“Looking back, the process of coming up with the Lord of Dreams seems less like an act of creation than one of sculpture: as if he were already waiting, grave and patient, inside a block of white marble, and all I needed to do was chip away at everything that wasn’t him.”—Neil Gaiman in the Afterword of Preludes and Nocturnes
I really shouldn’t have been worried that this book, and (hopefully) this series, wasn’t going to stand the test of time. I was blown away, particularly by the last story, The Sound of Her Wings. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
In 1916, Roderick Burgess and his cabal seek to call Death to this realm and steal the power Death possesses. Something goes wrong and Dream is called instead. Still, they create a magick circle and imprison him, hoping to get whatever they can from him. Naturally, Dream won’t talk or even acknowledge them and is held captive for decades. When he finally escapes, he must regain his powers and he goes in search of his “tools”, which have been spread far and wide.
The successive chapters show Dream on this journey: he meets Cain and Abel (the first story) John Constantine, Lucifer and Doctor Destiny and the Sandman in his quest to regain his powers. Once he has his tools and his revenge, something is still missing. While in NYC, his older sister Death visits and takes him on her rounds. By the end of the day he as gained a new perspective and dare I say hope, in the sound of her wings.
This is the new fully recolored edition, and it is indeed a sight to behold. I look forward to immersing myself in this world in the days/weeks to come.
