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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 1816064" data-attributes="member: 5171">I've only read American Gods, Sandman, and Neverwhere -- and Good Omens, but I read that before I knew who Gaiman was.I enjoyed American Gods a lot, although I thought of it more as a journey book -- the journey was, for me, more interesting than the destination.  That's not a knock -- Neal Stephenson traditionally gives me the worst endings I've read in a long time, but I still read his stuff.  Neverwhere would have been more interesting had I had a better working knowledge of London.  As it was, I was interested in the new fantastical tropes he used and had a good time, but I wasn't moved to tears.And I deeply enjoyed Sandman, although I had to be in the right mood for it.  I suppose that's true for anything, but very much more so in this one.I found that I personally enjoyed Gaiman more when he didn't take himself too seriously.  His ability to go from brooding barely comprehensible menace to deadpan ironic humor in the blink of an eye is what always made him worth reading for me.  That and his interplay between traditional fantasy and new fantasy.  Not to hijack, but the biggest problem I have with China Mieville is that he seems so bent on creating new and original fantasy tropes that he doesn't stop to check whether they're any good.  Completely and totally just my own opinion, of course.  I would read his stuff and go, "Cool, wonderful, neat, stupid, stupid, saw it on Doctor Who, and okay, another cool one, and hey, I hope you're trying to be funny with that one there, because if not, you've unfortunately drifted into camp..."I feel like Gaiman does a better job of taking the cool parts of traditional fantasy and blending in his own unique new fantasy concepts at the same time.  He's not trying to fight several thousand years of history and culture, and several decades of established fantasy tropes.  For me, it's the difference between paddling against the current with all your might and letting the current take you while you smoothly guide your craft across the river to a new place.</blockquote>

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