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Books read in 2023 # 58 - Nostalgia
Jun. 13th, 2023 12:21 pm58.Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman, Mike Zulli, etc. - So now Morpheus is dead and we have six issues to wrap up the saga. The first three issues look like water colors as details throughout the dreaming are shown and then pushed aside for more. There is even the one character created by the Deathless who cannot dream or destroy (I think that's how it goes) and these will ultimately undo him. And then he's never seen again. Daniel protects his mother and all the characters who were affected get an ending. Burgess wakes up from his curse and we move on to the last three epilogues.
When I read the Renaissance Festival story I fucking hated it. I had worked at the Renaissance Festival for five years and I was sick of the Renfest, but I also hated people who needed to point out that the Renfest was historically inaccurate all the more. And that's all Hob Gadling does. Then a friend pointed out that this was the MINNESOTA Renaissance Festival and it was kind of cool to see things that I knew. Hell, the condemned building where Hob meets Death wasn't condemned when I first started working at the RenFest (but it really fell apart in the next few years).
And reading the story now - I fucking hate it. Watching Steve Brust walk past in a panel is cool, but Hob is just the worst. Granted he's supposed to be grieving and acting like a shitty dude because of his grief but he's still a shitty dude who walks around being ill-tempered about the RenFest (like more than I would be if I had to go to one against my wishes. Eventually I'd shut up about how much I hate it because whomever I was with liked it) and then goes and gets drunk. The talk with Death and the dream of Dream and Destruction are nice moments, but Hob sucks. Seriously fuck Hob.
The next chapter is a sequel of sorts to the Marco Polo lost in the soft spots. I spent the entire chapter hoping to recognize the main character (a court advisor being exiled because his son joined the White Lotus) as a major historical figure, but apparently he's no one. He's just a fictional character created to be in the same type of world as Marco Polo and to encounter Dream in several incarnations.
Finally we have The Tempest chapter and that's poor Shakespeare feeling out of sorts in his 40s (?) and trying to write the last play, the one where the wizard breaks his staff. Gaiman writes the story of the play as if it's a response to Dr. Faustus. Like how does the man who made deals with devils survive? He breaks his staff, certain that he won't need it. It is rather the perfect ending to the series, even though it's strange reading it now when at very least Neil Gaiman is in his 60s and showing no signs of stopping.
When I read the Renaissance Festival story I fucking hated it. I had worked at the Renaissance Festival for five years and I was sick of the Renfest, but I also hated people who needed to point out that the Renfest was historically inaccurate all the more. And that's all Hob Gadling does. Then a friend pointed out that this was the MINNESOTA Renaissance Festival and it was kind of cool to see things that I knew. Hell, the condemned building where Hob meets Death wasn't condemned when I first started working at the RenFest (but it really fell apart in the next few years).
And reading the story now - I fucking hate it. Watching Steve Brust walk past in a panel is cool, but Hob is just the worst. Granted he's supposed to be grieving and acting like a shitty dude because of his grief but he's still a shitty dude who walks around being ill-tempered about the RenFest (like more than I would be if I had to go to one against my wishes. Eventually I'd shut up about how much I hate it because whomever I was with liked it) and then goes and gets drunk. The talk with Death and the dream of Dream and Destruction are nice moments, but Hob sucks. Seriously fuck Hob.
The next chapter is a sequel of sorts to the Marco Polo lost in the soft spots. I spent the entire chapter hoping to recognize the main character (a court advisor being exiled because his son joined the White Lotus) as a major historical figure, but apparently he's no one. He's just a fictional character created to be in the same type of world as Marco Polo and to encounter Dream in several incarnations.
Finally we have The Tempest chapter and that's poor Shakespeare feeling out of sorts in his 40s (?) and trying to write the last play, the one where the wizard breaks his staff. Gaiman writes the story of the play as if it's a response to Dr. Faustus. Like how does the man who made deals with devils survive? He breaks his staff, certain that he won't need it. It is rather the perfect ending to the series, even though it's strange reading it now when at very least Neil Gaiman is in his 60s and showing no signs of stopping.
