The Sandman Vol. 08: Worlds' End (1994)

This collection of stories has a very different look from previous Sandman volumes, but I liked the way that they were presented, from various travelers who have ended up at the World's End. Only a couple of volumes left, and then I'll likely re-visit my notes on each of the Sandman collections and write up more detailed reviews. ( )

And so we get our first taste of the infamous House of Mystery, the harbor at World's End, where safety and drink in the limbo between dimensions can be bought with the price of a tale.

I'm pretty fond of these short stories, but perhaps not as fond as I was the first time I read them. They're solid and thought-provoking, but not overly so.

I suppose what really got to me was the end of the volume. The wake. *shiver* Okay, that was some seriously deep shit. When death looked at us like that? Oh lordy that was great. Sometimes the art gets it right, and this one? Yeah. It gets it right.

*shiver*

I LOVE great foreshadowing. :) ( )

This got bumped up as one of my preferred volumes of Sandman. Interesting and slightly haunting framing device; lots of interesting stories in between. Fun, interesting. Nothing outright disturbing like e.g. Dr. Doom's diner hostages way back when. ( )

The story begins with Brant Tucker, and his co-worker Charlene Mooney being involved in a car crash. As he staggers out of the car and helps the injured Charlene, he realizes that he is being directed to a building by a hedgehog! This building, rather than being your regular pub, this is one of four inns that travellers are able to take shelter in when there are reality storms in the fabric between worlds.

They are welcomed into the inn, and their injuries are dealt with. Soon after the other guests who have sought shelter, start to tell each other stories. These tales vary from the historic, set in Europe in the past on a cargo ship. The fantastical, a boy who becomes a man who becomes a president, to the unreal with faeries and the macabre with another on a necropolis city that deals with death. Each story is linked by a scene in the inn, before the next character takes up the challenge of a new account.

Brilliantly illustrated as normal, the sandman books are a pleasure to read, whilst being dark and edgy enough to be unsettling too. These collection feel more cohesive too, as it all takes place in the inn, then ranges far and wide with the yarns. What is cleverly done is that each of these separate stories has been illustrated by a different artist, so they feel like they are coming from a different narrator. Quality graphic novel from Gaiman, as ever. ( )

This one may well be my favorite of the entire series. I love the story-within-a-story trope. The more deeply layered, the greater my adoration. It doesn't hurt that the stories in this are right up my ally as well - with hints of madness and brief glimpses of alternate worlds. One of the stories, "A Tale of Two Cities" is one of my favorite pieces of short fiction. ( )