Is Neil Gaiman Overrated?

[A Time for Wolves]

Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe I'm interrogating the text from the wrong perspective. But I find the more I read Neil Gaiman, the more convinced I am that he is a poor writer with excellent ideas.

I only really liked Good Omens (which barely counts, since Pratchett co-wrote it) and Anansi Boys. I liked Sandman too but I'm only talking about Neil Gaiman's novels here. I think his talents as a comic writer and a novel writer are distinct from each other. I don't mean to say he's an awful writer - I mean that the more I read, the more I feel that he isn't up to the standard that you would expect from someone who obviously has thoughts worth writing about.

His prose is on a sixth grade level, he never manages to successfully build to a climax, his characters are flat, dull, end up in implausible situations and never seem very questioning/concerned/interested in anything, and what frustrates me a little is that I love his black humor and his ideas and I always feel that "This could be AWESOME" and then it ends up being disappointing for the above reasons.

Anyone else feel that maybe Neil Gaiman is overrated? Do we stop reading popular authors critically once they've been established? Or am I missing something? I'm sure I very well could be missing something because I might simply have a mind geared to some other style of writing and hence have trouble adjusting. I'm just interested to see if anyone else feels the same way about Gaiman.

[peterbound]

Quick answer: No, he's not

Have you read his short story collections?

[Songlian]

My best friend worships him. I've read only short stories by Gaiman and... well, I don't know if I'd say he is overrated. I'm not in the habit of bashing established authors -- there must be a reason why they're established, after all. I'll just say that I, personally, am not particularly fond of his writing. Though I do have a lot to read from him if I want to have a fair opinion. I just can't bring myself to do it.

[Serious Callers Only]

I've seen worse.

[Marcelo Rebelo Firqoralas]

Yes he is. (Though as a Michael Swanwick fan, I'm bound to say that.) Still, he's pretty entertaining.

[Eponine]

I think that Sandman is good enough to justify all his popularity.

I enjoyed American Gods and some of his short stories, but on their own, they wouldn't inspire me to follow him as an author. I was meh about Good Omens, Neverwhere, Coraline, etc. At this point, I wouldn't seek out any more of his books unless one was getting higher than normal accolades from the board.

[Poobah]

Is Neil Gaiman Overrated?

I don't know, but people keep telling me that he isn't my bitch...

[alguien]

No.

Unless you want to disregard the ridiculous amount of awards he's won.

I certainly don't find his prose sixth grader level. Neither does Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, SFWA, or the Carnegie or Newberry commissions.

More likely he's just not to your taste.

[Serious Callers Only]

By worse i mean Charles Stross. Though the atrocity archives series is getting entertaining.

Ian M. Banks seems to be getting progressively more naif too.

[Liffguard]

I think he's somewhat overrated as a novelist. I loved American Gods and Stardust but didn't particularly like his other novels. As a writer of comics and short stories he lives up to the hype.

[Marcelo Rebelo Firqoralas]

No.

Unless you want to disregard the ridiculous amount of awards he's won.

I certainly don't find his prose sixth grader level. Neither does Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, SFWA, or the Carnegie or Newberry commissions.

More likely he's just not to your taste.

Surely these are arguments FOR him being overrated. If no one likes him, he can't be overrated, right?

[alguien]

Surely these are arguments FOR him being overrated. If no one likes him, he can't be overrated, right?

I was thinking overrated in the way of having tons of fans but actually have little skill, such as Terry Goodkind. Or Britney Spears.

Gaiman seems to be well-respected by his peers, professional writers and respected literary organizations whose judgment and taste I take more seriously.

I mean, American Gods won the Hugo, Nebula, AND Bram Stoker award. The Graveyard book won the Newberry, Carnegie, and the Nebula. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but can't only SFWA members vote for the Nebula?

Also, I love the hell out of most of his books.

[Iskaral Pust]

I haven't read Sandman, but I've read most of his books: American Gods, Anansi Boys, Neverwhere, Stardust, Smoke & Mirrors, Fragile Things, Good Omens)

I think American Gods is the best and the others vary from good to OK. I just re-read Fragile Things and I was left a little underwhelmed. It felt like there was a lot of weak filler, especially bad poems, but it still had some good pieces. Short stories definitely seem to be his best medium, allowing him to try lots of different slants on a fundamentally similar theme and tone.

As a novelist I would not consider him to have set the world on fire, and I struggle to assign a relevance to a lot of the awards that get handed out, so perhaps there is a little too much hype, but he's definitely worth reading.

Perhaps I should try the Sandman series.

ETA - forgot Good Omens from the list, have a nagging feeling I'm forgetting something else too

[palimpsest.]

I enjoyed Good Omens, American Gods and Graveyard Book, but found Anansi Boys, Stardust and Neverwhere nothing special. I've read none of his short stories yet (except for one, but that one doesn't really count since it's actually a chapter from Graveyard Book) but the first volume of Sandman was pretty nice. I'd have to agre with Iskaral - maybe he's a bit overrated, but still pretty good.

[red snow]

I think he mainly suffers from overenthusiastic fans, which tends to result in a backlash against him (Joss Whedon must know how he feels). I tend to get angry whenever people quote a comment by him as if that automatically ends any discussion. That's not really his fault but his fans.

That said it does feel as though his best work is behind him with The Sandman, Stardust and Small Gods. He also hasn't really done much for a while and when he does it's not really worth the wait eg Anansi boys. I have heard his children's books are great but I'm not really interested unless it's yound adult +.

I read one of his short story compilations last year and it was very good. I think Gaiman's gift is his ability to put a different spin on something well known, which is why The Sandman and his short stories are great. He wrote a short story for the Matrix once and he mananged to do more with the concept there than the Wachowski's manage in 3 films.

Hopefully we'll get something great from him in the near future but as the guy likes different mediums it may be that his next "big thing" is in TV or film as that's where a lot of his focus is these days.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

No. Neil Gaiman is not overrated. I've enjoyed everytheing of his that Ihave read.

[Zach H]

His non-YA novels feel a bit samey to me, but I think his short fiction is very good ("How to Talk to Girls at Parties" and "Goliath" in particular I always come back to). Sixth grade prose seems like a bit of an unwarranted slam to me. He's no stylist, but then again I don't find anything particularly offensive about his prose either.

[BookWyrm]

Sometimes I feel like he's overrated, but I couldn't say that with any conviction.

There are so many people that are worshipped as artists (Goodkind, Brooks and Meyers) with no real talent or originality that I think one should be able to overlook fanaticism for Neil Gaiman. Even though he's not always great, he's done more than enough to merit his own success. Plus he always seems to have a kind word for other talented writers. I'm sure seeing his approval on a book cover has sold more than a few novels for the less-famous sff authors.

[Grogsmash]

That said it does feel as though his best work is behind him with The Sandman, Stardust and Small Gods. He also hasn't really done much for a while and when he does it's not really worth the wait eg Anansi boys. I have heard his children's books are great but I'm not really interested unless it's yound adult +.

Plenty of people like Anansi Boys more than Small Gods, so not sure you can just generally say that his best work is behind him. It depends on taste.

[Ran]

Strange to see people say that Gaiman is no stylist. His prose (in his adult novels and stories) is unmistakably his own. He's not a flashy writer, full of lyricism, but he has a very clear voice. Just off the top of my head, someone like Ursual K. Le Guin seems roughly the same to me -- beautiful prose, but subtle.

Gaiman's YA fiction seems justly praised, his American Gods was excellent, and his short fiction is often quite brilliant (and I agree, it -- and his creator-owned comic book work -- are his strongest areas). So... nah, not overrated generally speaking, though obviously his most devoted fans may be rather louder than his many talents merit.

He's also a pretty good screenwriter. And he's really, really good at picking his collaborators, with some very fruitful parternships behind him (Terry Pratchett, Dave McKean, Charles Vess, etc.)