've looked over and over for a weakness in this compilation but can't seem to find it. The introduction is not only amusing in its own right, but added to my enjoyment of the stories by giving a little background info on each piece. Where the ideas came from, what Gaiman thinks about it now that it's done, etc. The best thing I can say about the stories themselves is that each one is enjoyable and unique. I get aggravated with some compilations because every story is only slightly different than the one before it. Not so with Smoke and Mirrors. Each piece follows different conventions, is written in a different style. There are rondels and modern fairy tales, pulp stories and narrative poems. I might go so far as to say that there is a story for every taste in here. Still unsure about whether this is for you? If you can get your hands on a copy, read "Nicholas Was..." It's only 100 words long. And it's oh-so-worth-it.
Rating:
Summary: gets under your skin
Review: Neil Gaiman's place on my personal "favorite authors list" is cemented firmly by _Smoke and Mirrors_, a versatile collection of his short stories and narrative poems. There is a wide variety of "types" of story here, from fantasy to horror to mystery to wildly hilarious comedy. I liked almost all of them. Neil Gaiman's two finest gifts are (1) humor, and (2) truly scary horror that gets under your skin rather than just grossing you out with gore. He flexes his humor muscles with such outstanding fare as "Chivalry" (the story of an old woman who buys the Holy Grail at a thrift shop), "We Can Get Them For You Wholesale" (about hit men with discount rates), "One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock" (about a young boy and his love for fantasy novels), and "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar" (believe it or not, a *funny* Cthulhu story, about strange towns, getting drunk, and Things that live under the ocean). As for horror, there is the story in the intro, "The Wedding Present", which is sort of a "Marriage of Dorian Gray", plus several other standouts including two of the narrative poems, "The White Road" (a montage of Bluebeard tales) and another, whose name I forget, about a woman who is vanished by a magician and _never reappears_. Truly creepy and hauntingly sad as well. I could sit on this computer for another hour listing good stories from this collection; however, you'd do better just to buy the book. If you like psychological horror, dry humor, or anything of the sort, you'll love this.
Rating:
Summary: A downward spiral of madness
Review: Neglect not the introduction. If you do, you'll miss *so* many wonderful things. The stories proceed from the lighthearted but slightly weird to the seriously disturbing and utterly insane. If you get drawn into what you read, this one will twist your brain, and things will be very surreal for a few hours after. I do not recommend reading this right before bed, nor before or after consuming mind-altering substances (this book is one massive trip by itself).
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