The 4th collection of stories in the Sandman series is called Seaso of Mists, and, rather than being a set of independent stories, features pieces that flow together to create a single, cohesive plot. For that reason, it’s my favorite so far. The books begins with a meeting of the Endless, throughout which we are properly introduced to the rest Dream’s siblings (except for one brother who bailed on the family years ago); Destiny, Desire, Delirium, and Despair. Sometime during the meeting, Desire mentions that Morpheus might’ve overreacted just a tiny bit by banishing Nada to an eternity of torture in the realm of Lucifer when she wouldn’t be his queen. Just a little bit melodramatic. Just a little. Apparently, this never occurred to Morpheus. Having been told off, he follows the footsteps of Orpheus and Disney’s oh-so-inaccurate incarnation of Hercules, and goes on a quest to retrieve his lover from Hell.
The road to find Nada is long, and upon reaching Hell, Dream finds that Lucifer has made it impossible to retrieve her from Hell. To elaborate/summarize further would be to spoil the intrigue, but trust me, the gripping plot twists are strong with this one, and Nada’s plot’s ending is pretty emotional.
My favourite thing about this collection is the way the plots of each episode could stand alone, if need be, but flow together seamlessly, tying up all the loose ends and clever details in the end. I also can’t neglect to mention the appearances of a few new secondary characters; Thor, Loki (HE’S COOL. YOU CAN’T HELP BUT ROOT FOR LOKI) and the mysterious Odin from Norse mythology, Anubis and some Egyptian gods, the Shinto storm-god, some angels and a whole mess of demons. My inner five-year-old girl was most excited about the representatives from Faerie, Cluracan and Nuala, and how they were portrayed. Gaiman’s attention to detail is astounding, like having Nuala eat rose petals rather than solid food. Finally, bravo to the artists who depicted everything beautifully and appropriately, from the torture cells in Hell, to the representation of Order.
As usual, Gaiman blew me away. I WILL be reading this again.
Submitted by Rachel Hill
