What happens when Lucifer decides to leave hell? Season of Mists, the fourth volume of The Sandman answers that question as Dream heads to Hell to release a former lover who has been imprisoned and tortured for thousands of years. Upon arrival, he finds Hell empty, and Lucifer hands him the key to the kingdom.

Gaiman draws a multitude of mythology and mythological characters into this volume, as representatives of many mythological groups seek the key to Hell from Dream. This provides an interesting look at the interactions between them (Thor getting ridiculously drunk and hitting on women during the banquet, for example). The character of Lucifer is excellent as well, and God's reward to the two angels who oversaw Dreams decision? Well, that's up to the reader to decide.

This is the best of the first four volumes in the series, and should not be missed by fans, nor casual observers. ( )

It is unfortunate that Gaiman seems to be unable to surrender his archetypal cast to either humanity or inhumanity, but lets them sit awkwardly in the middle. Though he often presents Dream and his siblings as falling to love or petty squabbling, their reactions to such are often not to work towards decision, but to subside. In those cases where they do act, it becomes merely a meaningless exercise to continue the story. When this is done for the purpose of framing other tales and interweaving ideas, it does not bother so much, but when it is the story itself, it loses that edge.

Dream, like most if not all of Gaiman's protagonists, seems to operate merely as an oculus for the reader, and we often find his own chance at decision revoked. The same is true of American Gods or Neverwhere, where any conflict set up against the main character tends to be resolved without growth or change since there is no decision made.

It is perhaps Gaiman's reticence on these archetypal characters which provides that the dialogue of this collection is often ungainly and without art. Gaiman works better when knee-deep in humanity than when trying to work beyond it. ( )

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Okay, I am royally pissed now because I wrote a whole blog for this book, and I thought it was quite cute if not really good, and now it is lost! So, I am going to try to remember what I wrote and recreate it, but who knows how that will go. It will probably sound forced and annoying. Blah.

I really see the value of writing these blogs right after I finish the books because I finished Season of Mists last night, and already it is getting confused in my head with A Game of You, which I started today. And that’s no good because Season of Mists was my favorite of The Sandman series so far, although I really liked the first book as well.

So yeah...I finished Season of Mists last night. Let’s start with the introduction this time just for variety’s sake and because…well, it’s at the beginning. When I sat down to read the book, my boyfriend told me that Harlan Ellison was a jerk, and on the second page I knew he was right. I don’t admit this often, so something must have triggered it. Ellison’s comments, like “if you’re one of the few surviving atavists who still read for the pure pleasure of intellectual invigoration,” were really condescending. As I am one of those “atavists,” I can only imagine how an Average Joe would feel when he picks up this book for pleasure and finds the introduction chocked with smatterings of Latin and French. Who needs it? Not me. And furthermore, the introduction seemed to do little besides stroke both Ellison’s and Gaiman’s egos. I failed to see a message besides the fact that Ellison thinks Gaiman is as brilliant, or almost as brilliant, as he finds himself.

Enough though, because I really liked this book, and I really don’t want to get stuck being snarky about the introduction. The overarching storyline (I believe it’s called an arc, for whatever reason) is that Dream has to return to Hell after a family meeting because his siblings feel he was unjust to a former lover, Nada (which he WAS). Nada means “nothing” in Spanish, and it means “dew” in Arabic, but this is totally useless and unrelated knowledge that only makes me more like Ellison. Anyway…apparently, Dream pissed off Lucifer in book one (I don’t remember him being pissed off and I haven’t gone back to check), and Lucifer has a very original way of getting revenge. He abdicates. He kicks everybody out of Hell and gives Dream the key. So the story really ends up being about the groups of beings that travel to “The Dreaming” to obtain the key to Hell from Dream.

The factions are: Thor, Odin, and Loki; Anubis, Bast, and Bes; Susano-O-No-Mikoto; Azazel, the Merkin, and Choronzon; Lord Kilderkin (the manifestation of order); Shivering Jemmy of the Shallow Brigade (a princess of Chaos); and Remiel and Duma (angels). Remiel and Duma are just there to observe (haha). Hopefully at least some of these names are familiar as all of the characters are famous mythological deities/creatures from around the world. The borrowed characters aren’t really a problem though, possibly this is because of the medium (I’ve already come to expect that some of the characters will be visitors from other stories). But mostly, I think it’s because like most good artists, Gaiman creates his own mythology as he goes along. This particular story is the mythology of how the war between Heaven and Hell ends. I won’t tell you how it ends, but I will say that I was not happy about who obtained the keys to Hell. Gaiman may be a religious man after all, despite the “r” rated nature of his books.

To return to the beginning (this is becoming an issue for me I fear—this circular writing thing), the family meeting affords the opportunity to meet all the Endless, except Destruction, who is on holiday. I am looking forward to getting to know Delirium better, but she’ll be hard pressed to replace Death or Dream as my favorite character. Death is great! I really hope Gaiman is divinely inspired in this mythology so that when I die an adorable brunette shows up to take me on.

Oh, and did I mention this was my favorite so far? Thank goodness I have seven more to read! :) ( )

The Sandman saga continues, as delightful as ever, even when the subject is a study on suffering. Gaiman proves how out-of-date and out-of-touch is the Religious Right. While Christian fundamentalists posture and tell us what to do in our private lives, the entire balance of power is changing in the war between Heaven and Hell. Reviewers talk about Gaiman creating new or modern myth, but I think he continues the traditions of the old ones, not so much reinterpreting traditional stories, but channeling the current events of gods who are alive today.

The fourth collected volume of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series does seem like a bit of an improvement over earlier entries, with a more consistent storyline and some moments of real narrative interest. However, there is still something a bit disppointing about all of this, with the persistent tone of over-seriousness and Gaiman's apparent desire to drench his own creation with tepid flavorings from mythology and literary history. Gaiman clearly has talent (some of his illustrators less so), but there is a layer of arch gothic silliness that sits on top of Sandman and restricts movement and possibility - as with earlier volumes, there are interesting ideas trying to break through to the surface, if only the creators of this series would allow them to do so. ( )