Sandman: The Wake (Volume Ten)

Neil Gaiman

As I read the last installment of a series I have been reading for a few months now, I couldn’t help but feel full of deep, sincere sorrow.  First I was sad because I now knew who the funeral was being held for, and I truly adored reading him.  I felt as though I had lost a friend, and I was glad that the text informed me that I had been there.  I would have liked to be at the wake.  Every time Matthew spoke, or Despair cried, and when Gilbert decided to keep his meaningful death, I wept a little.

When I saw the title during my moments of requesting the series to be sent to me, I laughed a bit to myself that the last volume would be “the wake”–since the series is about dreams.  Clever, Neil.  Also, did someone hear me about the art of the last volume?  The art in the first few issues was PERFECT.  I would have been angry had this series ended in any other fashion.  Also, I enjoyed seeing Hob once last time, as well as Shakespeare, but I could have done without another visit to the soft places.  Gilbert wasn’t waiting for us, I wasn’t interested.

As a whole, I really liked this series.  I’m glad it was so much fun to read, and that it worked so many stories at the same time.  I want to eventually buy all the volumes so I can go back and read it through once more.  I especially want to read the funeral scene of the 8th volume again.  This ending was the goodbye I needed to feel okay with everything finishing.  And I was so grateful that the series ended.  I think having something remain finite makes the process of reading through it so much more meaningful.  In any case, I think this might be my favorite volume, followed very, very closely by World’s End.  I give it a 5/5.