The Sandman

I wish I could go back and rank the previous books as 4.5 stars, so that I could give this the full 5 stars, but alas.

This is my absolute favourite of the Sandman series. You would benefit from reading the preceding 11 books to provide the firm appreciation of The Dreaming, and the Dream King, but even alone it is a stunning read.

Yoshitaka Amano's art is simply breathtaking. It is so perfectly matched with the text, but completely stand alone in its own right.

I was thrilled to discover a prose story in the Sandman universe. It was fascinating to see how Neil Gaiman delivered a wonderful retelling of a classic Japanese fable and seamlessly injected Morpheus into the tale. As always, Gaiman's wonderful storytelling creates a sense of magic and wonder that propels the story along.

This is one of the most wonderful short stories I've read in a long time. A Japanese fairytale is a nice shift from the medieval world fairytales I usually read. Oh and the illustrations are AMAZING! Well worth checking out, even, if like me, you have not delved into the Sandman universe. No previous reading required to enjoy this gem. I did read the comic version previous to this, but I think I am partial to this illustrated version more...mostly because of Yoshitaka Amano's amazingly ethereal artwork