Neil Gaiman - What are your opinions?

[3CityApache]

Well, I have never really been able to understand the general admiration for Sandman. I always found it just passable. Perhaps it's a wider problem, I definitely prefer European comic books, but still.

His books, on the other hand (well, most of them), I do admire. A lot. American Gods were just brilliant, it is one of maybe 20 best books I've ever read, Neverwhere, Anansi Boys and Stardust not very far behind it. De gustibus non est disputandum, right?

[Morpheus]

I still find Sandman to be far and away the best thing Gaiman has ever done.

Many of his novels feel like lesser takes on things he already did in Sandman. I don't think much of him as a prose writer.

[cseresz.reborn]

Great ideas, poor execution. This is Gaiman.

[3CityApache]

poor execution. This is Gaiman.

Well, to me American Gods were simply beautifully written, I couldn't stop reading it untill it was finished and I couldn't stop thinking about it for a couple of days afterwards. But there you go again, it's just so great we can all judge by ourselves, isn't it?

[frodostark]

I agree that an awful lot of people seem to see him as the bee's knees in the genre, whereas I find his output sofar not quite worthy of that status.

I think his pleasant personality ( this is how he is perceived) and online persona also work into this.

Great ideas, poor execution. This is Gaiman.

This and this...

I would add that a lot of his ideas feel derivative to me...interestingly so ("What if HP Lovecraft wrote Sherlock Holmes?" What happened to Susan after The Last Battle? What if the jungle in The Jungle Book was a graveyard?" Etc.), but still derivative when all is said and done.

[pig]

I read Sandman as it firs came out (starting with issue 6 or 7) and liked it enough to keep reading to the end. The artwork ranges from bad to sufficient, which is a problem, and the writing is a bit derivative and inconsistent. Has a better reputation than the work merits. Still worth a read though.

I haven't read any of his novels.

[Jussi]

New synopsis for The Ocean at the End of the Lane:

“They say you cannot go home again, and that is as true as a knife . . .”

A man returns to his childhood village seeking comfort in memories of his youth and the friend who long ago transformed his life.

Once upon a time in a rural English town, an eleven-year-old girl named Lettie Hempstock shows a little boy the most marvelous, dangerous, and outrageous things beyond his darkest imagination. But an ancient power has been disturbed, and now invasive creatures from beyond the known world are set loose. There is primal horror here, and menace unleashed—within the boy’s family and from the forces that have gathered to consume it.

Determined to have their way, these otherworldly beings will destroy a meddling little boy if he dares to get in the way. It will take calm, courage, and the cleverness of the extraordinary Hempstock women—Lettie, her mother, and her grandmother, to keep him alive. But his survival will come at an unexpected cost. . . .

Storytelling genius Neil Gaiman delivers a whimsical, imaginative, bittersweet, and at times deeply scary modern fantasy about fear, love, magic, sacrifice, and the power of stories to reveal and to protect us from the darkness inside—a moving, terrifying, and elegiac fable for every age.

http://www.harpercollinscatalogs.com/harper/516_2448_333434313635.htm

[King Tyrion I]

I really liked "American Gods". It was very UAish (Unknown Armies, a rpg).

I even have a favorite quote.

"The Books of Magic" were okay by me, too.

[Scion of Valyria]

CSPAN aired a talk Neil Gaiman recently gave at George Mason University last night, where he read the first chapter from Ocean at the End of the Lane. It sounded pretty good.

He also read a new short story called "Click Clack the Rattle Bag," a Halloween-y tale that will be published in an anthology coming out sometime soon. I thought it was pretty good, if not particularly innovative. It's actually up on Audible as a free download now, and for every download between now and Halloween Audible will donate to charity. So hey, why not download it? Its a good story and its for good causes and stuff.

You can find it here: http://www.audible.com/scareus

[Golden Lion]

I like him, I loved Neverwhere and Coraline and his short stories. American Gods was sort of meh to me. I love the story, love the characters, the sex/cat god chapter remains some of my favourite pieces of writing ever, and I love the gods, plot etc etc but it just felt like he'd shoehorned all this other random crap into it and just so much filler. I

f an editor had cut American Gods down, then I think I'd enjoy it a hell of a lot more. It's not like Game of Thrones where they natter on but it's in character so it's still engaging, in American Gods he just goes on tangents about really random things that never become relevant.

I don't even know what the hell Anansi Boys is.

I still really like Gaiman, his diversity is really really great for me as a reader.

[SerArthurHeath]

I think he is my favourite author living (by a considerable margin) and perhaps ever. I love, for different reasons, his short stories, screenplays, novels and graphic novels, Sandman is the best piece of literature I have read that was written in the last 100 years and his ability to give you just enough information but then leave the left to your imagination is unparalleled

[Mr. E]

I think he is my favourite author living (by a considerable margin) and perhaps ever. I love, for different reasons, his short stories, screenplays, novels and graphic novels, Sandman is the best piece of literature I have read that was written in the last 100 years and his ability to give you just enough information but then leave the left to your imagination is unparalleled

Sandman really is beautiful. I actually need to re-read it again.

[Candre]

I reread some of the Sandman stories (Brief Lives and Season of Mists) last weekend. Those canons are up to everything else I´ve read in my life.

Unfortunatelly, that can´t be said of the rest Gaiman´s work... American Gods was just dull in my opinion. Nevermore, The Graveyard boy and Caroline have a nice setting, but not much of a real story.

I really would like to see Gaiman doing more Graphic Novels...

[SkynJay]

You know, after seeing people call AG dull for two years now one would think I would be used to it.

But I still don't get it.

[Derfel Cadarn]

He's been on my to-read list for ages. I'll get American Gods for my kindle

[Werthead]

You know, after seeing people call AG dull for two years now one would think I would be used to it.

But I still don't get it.

I think it's because Shadow is a very inert character. There isn't really anything to him, he's very passive and he's kind of boring. Deliberately as a literary device, sure, and the rest of the cast is great and the story and premise are fine, but he's kind of this void at the centre of the story where there should be a heart. It makes it very hard for me to give a toss about anything that happens to him.

I think this is why I prefer just about everything else Gaiman has done, because the central characters have a point and a much more satisfying and ambitious arc (especially Morpheus).

[wolverine]

Great ideas, poor execution. This is Gaiman.

I think I agree with this. One of my favorite things he has done was his short story where Shadow fights some minor god for some secret societies entertainment.

[Eponine]

I really enjoyed parts of Sandman - I agree that the ideas were better than the execution a lot of the time, but some of the ideas were lastingly compelling. American Gods - entertaining but generally no more than that, although again there were some compelling moments. All I know about Anansi Boys was that I liked it well enough while reading but now can't remember a thing about it. On the other hand, I found Neverwhere really obnoxious and Stardust to be completely without substance. Oh and Good Omens to be extremely overrated.

A few of his short stories are good - I find that authors of novels that I don't love often have short stories that I enjoy. I am impressed with anyone who can put together a coherent sestina.

[peterbound]

I really enjoyed parts of Sandman - I agree that the ideas were better than the execution a lot of the time, but some of the ideas were lastingly compelling. American Gods - entertaining but generally no more than that, although again there were some compelling moments. All I know about Anansi Boys was that I liked it well enough while reading but now can't remember a thing about it. On the other hand, I found Neverwhere really obnoxious and Stardust to be completely without substance. Oh and Good Omens to be extremely overrated.

A few of his short stories are good - I find that authors of novels that I don't love often have short stories that I enjoy. I am impressed with anyone who can put together a coherent sestina.

He's gonna be in Denver in June. Let's go. I'll start something up.

[Eponine]

Ok. You should mention it both here & on FB.