Die Messerkönigin.

Neil Gaiman

In the deft hands of Neil Gaiman, magic is no mere illusion ... and anything is possible. In this, Gaiman's first book of short stories, his imagination and supreme artistry transform a mundane world into a place of terrible wonders -- a place where an old woman can purchase the Holy Grail at a thrift store, where assassins advertise their services in the Yellow Pages under "Pest Control," and where a frightened young boy must barter for his life with a mean-spirited troll living beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks. Explore a new reality -- obscured by smoke and darkness, yet brilliantly tangible -- in this extraordinary collection of short works by a master prestidigitator. It will dazzle your senses, touch your heart, and haunt your dreams.

Short Fictions and Illusions

Smoke and Mirrors

Mirella

Unfortunately I didn't like this. 

1. I noticed I am not the biggest fan of short stories, because I hate not getting to know the characters and the setting.

2. I just didn't understand what the stories were about. This may very well be due to my own stupidity, but I DNFd multiple stories, because I didn't understand what it was about (or just didn't enjoy it).

The one story that I did understand and even somewhat enjoyed was 'We can get them for you wholesale'. I also thought 'The Wedding Present' had an interesting twist.

My overall rating for this book is 3.85, which I have rounded up. I rated each short story/poem/prose between 1 and 5 stars and then when I finished, calculated the average stars. 

There were some stories in here that I really enjoyed, usually the short stories that were between 2 to 6 pages. I have discovered that contrary to that, I don't care for Neil's poetry as much (this could be due to how much poetry relies on personal interpretation and I am a very literal person, so they just don't resonate the same for me). 

Neil's writing also tends to have a lot of, to me, strange sexual content, and I honestly can't always tell if it's actually gross/disturbing, or if I have just been conditioned to view any sexual writing that isn't inherently erotic as gross and disturbing. And I think that lends itself to the expert way he writes, because it makes me think a lot harder about why I am repulsed by some things and not by others. 

I also really liked that I could see certain influences either for or because of his other longer works; Good Omens, Sandman, American God's, and Neverwhere were just a few of his books I was reminded of. 

Emma Lechner

My overall rating for this book is 3.85, which I have rounded up. I rated each short story/poem/prose between 1 and 5 stars and then when I finished, calculated the average stars. 

There were some stories in here that I really enjoyed, usually the short stories that were between 2 to 6 pages. I have discovered that contrary to that, I don't care for Neil's poetry as much (this could be due to how much poetry relies on personal interpretation and I am a very literal person, so they just don't resonate the same for me). 

Neil's writing also tends to have a lot of, to me, strange sexual content, and I honestly can't always tell if it's actually gross/disturbing, or if I have just been conditioned to view any sexual writing that isn't inherently erotic as gross and disturbing. And I think that lends itself to the expert way he writes, because it makes me think a lot harder about why I am repulsed by some things and not by others. 

I also really liked that I could see certain influences either for or because of his other longer works; Good Omens, Sandman, American God's, and Neverwhere were just a few of his books I was reminded of. 

Short Fictions and Illusions (P.S.)

Colleen

3 Stars
 
Smoke and Mirrors is an eclectic collection of short stories and poems by Neil Gaiman. He is always an interesting author and certainly one that refuses to be pigeonholed into any one genre, topic, or style. But I have to admit that while sometimes I love his writing, there are other times when he gets too weird for me. Smoke and Mirrors has its share of both types.
 
The book starts off with a wonderful introduction by the author. He talks about the background of the stories which were written over a decade or two and had a variety of inspirations. He talks about the theme behind the title which involves reality versus tricks and illusions. I loved his examination of how a mirror can be something that shows you the absolute truth, but it can also be something used for illusions and manipulated to only show you certain things. And he delves into how fiction can be used the same way. It’s some wonderful symbolism. So which mirror are you looking at? The truth or the trick?
 
He also included one of his short stories in the forward as a bonus for those people who actually read forwards and introductions. I am one of those people. I’m nerdy like that. So it was fun that he included that little Easter egg, and it was one of my favorite stories in the book.
 
As I mentioned, the stories ran the gambit. They are mostly Fantasy, a couple of SciFi, a few poems. There is a lot of symbolism in the stories. In addition to the theme from the title, a lot of them deal with things related to being a writer and the less appealing aspects of that career. Many of the stories are open-ended, leaving the reader to decide exactly what happened and what it means. While I enjoyed many individual parts, my overall opinion of the book was not stellar. The stories were all over the place in terms of content, genres, and writing style – almost to the point where it went from “eclectic” to “erratic.” From knights to Cthulhu to murderous angels to STDs, this book really was all over the place. There were so many, “Wait… What??” moments.
 
Most of the content is very dark and definitely adult. It has some touchy subjects such as abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, and gender identity. But some of them were handled in such a weird way. For example, I have no idea what to think about the sentient STD story. Calling it bizarre is an understatement. And there is a ton of graphic content and weird sexual incidents. I don’t mean romantic erotica type stuff. These ranged from average/disappointing sex to complete WTF moments. After all, this is the guy who wrote that one scene in  American Gods . If you’ve read that book, then you know exactly which scene I’m talking about! It wasn’t that I was offended by it; it just got too weird for me. The worst of it was the story about a child vampire sucking blood through men’s phalluses – including her father’s. That was just too gross for me. Although the rest of the story was an interesting retelling of a classic, I wish I could erase that part from my memory. And since that was the last story of the book, it left me feeling too skeeved out to rate this book any higher.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars

Really fun to read, reminiscent of Stephen King's Dreamscapes.

Haley Murray

- Reading the Entrails -3/5
	• The Wedding Present - 3/5
	• Chivalry - 3/5
	• Nicholas Was... - 5/5
	• The Price - 3/5
	• Troll Bridge - 3/5
	• Don't Ask Jack - 4/5
	• The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories - 3/5
	• Eaten (Scenes from a Moving picture) - 2/5
	• The White Road - 5/5
	• Queen of Knives (for Eric Stern's opera of the same name see Queen of Knives) - 2/5
	• The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch - 2/5
	• Changes - 3/5
	• The Daughter of Owls - 5/5
	• Shoggoth's Old Peculiar - 2/5
	• Virus - 3/5
	• Looking for the Girl - 3/5
	• Only the End of the World Again - 5/5
	• Bay Wolf - 3/5
	• Fifteen Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot - 5/5
	• We Can Get Them For You Wholesale - 2/5
	• One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock - 2/5
	• Cold Colors - 2/5
	• The Sweeper of Dreams - 3/5
	• Foreign Parts - 2/5
	• Vampire Sestina - 4/5
	• Mouse - 2/5
	• How Do You Think It Feels? - 3/5
	• When We Went to See the End of the World by Dawnie Morningside, age 11¼ - 2/5
	• Desert Wind - 3/5
	• Tastings - 2/5
	• In the End - 2/5
	• Babycakes - 2/5
	• Murder Mysteries - 3/5
 - Snow, Glass, Apples - 5/5

Whitney Pickle

It's been awhile since I've been struggling to finish a book. This book of short stories is just all over the place, and I honestly didn't like most of the stories. Turns out that I only like when they have a consistent theme and style

Sandra Tammaru

In love with Neil Gaiman and his writing magic!

Eva Bailey

Some gems in here but overall it was OK. I don't love the short story format so struggled to engage.

Lindsay Hollmann

** spoiler alert **
           3.5?

Yo I'm conflicted. On one hand, certain stories utterly disturbed me. That's a good thing.I'm looking at everyone who was grossed out by necro-prince charming as if that was the wrong reaction??

On the other. I don't like Gaiman's poetry, like, whatsoever. And there was too much here. Except the magician bit. Fuck magicians. I had a nightmare about disappearing old people.

I'm just sad I'll never know was the goo dripping out of Snow's lady parts was. Bile? Old blood? A malicious magic substance? Melted black licorice? Tar?

... Ink?

Really dark water?

Help me.

Astha Prakash

I loved some of the stories, while some were just a little too crazy for me. But as always, enjoyed the writing style immensely.

Barry Hess

It's impossible to beat "Murder Mysteries." Well, except for the astounding "Snow, Glass, Apples." Wow.

Harriet Moar-Smith

I feel like there was a real mixed bag of stories here. I mean I guess that's the point!

Some of these I loved and I wish could have been longer and some of them I just had to get through.

Overall, I love Gaiman's writing and having him narrate it added a lot to the stories for me. I liked the adult nature of some of the stories too and the twisting of what we already know. It's made me want to read one of his full-length books again.

Paulina 

Kocham Gaimana psychofańską miłością, ale problem ze zbiorami opowiadań polega na tym, że jedne są niezwykłe i odrobinę zmieniają twój świat, a inne są ok lub nawet tylko meh. Po wyciągnięciu średniej, jest dobrze, ale bez elementu magicznej ekscytacji.
Choć kilka zmian świata było.

Iliana Elizabeth 

Podría decirse que estas tres estrellas son mentirosas. Pero no me da el alma para darle menos a Neil Gaiman. Me resultó muy desconcertante leer un libro suyo y no amar cada página, pero supongo que me malacostumbré por el nivel superior de todo lo que había leído.
 Siendo un libro de cuentos, suponía que podían no gustarme todos, pero por lo menos algunos seguro; y pues no, no pasó. Ningún cuento me enloqueció, aunque sí puedo decir que algunas partes o frases me interesaron. 
 No tengo mucho más para decir salvo que tal vez en algún futuro (lejano) lo vuelvo a leer para ver si cambio de opinión. 
 Esto bajo ningún concepto significa que dejo de recomendar a Neil Gaiman como escritor supremo amo y señor de mi corazón.

Melissa Railey

Oana Munteanu

Index Librorum Prohibitorum

The astonishing and impressive first collection of short stories from New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman An elderly widow finds the Holy Grail beneath an old fur coat in a second-hand store . . . A stray cat fights and refights a nightly battle to protect his adoptive family from an unimagiable evil . . . A young couple receives a wedding gift that will reveal a chilling alternate history of their marriage . . . Beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks, a frightened little boy bargains for his life with a most persistent troll . . . Such miraculous inventions and more await within Neil Gaiman’s first collection of short fiction, a gift of wonder and delight from one of the most unique literary artists of our day. In his capable hands, magic is no mere illusion, but a powerful means to reveal the nature of our humanity obscured in the smoke of our fears and anxieties . . . and reflected in the funhouse mirrors of our dreams.

Die Messerkönigin.

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