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Loading... The Sandman : The Dream Huntersby Neil Gaiman
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Although the concept was interesting and the illustrations were beautiful, I entered this expected the same level of depth as the main Sandman volumes and found myself disappointed. (  )TurtleKnitta | May 15, 2009 |   "Nothing is done entirely for nothing. Nothing is wasted. You are older, and you have made decisions, and you are not the fox you were yesterday. Take what you have learned, and move on." "The Sandman: The Dream Hunters" is a novella by Gaiman and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano of "Final Fantasy" fame. The story is tangential to the "The Sandman" comic book series, and can be read without prior knowledge of the main sequence. Portraying Dream in this Eastern milieu just so vividly points up again the truly universally mythical nature of the character -- truly an elegant confection of literary and artistic matrimony. You will find etheral, haunting paintings with a traditional Japanese feel to them which seem to take on their own life. Amano uses color dramatically, whether in a few somber tones or wild splashes of color that take your breath away. It begins with a wager between a kitsune (fox) and a tanuki (raccoon dog), the prize being the monk's temple that the winner will use as a den. But the fox falls in love with the monk and later, when she discovers that the lord of a nearby estate means him ill, she goes into The Dreaming and strikes a bargain with Morpheus (the King of All Night's Dreaming) to enable her to save the monk's life. The story retains the serene bittersweetness that often characterizes Asian stories, and Amano's mysterious illustrations lend a depth and elegance that is simply breathtaking. Gaiman's afterword states that it was based on an old Japanese folk tale, drawn from Y. T. Ozaki's "Old Japanese Fairy Tales" and retooled to fit in the world of the Sandman, but no such tale is to be found in Ozaki's work. Gaiman has since stated when asked that the story was entirely of his own devising, most recently in the Foreword to "The Sandman: Endless Nights". Book Details: Title The Sandman: The Dream Hunters Author Neil Gaiman & Yoshitaka Amano Reviewed By Purplycookie (  ) | Apr 12, 2009 | edit | |   Summary: The Dream Hunters is a lavishly told and gorgeously illustrated take of the Japanese folk tale "The Fox, The Monk, and The Mikado of All Night's Dreaming", set in the Sandman universe. In it, a fox falls in love with a monk who lives alone in a remote temple, and she is willing to sacrifice her life to save his - even if it means invoking the Dream King's help. The tale is told in prose, not in typical graphic-novel format, but Yoshitaka Amano's ethereal illustrations adorn every facing page. Review: A beautiful little book that should be enjoyed by Sandman fans and non-Sandman fans alike. While a fair bit of this does take place in the Dreaming, and several familiar faces other than Morpheus make an appearance, it would certainly be understandable and enjoyable without having read the ten volumes that make up the "main" Sandman canon. It's a lovely tale, and I loved how Gaiman retained the Japanese folk-tale feeling while still working it into the Sandman universe - particularly when Cain and Abel showed up. The artwork similarly treads the border between the two worlds, giving us a vision of the Dream King who is simultaneously recognizable yet new, and who acts a reminder of the universality of the emotions if not the experiences of the tale. 4.5 out of 5 stars. Recommendation: An excellent introduction to Japanese folklore, the Sandman universe, or Gaiman's storytelling in general. It's a fast read, and so lovely that it shouldn't be missed. (  )fyrefly98 | Mar 23, 2009 | 1  This was a wonderful retelling of an old Japanese fairy tale of love and vengeance. The retelling is by Neil Gaiman, famous for his Sandman comics, and though this story has very little to do with his Sandman series, it does delve into the world of Dreams and we do come across the King of Dreams a couple times. The story is about a monk, a lone caretaker of a distant temple on the side of a mountain, and a neighboring fox. The fox ends up in love with the monk through his kindness. Being a Japanese fairy tale, the fox has wonderful spiritual magic and can come in the form of a beautiful young woman when she desires. The fox learns of a plot to kill the monk by another very powerful magician and she does everything she can to thwart him. The story is simple in its prose, but deep in its meaning. It is all at once a fairy tale and a classical opera in its story. The illustrations, much of which is a combination of traditional Japanese watercolor and a more modern illustrative style, along with a handful of great charcoal drawings, are a wonderful accompaniment. They certainly add great enjoyment to an already delightful story. It is all the better as the reader can work his way through it in a fairly short time, but could easily find new enjoyment in another reading. This book gets high ranks from me, 4.5/5. ( )kainlane | Feb 14, 2009 | Highly Highly recommended to all readers whether aquainted with the Sandman series or not. This stand-alone is a retelling of an asian (japanese?) tale. Dream does of course lend a hand and it's nice to see him again! The art in this book is incredibly beautiful- worth owning for the art alone but the story as well is a wonderful, sweet magical parable of a fox who falls in love with a monk and tries to save his life. Magical for all ages. ( )Jacey25 | Nov 7, 2008 | 1 0.081 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 156389629X, Paperback)Sandman fans should feel lucky that master fantasy writer Neil Gaiman discovered the mythical world of Japanese fables while researching his translation of Hayao Miyazaki's film Princess Mononoke. At the same time, while preparing for the Sandman 10th anniversary, he met Yoshitaka Amano, his artist for the 11th Sandman book. Amano is the famed designer of the Final Fantasy game series. The product of Gaiman's immersion in Japanese art, culture, and history, Sandman: Dream Hunters is a classic Japanese tale (adapted from "The Fox, the Monk, and the Mikado of All Night's Dreaming") that he has subtly morphed into his Sandman universe.Like most fables, the story begins with a wager between two jealous animals, a fox and a badger: which of them can drive a young monk from his solitary temple? The winner will make the temple into a new fox or badger home. But as the fox adopts the form of a woman to woo the monk from his hermitage, she falls in love with him. Meanwhile, in far away Kyoto, the wealthy Master of Yin-Yang, the onmyoji, is plagued by his fears and seeks tranquility in his command of sorcery. He learns of the monk and his inner peace; he dispatches demons to plague the monk in his dreams and eventually kill him to bring his peace to the onmyoji. The fox overhears the demons on their way to the monk and begins her struggle to save the man whom at first she so envied. Dream Hunters is a beautiful package. From the ink-brush painted endpapers to the luminous page layouts--including Amano's gate-fold painting of Morpheus in a sea of reds, oranges, and violets--this book has been crafted for a sensuous reading experience. Gaiman has developed as a prose stylist in the last several years with novels and stories such as Neverwhere and Stardust, and his narrative rings with a sense of timelessness and magic that gently sustains this adult fairy tale. The only disappointment here is that the book is so brief. One could imagine this creative team being even better suited to a longer story of more epic proportions. On the final page of Dream Hunters, in fact, Amano suggest that he will collaborate further with Mr. Gaiman in the future. Readers of Dream Hunters will hope that Amano's dream comes true. --Patrick O'Kelley (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:01 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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