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The Sandman Vol 10: The Wake

Sunday, October 16, 2005

The Sandman Vol 10: The Wake (1996) Neil Gaiman

The final book in The Sandman collection, volume 10, The Wake tells of the funeral of Morpheus, Dream of the Endless, and of how Dream rebuilds his realm, and meets the rest of his family.

I particularly like seeing how Matthew comes to terms with Dream’s death and his return. Perhaps because he is younger than others in the Dreaming, his reactions are different, his feelings more intense, and the mirror what I as the reader am feeling at the time. Lucien and Eve have been around for millennia. They have come to accept things in the Dreaming that Matthew still questions.

Regardless, it’s a lovely touch.

The remaining three stories are short tales. “Sunday Mourning” is about Hob, his adjustment to the death of Dream, and his continuing to come to terms with his past.

“Exiles” is another of my favorite stories. An old man and a kitten cross the desert, and twice meet with Dream. I love the art and the layout and the story. It all comes together perfectly for me, despite the fact, or perhaps because, it is story far more than it is dialogue, as the old men composes in his head, the letter he will wrote to is friend.

The last story, “The Tempest” finishes with Shakespeare as he concludes his deal with Dream. Although “The Tempest” provides us with a final insight into Dream, and why things happened the way they did, I think I would have preferred had the closed the series with “Exiles.”

If nothing else, reading The Wake through to the end gets me past the weepy feeling I get reading The Kindly Ones. It concludes everything, and lets you know that the stories will continue, even if we won’t be reading them.

Though of course we will, since I’ve already read, Endless Nights and The Dream Hunters, so I know there are at least two more stories to come. Although probably no more.
Rating: 8/10

Categories: 8/10, Graphic Novels, Paper

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