The spell has been broken, the dream has ended. Well, at least, for now. I was really surprised at how weak the writing was in this volume; it felt more like a spin-off than part of the actual series. Dream was barely present; he was more of a side character, only appearing briefly in the series that was named after him. Whatever was Neil Gaiman thinking when he decided to centre the story on Barbie?Yes, Barbie. If felt so off centre and removed from The Sandman myth: the very thing that makes t...

The Sandman series goes from strength to strength, capable of reinventing itself with each new collection. Morpheus is mostly absent at the start of A Game of You , but that's all right, as the new characters prove interesting enough without his presence. The story takes place partly in a New York tenement, peopled with oddball characters that for some reason reminded me of Will Eisner, and partly in a fantasy realm that is lost in a far corner of Morpheus' Dreamcountry. Connecting the two is

With their princess missing from the Land, Wilson, Prinado, Martin Tenbones and Luz are on the verge of losing the fight with the Cuckoo. As a last resort, Martin Tenbones sets out to find said Princess and have her (re)join the fight. Unfortunately, he is killed before he can fully deliver his message.Following her divorce, Barbie has led a rather isolated and zombie-like existence, having only her friend Wanda force the occasional outing on her. The last of these gives our protagonist quite a

A Game of You, the 5th volume in the Sandman series, is my favorite so far. One thing I've noticed Gaiman is very good at is picking up little threads he dropped in previous stories and building on them (this was one of my favorite things about Buffy; there's nothing more rewarding for a viewer/reader than a story that doesn't forget its past). The most notable one that gets picked up in this volume is the main character, Barbie, who was a minor character in The Doll's House. In that volume, we

I have read the first five volumes of The Sandman, and so far this is only my third favorite (after A Doll's House and Seasons of Mist). Its development is somewhat muddy, its narrative too crowded with characters, and it is somewhat removed from the central myth of Sandman and the theological and cosmic questions which surround him, themes I find the most compelling part of this series. I admit, though, that this preference may be merely a matter of taste. What A Game of You lacks in abstract m...

More of the same.As I wrote that it occurred to me that 'more of the same' is usually used in a negative sense but, in this case, it means 'more of the same absolutely incredible writing'.I can't give these 5 stars, though, because the artwork continues to be just OK. People have assured me the artwork gets better as the series goes along but I'm not seeing any sign of that yet.

This was another fun, creative, weird, deceptively deep installment in the series. I really appreciate the fact that this fifth volume, like its immediate predecessor, feels like a complete thought on its own. There is no cliffhanger here. The story, while introduced earlier in the series, is a complete one. My biggest complaint is that the art style seemed to change from chapter to chapter, and the differences in how particular characters were drawn was a distraction.

We’re back in the game!!! Creative Team:Writer: Neil GaimanIllustrators: Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran, Bryan Talbot, George Pratt & Stan WochCovers: Dave McKeanLetterer: Todd Klein FAIRY TALES, NATURE’S FORCES, BLOOdY WITCHCRAFT & COMPACT’S TERMS I am truly GLAD that my struggles in Season of Mists (the fourth volume) were left there and Neil Gaiman played with my mind a game, a wonderful game of words and images, a game where ironically you are given the rules of it until the end, but that

Impressed once again! I have so much love for this series. Full review to come...

A Game of You reintroduces us to the minor character of Barbie from the 2nd volume, The Doll's House.I really liked how this story plays out, along with the new characters of Wanda, Hazel, Thessaly and Foxglove.The story of Barbie goes from fantasy (her dreamworld) to her real life in NYC throughout the whole volume.It felt like I needed some acid at times to figure out the fantasy elements of her dreamworld and what was really going on?!But isn't that what's great about dreams?You'll wake up fr...

In this fifth Sandman volume we meet some characters from previous ones. Barbie chief amongst them. She no longer dreams and as it turns out, that really will drive you mad - of sorts. We therefore get a magical dreamland, some colourful house-mates of different sexualities and *clears throat* ages and, of course, the Lord of Dreams.Not sure if this volume actually does anything for the overall story - I'll only be able to judge that later - but it was quite some fun. From small-minded small-tow...

After reading issues 29-31 and not enjoying them at all, I expected this volume to be not so good. However, I liked reading Barbie’s story even if Dream didn’t appear much in this volume. Yes, it wasn’t nearly as good as Season of Mists but well, I doubt any upcoming volume will be. A Game of You was fun and intriguing. I found the flawed characters interesting and they quickly grew on me. It was also nice to read about Barbie, a character we’ve met before, and discover more about her.That being...

Why do these have to be so heartbreaking?

“In the pale light of the moon I play the game of you. Whoever I am. Whoever you are. All sense of where I am, of who I am and where I'm going has been swallowed by the dark. And I walk through the stars and sky...a trinity of dreams beneath the moon.”So far I have loved each volume of this story both equally and more than the previous volumes. Meaning I like the first or third volumes just as much as I love this one, but they almost feel like a part of this one, so each new insight into the End...

This came into my bookstore and I hadn't read it in a couple years, plus it's the one with the transwoman in it, and I was feeling emotionally vulnerable. So bring it on! So... yeah. So when I was a little kid I read this and it was like, I was a baby transsexual and all I knew about it was that I'd better not talk about it or admit it to myself or to anybody else. So this book touched me in kind of a weird place and I was SUPER stoked that it treated a transwoman as a human being and, y'know, i...

I don’t think home’s a place anymore. I think it’s a state of mind.My favorite volume thus far. Love some 90s trans representation. We all have a world inside our head.

Sandman continues to confound and confusticate, though that’s good thing in this instance. This volume took a sharp left turn from the last one, with a minor character taking center stage and Dream playing only a small supporting role. It’s a little bit like watching a Ghostbusters spinoff where Louis Tully gets lead billing and Peter Venkman shows up to crack a few jokes toward the end before high-fiving Slimer in a closing freeze frame (which, incidentally, is a spinoff I’d watch the crap out

Re-Read 5/1/20:*shiver* Such goodness may deserve a more verbose review, but fortunately, I already wrote one. :) And I don't really have much new to say. :)Original Review:I love Barbie. I love Wanda. I love Thessaly.Truly, this was one hell of a tightly-woven story including inner-worlds, cuckoo birds, ancient witches, pulling down the moon, and death.There's no way in hell that I could really boil it down to essentials. As a whole, it seriously rocks and hits me in the feels. Sexual identity

I'll just launch right into it. A Game of You centers on a quintet of (mostly) mortal women sharing an apartment building in New York, two of whom are lesbians, one of whom is trans, one of whom is cishet, and the last of whom is an ageless witch. The cishet woman, Barbie, is the protagonist, or at least the person most of the action centers on; the trans woman, Wanda, is arguably the emotional core. For those not already in the loop, I'll also remind you that our author is a cishet man, and fur...

I really like how Gaiman explores child imagined fantasy worlds like Narnia or Oz. Yet at the same time this is also very much about identity and how we view ourselves, especially those of queer and trans orientations. I really enjoy how Gaiman weaves in elements of past storylines as this reaches back to minor characters from A Doll's House and the demented issue where Dr. Destiny tortures the patrons of a diner in Preludes & Nocturnes. These little Easter eggs really add to my enjoyment of the...