I seem to have been on a real fantasy/steampunk kick lately. Phoenix Rising is by far the most steampunky thing I’ve read lately. The story centers on two agents of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, Eliza D. Braun and Wellington Books. Eliza is enamored of dynamite, guns, and action, while her new partner is a by-the-book Archivist. Their last names are not coincidental. The two are forced to work together, and quickly discover a mystery in the Archives’ unsolved case files that has connections to […]
The Magical Girl Goes Abroad
This second volume follows the continuing adventures of Jane and Vincent as they embark on their honeymoon to Belgium to visit a glamourist friend of Vincent’s. While there, news arrives that Napoleon has returned from exile; Jane and Vincent are faced with the problem of how to get back to England safely. Glamour in Glass is a lot less Austen-esque then Shades of Milk and Honey, and also far more serious. Imminent war takes over the second half of the story, and there is more […]
More Dream, more weirdness, we all win.
After my deep enjoyment of Dream Country, I worried that I wouldn’t enjoy anything as much as that “Midsummer Night’s Dream” episode. But seriously, that’s foolishness on my part. Neil is a great writer, and I should just trust him, right? Right. While this serial was not my favorite in the series, I did find the enhancement of Dream’s personal narrative to be a worthy one. I think that it complicated the series and Dream himself. This volume seems to connect to Dream’s larger story […]
A series of unconnected dreams
I’ve really been enjoying Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novel series, and this installment was no different. While the narrative did not necessarily build on the previous saga, I did enjoy the episodic tales told throughout this collection. I think that Gaiman is a master storyteller, and his short episodes help build up the nature and character of Morpheus/Dream. This time, Dream Country sees Dream in a series of seemingly unrelated stories that are each fascinating, frustrating, or horrifying. “Calliope” follows frustrated writer Richard Madoc who […]