An anthology that's worth a read! (Smoke and Mirrors - Neil Gaiman)

Member Name: Jonni_boi

Product:	Smoke and Mirrors - Neil Gaiman
Date:	30/08/09 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: a really good little collection!

Disadvantages: some stories can be considered confusing

This book I got off Bookcrossing.com where the site's ideal plan is to turn the whole world into a library. I asked to be put into this bookring for this book, and I'm very glad I asked.

The author is Neil Gaiman. Who is quite famous for a number of books, such as: Stardust and Neverwhere. I have currently read a few books by Neil Gaiman and I have fully enjoyed them, and now I have a few more coming to me thanks to bookcrossing.com

There is quite a lot of stories in this little book, and therefore I decided to get a note pad while reading each of the stories, so that when I finished each of those stories, I could write a short review of each of them, well this is what I thought (considering they are only short stories, I shall not be telling you much (if anything) about them):

~The Wedding Gift~
This is found in the introduction so you should read it! I really enjoyed this story, with the little twist, it was very good!

~Chivalry~
I didn't understand this, we weren't told things that were needed, such as why Galaad needed the Holy Grail and I didn't understand the twist at the end, that's if it were a twist!

~Nicholas was...~
This one is really clever and made me a bit surprised. Very well created!

~The Price~
This one saddens me, I feel really sorry for the black cat and the Narrator should have tried to save him

~Troll Bridge~
This was a sweet little story and very different from the book it was based on, I'm surprised Neil Gaiman even thought of it like this

~Don't ask Jack~
Another weird story. I don't quite understand it! Because if they die he will not be able to wait forever because he'll never see them! I'm confused!

~The Goldfish Pool & Other Stories~
Another one that didn't quite make sense, I got very confused with it & didn't enjoy it!

~The White Road~
This was cleverly written, I was bored with it at the start but then it increased with a nice little twist

~Queen of Knives~
What a sad, sad story! It was really good and I can see how the author had to say it was not true as it's very believable

~Changes~
I didn't understand this one, and it didn't make sense

~The Daughter of Owls~
A nice little story, but the language didn't help, too complicated for me

~Shoggoth's Old Peculiar~
This story is certainly peculiar and I still can't get my head around it!

~Virus~
This was a weird story but it tends to happen to people who play games a lot

~Looking For the Girl~
When I started this I expected to hate it or at least think of it as weird, but it's a nice little story well worth a read!

~Only the End of the World Again~
At first I was bored with the story and pretty confused, but as the story progressed I enjoyed it more and more, but to fully understand this story, I think I'd need to venture into H.P. Lovecraft novels and see if this story will make more sense.

~Bay Wolf~
I've been eager to read this since I saw the title, and it was a good story after I realised it was the sequel to "Only the End of the World Again"

~We Can Get Them for You Wholesale~
A very clever story, which has kept me thinking, however, the ending wasn't much of a surprise!

~One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock~
I was expecting a twist at the end but there's no sign of it. I really got into this story and enjoyed it

~Cold Colors~
That was difficult, to spell colours the American way. Anyhow, I didn't like this story, it didn't work and didn't add up and really boring, I nearly fell asleep reading it

~The Sweeper of Dreams~
This one confused me, is it good to have him around or not? Surely most people like to have dreams

~Foreign Parts~
This one has got me thinking, like a few other stories have! I don't quite understand what happened and how Simon became cured, it was such a change, but I feel that the story wasn't quite finished

~Vampire Sestina~
I have never read a sestina, but then I've never been a fan of poems! I think sestina's are cleverly made and I also think that this poem didn't work for me, maybe I'm too young to understand, all these stories (apart from a few) were written before I was born, so maybe I am too young to understand them

~Mouse~
This was a story I couldn't get into, I'm thankful for it being short

~The Sea Changes~
This was another weird story but I think I got the gist of it. It just wouldn't be the sort of story I'd like to read

~When We Went to See the End of the World by Dawnie Morningside, age 11 and a quarter~
Well a quarter is actually put into 1/4 but I didn't know how to do it without making it weird. Anyhow this story really made me upset, I sympathised with the girl as I have wished one of her wishes, before. She seemed to be an 11 year old like I was as she was extremely talk-active and never stuck to a certain subject (however I had better grammar) but a good story overall

~Desert Wind~
This is probably the shortest story in this anthology that I have actually understood. I have read it twice now as I enjoyed it that much!

~Tastings~
I don't know if I understood this very well, but something she said gave me a good conclusion, but I could be wrong.

~Babycakes~
Could this story emphasise God or not? I don't know but it is a clever little story

~Murder Mysteries~
Or should I say City of Angels? I could understand why Neil Gaiman wanted to call this City of Angels! And I like the ending, as it's a slight twist, where there's no place like home! I loved this story and think it's one of the best out of the whole collection!

~Snow, Glass, Apples~
I began to eat my words on what I said on the last story, as this was, by far the best story in the collection! Snow White was my second favourite childhood movie, where Mary Poppins was my first. This story is a very different take on the movie/book, and I shall never think of the real Snow Whi9te story properly again! But I must say I missed the song the dwarfs sang, it was the only let down so I filled it in and looked away from my book and sang it in my head: "I ho, I ho, it's off to Work I go"

Overall this book made a big impression on me as you can tell and that's why I have given it 4 stars! The last story gave a huge impression on me and I was ready to give this book a 3 star before I read the last 2 stories making it receive 4 stars!

I know that some of you will think that this review was not exactly helpful, but I gave you my thoughts on each of the stories and I couldn't possibly have told you about each story based on the fact that I would have given too much away, and I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted that. I thank you all for reading and I will rate back!

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