The last three volumes of The Sandman have completely outdone what came before. I thought there were glimmers of a good story in the first two volumes, but the storytelling itself was so clunky and unfocused that it was hard to find what really made me keep reading. Well, I'm glad I did, because the fifth volume, "A Game of You," is easily the best written installment so far.

While the Sandman himself hardly appears in this volume, I didn't find that frustrating at all. By this point, Gaiman has begun to write from character, and that really helps the story move forward in unpredictable and fantastic ways. It's about a girl who dreams herself into a fantasy realm that is endangered by the Cuckoo, who sends agents into the real world to have her and her friends killed. The story alternates between New York and The Land, and it's so innovative and just so well done that you won't even wonder where Morpheus is.

Not only is this the best story so far, it also functions in tying the previous volumes together in a way I didn't predict. The main character is Barbie, who was part of the preppy couple Barbie and Ken in Vol. 2: The Doll's House. Also, Foxglove is actually the lover of the lesbian woman at the diner from Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes. It's all a very tight story, and in some ways is a (much better) sequel to "The Doll's House."

Now I see what people were talking about when they gushed about this series.

9/10

The fifth Sandman collection sees Gaiman tackle the traditional fantasy/fairy tale 'quest' story. This is an interesting tale, one of the most traditionally-structured in the series, and once again makes use of the history already established in the series whilst setting up elements for use in future stories.

Barbie, the young woman who was one of Rose Walker's housemates in The Doll's House, has relocated to New York City and now lives in an apartment block. Other residents of the block include a transsexual named Wanda, a lesbian couple named Hazel and Foxglove, a bookish young woman named Thessaly and a surly man named George. Since the events of The Doll's House Barbie has been unable to dream and in her absence the dream-kingdom she used to inhabit, the Land, has been overrun by an evil force known as 'the Cuckoo'. Only a few of Barbie's imaginary friends have survived, and using powerful magic one of these, a giant dog named Martin Tenbones, crosses over into the real world to enlist her aid in saving them.

A Game of You is, by some reports, the least popular of the Sandman tales. I'm not sure why that is the case, although Dream spending much more time off-page than normal (only really active at the beginning and end) may have something to do with it. The mix of high fantasy with harsh reality may have something more to do with it, and the somewhat bemused-rather-than-scared-into-catatonia reactions of the other residents of the apartment block to one of their number cutting off someone's face and pinning it to the wall strains credulity somewhat. But Gaiman again gives us an interesting, intricately-crafted story featuring some very well-realised characters and some fascinating fantasy concepts. A lengthy essay by Samual R. Delaney opens this collection in which he discusses some of the ideas and themes presented, and is an interesting read. A Game of You is, at its heart, a story about identity, about what people want to be versus the sometimes harsh reality of who they actually are, and about the role that fantasy plays in people's lives.

A Game of You (****) is another solid addition to the Sandman mythos, with a strong storyline and some interesting thematic elements making up for a slightly unsatisfying ending and a distinct lack of appearances by the Sandman. It is available from Titan in the UK and Vertigo in the USA, and is part of The Absolute Sandman, Volume II, available from Vertigo in the UK and USA.

A messed up girl named Barbie has created a dream world with some serious problems. After blocking this out of a mind for her time, and not dreaming, eventually her dream world gets to her.

This drags in her friends and neighbours, who happen to include an immortal witch, and an agent of her dream foe.

Through a drawing down the moon ritual, the women involved enter the dream world to try and rectify things and find Barbie.

Needless to say, Morpheus is not at all amused, when he finally has to act.

This part really has little to do with the Endless.

A messed up girl named Barbie has created a dream world with some serious problems. After blocking this out of a mind for her time, and not dreaming, eventually her dream world gets to her.

This drags in her friends and neighbours, who happen to include an immortal witch, and an agent of her dream foe.

Through a drawing down the moon ritual, the women involved enter the dream world to try and rectify things and find Barbie.

Needless to say, Morpheus is not at all amused, when he finally has to act.

This part really has little to do with the Endless.

This is one my two favorites in the 11-volume "Sandman" series, which has proven Gaiman to be a genius storyteller. I think I like this one especially because it's a full-length continuing story, not a collection of short pieces, and because the characters are terrific (all of them are just ordinary people, including the witch and the princess), and also because Gaiman is a master of poetic dialogue. The story begins in a New York tenement for mostly women, all of them genuine characters, and several of them with connections to characters in earlier volumes. Then Barbie -- Princess Barbara -- is threatened and three of her friends set off on the Moon Road to help her. But Barbie is on a quest of her own, to seek out and defeat the Cuckoo, through a land of her own dreams and imaginings. The Endless are actually rather minor characters this time, but the story doesn't suffer for it.

Gaiman's earlier work with the characters of the Sandman Universe is very good, and the later books continue the trend. I would recommend this to any fan of the earlier books.
For those unfamiliar with the series, I would suggest starting at Volume 1, "Preludes and Nocturnes", which sets up the premise of the series and introduces many of the characters.

Like a huge boulder that cannot be stopped, Gaiman continues to plow through the journeys of the characters we first were introduced to in the spellbinding introduction entitled "Preludes and Nocturnes" with his fifth collection aptly titled "A Game of You". Like no other artist that I have seen in the past, Gaiman impresses yet again by taking a smaller character from his "Doll House" collection and expanding darkly into her dreams and past. That small character is Barbie - of Ken & Barbie - and the elaboration of her fantasy dream world that includes large hairy beasts, an inspector rat, a bird, as well as a monkey with a circus suit. It sounds nearly dream-like, but what Gaiman does (like no other) is give these characters moments of emotion, human traits, and a drive to see what they believe in succeed. Gaiman takes us from our physical Earth to this dream-created world with comfort and ease, nearly making us more excited to be in this fictional world than in our own. He does this through sympathetic creatures/characters, through the unknown, and through the unhinging power of Dream.

Our story follows Barbie as she attempts to reconnect with her world after her relationship with Ken soured. She has made a few friends in her apartment - one a transvestite named Wanda, a gay couple named Hazel and Foxglove that harbor a surprising secret, then there is Thessaly, an unknown neighbor that seems to know more of what is happening then the rest of our players. None the less, as it seems to be in this series, a character from Barbie's dreams escapes onto the streets of New York. Barbie sees it, realizes it, and retrieves a pendant from it before it is gunned down by the NYPD. She is struck by the idea that her dreams could become a reality. She takes the pendant home with her and deeply falls asleep only to awaken back in her dream world where she is asked to save it from the evil grip of the Cuckoo.

(Now, for the quick - quick - quick version...)

As she makes this journey with her supposed friends, Thessaly sets into motion a way to retrieve her from the lost dream world. She kills a neighbor George (who was oddly giving everyone nightmares in the apartment) and hangs the skin of his face on the wall so that he can talk to the saviors about what is happening to Barbie. Thessaly calls down the Moon God so that she, Hazel, and Fox can travel to Barbie's dream world to save her. Barbie finds the Cuckoo, but it is not who she expects it to be. Due to traveling, Thessaly has disrupted the physical Earth causing peril to Wanda - and just when we think that all is going to be lost, our heroine Dream takes his powerful step forward, wrapping up a phenomenal story that continues to build upon the world we still know little about.

This is another great collection by Gaiman in the expansion of his Dream world. I enjoyed the inception of a character that we already knew about, that we already knew her dreams, and Gaiman just wanted to grow upon it to demonstrate the overall power and depth of Dream. In a prior review, I was upset that we didn't have the opportunity to see much of Dream in a certain collection which ultimately created animosity with this avid reader, but in "A Game of You", I didn't mind. I liked not having Dream arrive until it was absolutely necessary because (unlike the past collection) there was this sense of fantasy that kept your attention throughout the book. The actions of Thessaly, the arrival of Martin Tenbones on the streets of NY, and the entirely creepy, yet bizarre world that Barbie enters that reminded me of a slanted Narnia. Gaiman gave us enough to wrap our minds around that Dream just seemed to be a mediator instead of a main character, and in this collection that worked. The eclectic collection of "real" people kept a strong balance between the realities that Barbie lived in and the dream world she created, it is only when the two combine together that we are provided with a climax like no other. While the other collections followed a similar path, I felt this one was Gaiman's strongest developed story yet. I say this mainly because he takes a similar structure as he did in "Seasons of Mists" - the onslaught of several different characters from several different walks of life - but expands it in a way that only he can develop. Gaiman is at the top of his game with this volume, and I cannot wait to see where he will take us next.

Overall, I was extremely happy with this collection. Yet again, I have no complaints as Gaiman does not seem to be slowing down at all. He brings imagination, creativity, and this layer of unrepentant darkness to the table with each page that I turn. I especially loved the insertion of Rose Walker into the finale of the story as well as seeing Dream's sister make a cameo appearance. This collection blended well, giving us yet another scope of just how big Dream's world is and how easily he has control over it. This is one of those collections that you finish, take a deep breath, and then quickly jump into the next realizing that you do not want to skip a beat at all. I strongly suggest this book to anyone that can get their hands on it. I still say you need to begin with "Preludes and Nocturnes" and follow the course, but one could read this chapter and still become an instant fan of the series. Gaiman proves yet again that this is the pinnacle of his graphic novel career.

Grade: ***** out of *****

This is a bit of a weird one in The Sandman canon in that it diverges from the main story arc of The Endless, without becoming a short story collection as seen in "Dream Country", "Fables and Reflections" and "World's End". What we have is a side story about a seemingly minor character, Barbie, who was introduced as part of the Ken and Barbie couple in "Doll's House". This is not to say it's a complete standalone, as it's quite pivotal in the tale of The Endless, most notably in that here we are introduced to Thessaly (a major player in the series' climax "The Kindly Ones").

OK, the objective stuff aside, I think that this may be the finest volume in the series. I feel that Gaiman generallly gives us one dimensional characters, who act as players in situations which themselves are the revelation, not the people involved in those situations. Here we get his most developed set of characters, ones we fall in love with, and over the course of these pages, care for intimately. I was almost moved to tears in the book's final denouement. Additionally, without giving too much away, he gives us a stirring, almost desperate tale, that commands our attention. I read this over the course of perhaps 2 hours on a Sunday morning. Sometimes you read items that are so good you will never forget that moment you first read them- what day it was and where you were, and that Sunday morning will forever be etched into my memory.

I can't explore this volume much more without breaking down all of its plot elements and spoiling some of its surprises. Plus, I find myself at a loss for words in summarizing and analyzing what really goes on in this tale. It's so rich that I'm not sure I understand all of its implications yet. With repeated readings, hopefully I will come to know all its nuances.

Also, Shawn McManus' John Byrne-esque art works perfectly with this volume. Given that this tale relies on the fantasies of little girls, his cartoonish flavor is needed, but remains grounded enough in realism to still tackle the violence and brutality that also runs through this storyline. A few times other artists fill in on issues, which derail the proceedings somewhat, but such is the way of comics. You can't ever get too reliant on one artist's style, because sometimes you have to take what you're given.

I did like this book. I really have enjoyed all the Sandman books so far. But as much as it galls me to admit it, I'm not sure I understand quite what the big deal is. I keep hearing about and reading about how fabulous they are. And yeah, they're interesting. It's an interesting world that Gaiman has created and I think the character of the Sandman is intriguing/fascinating. And the Sandman is good-looking in some of the panels. But I don't understand what about these novels/comics draws people in so much. I don't understand why the Midsummer Night's Dream one won that prestigious award which ticked the other authors off so they had to change the rules to specifically exclude a graphic novel from being entered ever again. I don't understand why this series is supposed to grab women readers in a way that other comic/graphic novel offerings haven't. It's a bit like David Bowie music, to me. I like it a lot. But partly, that's because I Want to like it. I think it (the music, or the graphic novel) is really weird and I don't understand why everybody else, with no inner urging, likes it so much. And then I read the preface to this book and the guy talks about all these layers and all this depth that I guess I'm really just not getting at all. Which also bugs me because I like to think that I'm smart. But, granted, I've only read it one time and that kind of stuff does usually become more apparent with multiple readings.

This installment of The Sandman series was probably one of my favorite filled with many psychological implications as well as beautiful artwork which will dazzle your brain! The stories found within this book are some of the greatest in the series as well, especially the one featuring Thessaly and the "princess." The source for many Sandman quotations, this installment is one of the best!

Of the Sandman collection that I've read, this is the least like any of the others thus far. Instead of being vignettes (either independent or loosely tied) that revolve around Morpheus, lord of dreams, this is a start-to-finish story of a group of women trying to rescue their friend who is trapped in her dreamworld, and threatened by a malevolent force.

Morpheus shows up late and doesn't have much to do, really. But it's okay, because this work stands on its own legs, working as a great story, social commentary, etc. It's marvelous. I especially loved Thessaly--a small, spectacled woman who doesn't take flack from anyone.

With this series, it's always recommended to start with the first volume and work your way up--especially so here, as the main character of this volume is introduced (as a minor character) in an earlier volume. But if you are compelled to start here for some reason, it will work out and make you a believer. Neil Gaiman is a master storyteller, and this is a masterpiece.

Neil Gaiman, Sandman: A Game of You (DC Comics, 1993)

This fifth book in Gaiman's Sandman series takes us off on a side journey to a decidedly odd apartment house in New York City whose fate is inextricably tied to that of an outer island in the Dreaming. Lovely, innocent Barbie (who, of course, has an ex-boyfriend named Ken, because it's cute, and in Gaiman's world, "cute" is an inevitable precursor to destruction; it's almost on the same level as hubris in classical literature) and her best friend Wanda live in an apartment building with a pair of well-meaning lesbians, a youngish art history student who wears outrageously oversized glasses, and a reclusive type up on the top floor named George. All of them are in some way connected to the Dreaming, and the events of past books in the series, but how is only revealed to the reader in stages, so explaining it all would be quite spoilerific.

A worthy addition to the series, though the two previous books were (slightly) better overall. ****

... that you desire you had never heard it, so you could be taken again by surprise ? Well, the thing about these Sandman graphic novels is that after reading one of them, you get this sensation. The good thing is: there are 10 others !!! I've just finished this "A Game of You", and I am so glad I have 5 more to go !!!

A Game of You returns us to one of the characters we were introduced to in The Doll's House, Barbie, part of the seemingly normal couple that lived in the same house as Rose. This is an expansion of her dream in that book, a further look into the world that she dreamed, and the end of that world.

The thing that I liked best about this book was how the characters were all somehow related to characters in earlier books. Barbie was Rose Walker's housemate. Foxglove is the ex-girlfriend of Judy, the girl who killed herself in the diner in Preludes and Nocturnes. The way everyone is connected to someone else in The Sandman, even if they appear in different volumes, helps to draw the whole story together.

The characters in A Game of You were, in my opinion, the best thing about the book. I wasn't surprised, as this seems to be the norm for The Sandman books, but I was impressed. The characters are all so diverse, each with their own (mostly) realistic quirks. Hazel and Foxtrot were my favorites, but I enjoyed all of them, even the woman from the subway who is terrified of dogs.

(I'm sure, however, that I'm missing something somewhere, as I know there's more to Thessaly than meets the eye. I'm just not sure what it is. Maybe I'll catch it when I re-read the series.)

A Game of You is really about the ending of a dream, which is in a way what all The Sandman books I've read are about, but this one is a little more obvious. The actual dream in the Dreamscape is ending. The skerry on which it exists is being destroyed by the dream itself, or at least from within the dream, by something left by Barbie when she roamed it as Princess Barbara.

It made for an interesting plot, in the dream and out of it, the two worlds mirroring each other. Most of the significant action took place in the dream, but the disastrous results were felt in the waking world much more keenly than in the dreamscape. The ones who suffered were not the ones who were causing the problem, which, of course, is what actually caused the problem to begin with, as Barbie left her younger self trapped in the dream, unable to get out.

Full of insights and unexpected twists, A Game of You is engaging and entertaining and more. There are things, ideas, lurking beneath the surface, waiting to be let out, but it also makes a good read just for enjoyment. Like the others in the series, I will be returning to this book sometime in the future.

Gaiman continues to walk the line between this physical world and the other - or others. In this story, Barbara is trying to make her way in a rough city. Her tenement include self-declared "auntie" Wanda. She (formerly he) is the most ordinary one there. There is also the lesbian couple, unexpectedly in the family way, but even they are just people of this world. Then, there are the others.

Once the story is set in motion, it weaves together different planes of existence and different times of Barbie's (or Princess Barbara's) life. Somehow, Barbara has become host to an eldritch parasite, determined to take over Barabra's life for her own.

You'll have to read the ending for yourself, but this is clearly work for the Sandman. There's plenty for his sister Death to do, too. As much as I like the Sandman saga, I can't say this is my favorite episode. Still, it's a good story and a good piece of visual storytelling.

Enjoy!

//wiredweird

In A GAME OF YOU the focus shifts from the Sandman to woman named Barbara, who gets drawn back into a world which she, as a child, had frequented. The cast of characters are wonderful. There are the inhabitants of Barbara's dream world who are suitably comical, noble and mischievous. There are also the residents in Barbara's block of flats: The feisty Wanda, a woman who was born in a man's body; Thessaly, a superior-acting witch; sensitive Hazel and tough Foxglove (who are a couple); creepy George and the listless Barbara. Gaiman does excellent work with these characters, as he explores them in depth and they each develop as the plot progresses.

The story grew on me as I read it. At first I didn't like it so much, there was a subtle menace and darkness and maybe I'm just a sissy but too much of that kind of thing wears me down. But the story was so interesting - quietly so - you know, in unobvious way. The mystery builds wonderfully and the intricate plot develops so gently and subtly up to its conclusion, which is beautiful and perfect. The end of the story leaves one with such a good feeling because it is somewhat of an epiphany, but not one of those brief, sudden, realisations - more a realisation that is complex and deep, one that has been building momentum for a long time and finally comes together in the end.

If the last Sandman chronicle, "Season of Mists" seemed a little extraordinary, there's a good reason for that. Unlike many of the other collections in the series, "Season", contained a unprecedented amount of Mr. Sandman as protagonist. The odd thing about this graphic novel series is that the hero really doesn't show up all that often. In "Season", he was all over the place. Now, with "A Game of You", it's as if Neil Gaiman recognized just how much Sandman there was in the last one and is working as hard as possible to never let it happen again. Though "A Game of You" is perhaps one of the best written collections in the series, it is a little lacking in the protagonist department. And somehow, that's okay.

Remember Barbie? The crazy apartment neighbor of Rose Walker who lived with her supposedly perfect boyfriend Ken in "The Doll's House"? Well she's back and all is not well. Barbie and Ken split up long ago and she's currently living alone in New York City without much purpose in her life. She has a good drag queen friend, some nice lesbians upstairs, a quiet girl named Thessaly (if you get the reference here then you're too well educated to read this graphic novel), and a kinda creepy fellow named George. Not much happens to Barbie, which is okay with her. I mean, she used to have these far out wacky dreams about being the ruler of an enchanted kingdom that was constantly under attack by something called the Cuckoo. But it's been a long time since Barbie's dreamed. And then, one day, one of her dream companions comes looking for her. Though Barbie may have left her dreams, it's clear that her dreams have not left her.

The standard line repeated regarding "The Sandman" is that it's one of the rare graphic novels that girls read just as often as boys. I never entirely understood why this was before. I mean, sure, the hero of the tales is cute in a kind of gothic way. Girls who go gaga over Robert Smith of The Cure would probably also go for this guy. Ditto Edward Scissorhands. But "A Game of You" shows the other aspects of the series that appeal. In this particular tale, for example, a witch and her two lesbian companions go off to save their friend while a transvestite guards a body and saves a homeless woman. There's a lot of moon rites, sex-ed talk, and confrontation of bigotry in this tale. The ending is nice and complex as well. It takes some appropriate pot shots at small-mindedness and the evil of daily ignorance as well. I also appreciated that the book wasn't just some big girls-who-look-like-Barbie-are-people-too deal.

What I really want to convey is that this book is really well written. It still has the basic horrific elements that, for reasons that remain unclear, are part of the series. So don't be shocked by the dead face nailed to the wall with its similarly nailed eyeballs and tongue. But it transcends this silliness. It's mostly just a story about interacting with other people and how the choices we make about our own lives affect the people around us (however unintentionally). And it has some kick-ass illustrations.

I think this is one of the rare Sandman Chronicles that you could read all by itself without having had read any others in the series. It's the novelist of the graphic novels. Just a nicely written treatise on dreamin' and livin'. A classy piece of work.

In this volume (5) of the Sandman series, we (the readers) follow a woman by the name of Barbie with whom we met in volume 2 "The Doll's House." Anyway, she left her husband Ken, is now living in the Big Apple. The story involves a disturbance in the Dreaming known as the Cuckoo who is slowly trying to breakdown their world.

I don't want to give to much away, but Barbie and her friends make a magical journey through her dreams in order to save her own skin.

This book isn't my favorite of the series, but it's all-in-all a very good read.

Never content with telling Sandman from one fixed perspective for too long, Gaiman again turns the collection on its head and has yet another character (this time `Barbie,' a supporting player in the Doll's House), provide the orientation to the text for us. Gaiman seems to be at his best when Morpheus plays more of a supporting role in the narrative. As was the case in the stellar Doll's House, A Game of You focuses on human relationships. Although Morpheus is certainly an interesting character, in the end he is, as his sister Death previously remarked, "an anthropomorphic personification:" an idealized abstraction. Gaiman's human characters, however, are fully rounded: capable of the myriad -and often contradictory- emotions that make us flesh and blood. It's Gaiman's probing exploration of humanity that really sets the series apart from other graphic novels that choose to focus on the wearisome `superheroes and bad guys' formula. How many other graphic novels, for example, detail the ups and downs of a lesbian couple or the anxieties of transvestism? This is ground breaking stuff, to be sure, and provides much needed realness to the medium.

Barbie's adventures in dreamland bear an eerie resemblance to Frodo's in the Lord of the Rings and Dorothy's in the Wizard of Oz, and for good reason. All three works are manifestations of what Joseph Campbell terms the "hero cycle:" a rite of passage that chronicles the hero's departure and eventual return. The hero cycle is a fundamental aspect of mythology, and Gaiman's skilful usage of it affords the tale a feeling of timelessness, a structural connection to the process of myth making.

The art in this series is fantastic and probably the best in the collection to date. Shawn McManus does a wonderful job of bringing out the mood of the text: note McManus' usage of nearly pure white and black cells in the first chapter to underscore the starkness of Barbie's "dream country." Somewhat jarring, however, is the fact that Colleen Doran drew the art for only the third story. Her less detailed style essentially interrupts the atmosphere created by McManus in the five other stories.

Although this is the fifth text in the Sandman series, Gaiman demonstrates he has plenty of gas left in the tank. His imagination continues to propel him to new and strange places, and I'm more than willing to sit in the passenger's seat and enjoy the view.