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The Sandman: Dream Country (The Sandman #3) by Neil Gaiman

"Not set in a linear fashion, as in it doesn't follow Dream and the other Endless, it's more a mashup of four different stories that deal with how other creatures all over the world Dream, or having dealings with Dream of the Endless. It's not my favorite but it's still an interesting read."

3 Stars

Pros: It showed how Dreams affect all sorts of different creatures, it wasn't an entirely linear storyline but it was an interesting glimpse into how Dreams affect every living thing on the planet. 

Cons: Dream is part of every story, but the other Endless aren't, at least not really. I like when the story deals with the Endless and their dealings, this just felt like a mashup of stories that didn't really fit anywhere else. 

Full Review: 

The volumes broken down into 4 stories, none that deal with Dream or the Endless directly but all of them have Dream as a character. 

Calliope explains how an old man managed to trap the youngest of the Greek muses and then used her to become a famous novelist. Another struggling novelist reaches out and buys her from the old man and again, uses her to become famous. She eventually calls on Dream to help her and he does so, punishing the man with an infinite number of ideas and possibilities so that he goes stark raving mad. 

A Dream of a Thousand Cats was an interesting story about a cat whose human owners drowned her kittens (how anyone could ever do that is just...unthinkable.) So she travels to the land of Dreams and meets Dream and asks him what can she do to make things better. And he says that at the beginning of all things, the Cats actually ruled over humans. But humans eventually realized that if they could dream that they were the rulers, then they wouldn't have to be subservient to the cats anymore. And they did so. So the cat is determined to spread the word to other cats that all they must do is dream themselves rulers once more and the world will change to fit their needs. 

A Midsummer Night's Dream shows William Shakespeare has kept up his end of the bargain. He's written a play and is now performing it for Dream and his interesting company, who turn out to be the King and Queen of Fae, Auberon and Titania. 

Facade deals with a woman who was imbued with a superpower that could make it so she could metamorph into anything but it has its drawbacks. She can't stay in one shape for too long and her real form is so intensely strange that she can't go out in public anymore. She wants to die but she knows that whatever she does to try and kill herself won't work because of her powers. She has a visit from Death, Dreams older sister who tells her about an old metamorph who eventually died. She explains that all things, no matter what or who they are, powers or not, eventually die and that she'll always be there when they need her. Death is one of my favorite characters, always a gentle, reassuring presence and so she helps the woman find peace in the end. 

It's not my favorite volume but it was an interesting offshoot, letting the reader see that everything dreams, that everything is affected by the higher powers of the Endless. 

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