The Sandman, The: Season of Mists (Paperback)

The story rests on an intriguing principle: The Devil is quitting hell. He's had enough, and is giving the personnification of Dream the key, to deal with as he wishes. The place is described as 'prime psychic real-estate', and is emtied of its previous inhabitants. On Earth, the dead souls drift ailessly back into their own life patterns. Meanwhile, Dream finds a crowd of prospective buyers at his door, including gods from virtually every world mythology, as well as faeries and angels. Deals are offered, many story threads are begun, and we are introduced properly to Dream's family, the Endless: Desire; Despair; Delerium; Destiny and Death, a cute Goth chick without a scythe in sight.

Gaiman's charm lies in his twists on popular mythology (e.g. Death), the complexities of his plots and the recurrence of sympathetic characters in stories that seem initially separate. Esoteric occult horror blends seamlessly with gritty drama and men in neon spandex to produce a varied and fascinating story that the reader cannot help but be drawn into.

The Sandman series benefits greatly from the comic-book format. Gaiman is a fantastic writer of comics, there is no doubt about that, and his forays into screenplay and novel writing (with the notable exceprtion of Good Omens, co-written with Terry Pratchett) have never proved as polished. Even if you are not a reader of comics, I would unhesitatingly recommend this for anyone who has ever enjoyed Clive Barker, Anne Rice, Terry Pratchett, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton or Edgar Allen Poe. My lingering image from the book is that where Lucifer, his wings cut away, sits on an Australian beach, and grudgingly congratulates God on his sunsets. And as for the ending... well, you'll just have to read the book.

You cannot help but feel sorry for Morpheus, as he wanders around his palace with his lonely wistful eyes. A romantic at heart, he desperately craves the comfort and solitude found in companionship, but his fate as set out by his brother Destiny, is to self-destruct any chance he has of finding true happiness before his end.

It is this pain and stubborness that leds to the beginning of this beautiful tale, of cruelty, of the subconscious of man, and eventually to betrayl and redemption. God in this world, is cruel but loving, and will not hestitate to sacrifice one of his own to equalise the balance in the world.

The resolution of the story is at once complete and incomplete. Although Gaiman's tale has been told, it leaves us aching for more, a very rare sign of an extremely good writer,which of course, is what Gaiman is.

I started as a fan of Mike Carey's "LUCIFER" and bought "SEASON OF MISTS" because it's the prelude to the Lucifer series. Not only was it terrific from a Lucifer fan's perspective, but the overall story blew me away.

I'll even go so far as to suggest that new readers start here. You'll be treated to an EXCELLENT Sandman story, and a perfect introduction to all the other members of the Sandman's family (a group of god-like entities called "The Endless" who appear throughout the series).

"Season Of Mists" is a tale of horror, revenge, trickery and fun. There's even a short story about a haunted Boarding School thrown-in as a kind of interlude from the non-stop action.

Buy it... you won't be disappointed!