I much preferred this story to the first volume. It flowed better, in my mind. What I most enjoyed was the side story that detailed an odd friendship between Dreams and a man who refused to die. Just brilliant. ( )

I much preferred this story to the first volume. It flowed better, in my mind. What I most enjoyed was the side story that detailed an odd friendship between Dreams and a man who refused to die. Just brilliant. ( )

I much preferred this story to the first volume. It flowed better, in my mind. What I most enjoyed was the side story that detailed an odd friendship between Dreams and a man who refused to die. Just brilliant. ( )

The Doll's House is the second in Gaiman's Sandman series, after Preludes and Nocturnes, and I must say I am now hooked. I did enjoy the first novel, but I didn't feel that burning need to read the second - the true mark that I am not totally in love with a series. The Doll's House, on the other hand, I was sad to finish, and I'm already planning on heading to Barnes and Noble to pick up the next two graphic novels in the series...probably today.

Many times when I read something I deem creepy, it's in a sporadic, silly, or disgusting way, but not this novel. Gaiman sets a creepy tone and maintains it throughout the entire story. The pictures accompanying the text - this is afterall a graphic novel - do nothing the diminish this tone. I never found myself smiling at a ridiculous image. When I did smile, for there is humor, it was not a this-is-funny type of grin; it was more an amused but horrified grimace.

The plot involves interweaving stories which simultaneously focus on Dream, one of the Endless and if I'm not mistaken, the main character in the series, and Rose Walker, the focus of this book in the series. Rose, unknowingly and mistakenly, is a dream vortex. The Doll's House is her story. And yet, it is a continuation of Dream's story begun in Preludes and Nocturnes. I find myself wanting to say so much more and yet any type of plot summary, in my mind, is a spoiler. I don't even read the backs of novels before reading the story itself. Suffice it to say, the plot is complex, surreal, and most importantly, interesting. ( )

http://books.moonsoar.com/archives/20... ( )

Continuing with many of the same themes brought to us in volume one of the Sandman series, Neil Gaiman introduces the twins in The Doll's House. Having already become well acquainted with Dream, spent one story with Death and briefly mentioned Destiny, only four of the Endless were left unknown to the reader and DH brings us a little closer to understanding both Despair and Desire.

DH also introduces many other characters that will later show up in different stories, weaving intricate patterns into the fabric of Sandman. DH claims four stars and is well worth a read wether or not you've read PN (although, like I've said, I strongly recommend that Sandman be read in completion). As an individual story, I very much enjoy reading (and re-reading) Men of Good Fortune. It's a simple story in which we meet one of the humans who has been granted immortality. I like it because it shows that, with a willingness to live, nothing is too difficult to be overcome. ( )

Not, overall, among my favourites from the Sandman volumes, but it does a nice job setting up a lot of circumstances that will come back later on in the series. Highlights include the introduction of Hob Gadling (one of the most intriguing characters in the series) and the disturbingly witty way Gaiman handles a convention of serial killers.

This is where the Sandman series really hits its stride. The Doll's House story line is entertaining, horrifying and amusing at the same time, and the stand-alone 'Men of good Fortune' is a wonderful interlude. The art work remains distinctive with its muted tones and shades. Excellent. ( )

Gaiman grows the universe of the Sandman in the second volume, The Doll's House. Collecting Sandman issues 9-16, Dream resumes picking up his life and kingdom, attempting to recover several of the nightmares who left his kingdom during his absence - Brute, Glob, and the Corinthian. During his searching, Dream discovers another vortex in the dream-world, this one being a young girl named Rose Walker.

Rose is looking for her younger brother, Jed, who she hasn't seen for many years. Jed, however, falls into the hands of the Corinthian, a serial-killer nightmare. The Corinthian is on his way to a serial-killer convention, and this is part of the volume is one of the reasons The Sandman is under the horror genre, as descriptions and depictions of the serial killers and the Corinthian are quite horrific.

Part four (The 13th issue), Men of Good Fortune, is an interesting deviation from the other chapters, as Dream meets a man in a tavern in the 14th century who tells his friends he won't ever die because he thinks everyone else does it to fit in with the norm. Dream then offers the man a meeting, 100 years from that night, at the same bar. This continues for many meetings, each a century apart, and shows an interesting transition and growth in the man - and growth in the Sandman at the end. ( )

I've limited these novels to three stars for the dark content within, but I do enjoy much of the storyline. Very imaginative images and topics, and the homage to G.K. Chesterton was sweet. I like the way Gaiman plays with ideas and his characters are compelling, at least the ones which aren't repulsive are compelling. ( )

Though Gaiman had already made his mark with Black Orchid, Sandman is where he really begins to fall into his style, which sometimes becomes his downfall in its predictability.

Here, he plays for perhaps the first time at mixing mythology, spirituality, and strange real events into a story beyond the ken of other fairytale rewrites and new age mysticism. There is a sense here that the characters and story are still undeveloped in his mind, which provides the reader with some welcome ambiguity, as soon he will nail down the characters into something a bit too precise and not quite realistic enough.

Of course, this merely becomes his frame around which he tells stories from any place or era which more than make up for the lack of conflict in other parts. The final story in this collection is an exploration of the depths of human desire and control, which recalls to us the depravity of The Lord Of The Flies. It should be unsurprising to us that Sandman became a classic by shocking and questioning its readers, and it must sadden us that no more comics have won the World Fantasy Award since. ( )

This is the best volume to start the series with. Except for the brilliant "The Sound of Her Wings," the first volume is rather lackluster and might fool people into thinking this series is something it's not.

The Doll's House, though, is a great, fairly self-contained introduction to many of our main players in Sandman. It's creepy, surreal, fantastic, romantic, and thought-provoking. While you can read this volume without the first, you shouldn't move forward until you've read this. ( )

Was there ever a more romantic, chilling story about a young woman discovering her animus? I find myself growing irrationally enamored of Morpheus/Sandman/King of Dreams in this second collection of his comic books. He must embody aspects of my personal animus. I am jealous of Rose Walker (wonderful name) who is allowed the privilege of facing Him, of negotiating for her life with Him, and of having her own brief moment of power in the Dream World.

Stories unfurl within stories. Characters from the past re-enter the action in ways that redefine their roles in previous episodes.
Perhaps my favorite story is what seems to be a minor interlude -- the tale of Robert Gadling, a man 'too smart' for death, whose tavern boast in 1389 is overheard by Death herself. He is granted a reprieve from both dying & aging, and becomes, perhaps, the first mortal to befriend an Endless. We will see him again.

I'm not going to bother with the plot of this book, it is ultimately as surreal and as disconnected as the very best of dreams. If you like linear easy to understand plots then this is really not for you. I loved it, and I can't wait to read the next in the series. So, if you are looking for something a bit different that rewards a little commitment and effort then give it a go. ( )

The Doll's House is the second book in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series detailing the activities of Dream. Dream is one of the Endless, along with his siblings Death, Desire, Delirium, Destiny, and Despair, they are essentially the embodiments of perpetual elements of human life.

The story of this volume involves more of the fall-out from Dream's enforced absence from his realm that was detailed in Volume 1 as the sand man sets out to collect some wayward subjects of his realm. The focus character in The Doll's House is Rose Walker, a fairly ordinary seeming teenager who turns out to be more important than she realizes, and more important than even Dream realizes. The book explores what can happen when dreams are left to run amuck in the human world, essentially the flip side of Preludes and Nocturnes, which showed the dangers of humans having control of the power of dreams.

The four missing dreams take different paths, one nightmarishly inspiring an army of horrific imitators, two aspiring to elevate themselves to power, but dealing with the very smallest of arenas, and third simply trying to discover what it means to be human. In between is sandwiched the story of Hob, a man who simply refuses to die, and as a result becomes Dream's friend, probably Dream's only friend.

Eventually, the interference of the runaway dreams, the unique nature of Rose Walker herself, and the plotting of Dream's own relatives creates the crisis of the story. In the end, the story turns out more or less happy, although several elements, such as the way Dream leaves the human attendees at the "Cereal" convention leaves much open to interpretation.

This, like the other volumes in the Sandman series, is Gaiman at his creepy best. One can see, in graphic novel form, the ideas that spurred him to create American Gods. Gaiman mixes the ethereal world of the Dream realm with the harsh reality of the real world, and adds to it a raw edge of harsh evil even beyond that to create a truly memorable story. ( )

Sandman is growing on me. I'm grooving on the dreamy boundary-jumping, characters, and what I understand of underlying ideas. Good fun. ( )

This lived up to my expectations as part 2 of the Sandman series. The character of the sandman is introduced further and some idea of his role in the world is given.

I will read all of these. I love the dark twistedness of it. ( )

A young woman searches for her missing younger brother, unaware that she is drawing stray dreams and nightmares to her.

Ask me to choose a favourite SANDMAN volume and you'll place me in a tricky position indeed, but I think this one might be it. As is the case with Preludes and Nocturnes, it's a fairly simple story that gains surprising depth when you consider it in light of the series as a whole. Gaiman really hits his stride here; he gives us a creepy, sometimes gory horror tale that also manages to be a personal story about a young woman and her complicated family dynamic. And man, are there ever some great graphic twists! The scene in which we slip from the waking world into Rose's dream is one of my very favourites. It draws the reader straight into the story; in order to follow along, we must physically alter the way we're reading the book. It's great stuff.

The book can be read as a stand-alone, but it nevertheless adds a great deal to the whole SANDMAN mythos. We've already met Death, and we've heard mention of Destiny; now we meet Desire and Despair, two more of Dream's siblings. We also hear mention of Delirium and the mysterious, as-of-yet-unnamed "prodigal." Some events from the first volume play a role in this one, and we begin to get a feel for the ways in which all these stories are interconnected. I'm leery of saying too much for fear of letting spoilers slip, but you'll want to pay close attention to what's going on here. Look at how Dream is characterized, and consider which characters from the first volume have made repeat appearances here. Consider the exchanges between Desire and Despair, and between Desire and Dream. There's some great stuff going on here, and it astounds me that Gaiman, over the course of SANDMAN's eight-year run, managed to weave all these little bits and pieces into such a rich, meaningful tale.

Highly recommended. You'll probably want to start with Preludes and Nocturnes, but it's not absolutely necessary. ( )

It's not that this was a worse instalment than the first one—I liked the Rose arc, and the introduction of Hob is the first meeting with a character who will become a good friend—but it's just far too gory for me. The bit with the serial killer convention... I'm not particularly squeamish, but I found it stomach churning. ( )

Collecting comics 9-16 in The Sandman series. Dream continues to look for what is missing from his realm after recovering his artifacts in the first collection. This time what is missing is four of the major arcana. Brute and Glob he searches for first and finds hiding in the mind and dreams of a child. They have captured a ghost who they have set up as "The Sandman", a superhero who keeps the abused and mistreated child company along with his pregnant wife. The Corinthian is a nightmare with teeth for eyes who is found at a "Cereal" convention. He has inspired many serial killers throughout the world and is there as a guest of honour before Dream captures him. The fourth is Fiddlers Green who is a place and not a person in the land of Dream. He is trying out life in the human world, taking on human form for a time.

Desire of the Endless has a hand in things, trying to manipulate Dream using human girl Rose Walker to further his/her/it's own ends with the help of Despair. Rose has no idea what she and her family are caught up in as the truth is slowly revealed tying in nicely with the first collection. She is a vortex in the dream world and is somehow pulling the major arcana towards her helping Dream and his raven sidekick Matthew track them down by following her.

Gripping and deeply disturbing, it introduces some more of Dreams family and explains more of their role in our realm. They are not supposed to manipulate humans, it is the other way around but some seem to forget this. It will be itneresting to see what Dream does now that his realm seems to finally be in order. ( )

This wasn't particularly memorable to me, so I'll have to read it again. I do remember one notable part: being introduced to Hob Gadling, who Dream granted immortality centuries ago to satisfy Hob's idea that men only die as long as they believe they will. Dream meets with him once every hundred years, in the same spot. I dunno, I thought that was one of the cooler things in this volume. ( )

About as good as it is possible to get. 24 Hours one of the most compelling and horrific stories I have read in a long time. Love it! ( )

Link to a review on my personal website (might be in Swedish). ( )

Immer noch im Horrogenre aus Preludes and Nocturnes wurzelnd, werden in The Dolls House langsam epische Dimensionen geöffnet. ( )

The novel Coraline intrigued me so much, gave me such shivers, that I wanted to read more of Neil Gaiman. So what do I do? As a good librarian, I consulted my library catalogue and reserved a bunch of his books. This was the first tantalising selection that was available. I am not sure if it is sequential, but volume two reads well as a stand alone. I am not quite sure what to say exactly, as I am not well versed in graphic novels nor the horror genre. The premise was interesting- that their is a netherworld of the "dreaming" with nightmares that can escape into reality and, taking human form, create some pretty gruesome havoc. However, the illustrations were not as spectacular as the cover page would lead you to believe and the writing felt a little bit contrived at times. In terms of sheer horror, I would have to pick Coraline over the Doll's House, but that might be just my familiarity and comfort with the novel format rearing its ugly head. ( )