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The Sandman: Seasons of Mist (The Sandman #4) by Neil Gaiman

"After a disturbing message is delivered to him from the Triple Goddess in his garden, the oldest of the Endless, Destiny, calls a meeting of his siblings. Dream, Death, Desire, Despair and Delirium all gather to discuss next steps. During this meeting, Dream's imprisonment of his scorned lover, Nada in Hell is mentioned and he decides it's high time to right that wrong he committed. This volume closed up some loose ends while opening up a few other avenues for interesting stories."

5 Stars. 

Pros: We see all the members of the Endless and learn a bit more about their family dynamic, which I enjoy/Lucifer on the beach in Australia talking to the old man about how only a kind God can create such beautiful sunsets is an entertaining bit. 

Cons: Some of the dialogue was almost impossible to read, especially when Ramiel the Angel spoke but other than that, it was a good collection. 

Full Review: 

While walking in his garden, the oldest of the Endless, Destiny, is visited by the Triple Goddess. Disturbed by their message, he calls a meeting of his siblings, the other members of the Endless. We meet the rest of the Endless, aside from Death and Dream, Desire, Despair, Delirium and we hear mention of their sibling who has since given up their power and disappeared. During this meeting, Desire, always ready to pick a fight, gets a dig in at Dream about locking his scorned lover, Nada away in Hell for 10,000 years because she denied him. The rest of the Endless, for once, agree with Desire, that Dream's actions were rather drastic. So he decides to go back to Hell and forgive Nada, but he knows that Lucifer will not grant him an easy audience, since the last time he was in Hell, he publicly humiliated the Morningstar. 

Much to his surprise, when he enters Hell, he finds it empty. Lucifer has decided that he's just too damned tired of ruling in Hell, so he's closing up shop. He gives the key to Hell over to Dream and says that it's his problem now. And now ambassadors from all over, the realm of Faerie, the disposed of Hell, Nippon and the land of the dead in Egypt etc are all coming to the Dreaming to try and convince Morpheus to give them the key. 

It's an interesting volume that ties up some loose ends. We again, see that Dream is not necessarily a cruel God, he's sympathetic but can definitely hold a grudge, as with Nada. But he eventually owns up and admits that he was wrong and she accepts his apology. The volume also opens up two more interesting avenues, that of Daniel, Hippolyta's son, who was created in the Dreaming while Morpheus was imprisoned, and also of Nuala, the servant from Faerie, who was given to Dream as a gift. What will their stories be? It's been refreshing to re-read the series, as it's been a long time. Gaiman et al take entities that exist in all sorts of lore and seamlessly meld them together. This was not "action packed" but it was entertaining and filled in a few gaps from earlier Volumes. 

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