I hope they didn't get your mind...

We need to fetch back the time

They have stolen from us

So I figured a blow by blow review (Well, I don't really do reviews, it's more a general emotional response thing, no?) as I read each volume of The Sandman was going to be rather unsustainable. Especially the rate at which I've been devouring them :). So this seems like a good time to sort of pause a little. At the end of Brief Lives (aka The Sandman volume 7).

I shall borrow shamelessly from Tim Callahan over at Tor, the bit where he proposes the cycle of "quest, aid, pot-pourri" to summarise what the first six volumes seem to do, in turn. The point being, the first is where our dear Dream of the Endless (best character name, ever by the way) goes on a quest, the second where he helps someone else, and the third where, well, it's just a general messy bunch of stories clumped together.

I must admit I didn't particularly love volumes 3 and 6, the pot-pourri ones. There are undoubtedly some nice stories in there, but it's all just a bit too all over the place. So from volume 3 to 7, my absolute favourite is Brief Lives. And not just because of Delirium :). (That's just such a totally awesome character though! I mean, she can turn her eyes back to the same colour. But only if she tries oh so very hard. And it hurts. Jeez! Awesome!! Well, I suppose you'd have to read it for that to make any sense.) Anyhoo, more than Delirium, or even the prodigal Destruction, I like how everything just sort of makes sense! Even when it probably shouldn't. There is a random scattered logic to it all.

All labyrinths are one labyrinth, all mazes meet at the centre.

I mean come on! That's just brilliant :). A not that close second would be A Game of You. I should really stop reading the re-read thing till I'm done with it all though. Dude's really not all that careful about sideways spoilers about future volumes. I mean I get it, it's a re-read thing, but still!

--

So I went swimming again today, after close to a month I think. A couple of hundred metres in I got the feeling I've been reading a little too much Sandman a little too quickly. See, someone's been asking me recently what I see when I close my eyes. The first few times there seriously was just nothing. I mean, there's too many things, which is sort of the same thing. But I suppose that's the sort of thing where the more you think about it the more you keep thinking about it. Whatever.

Anyway, there I was, head properly and happily underwater after a long time, floating along, and I kept thinking, if I just close my eyes, I'll have no trouble finding my way right into the in-between places, the space between the realms. No real sounds, the occasional passing shadow, the even less frequent pressure of displacement as someone (or something?) passes by in a hurry. Hmm. I really need to finish off with this stuff before things get properly out of hand :P.

Also, new and entertaining music has landed on the radar.

Currently: hmm
Listening to: Milky Chance - Stolen dance