Neil Gaiman

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Sol
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Neil Gaiman

Post by Sol »

I was wondering if anyone had read any of his works here?

I recently got through American Gods, Neverwhere and Stardust (the film does it justice I think) and they were some of the best fantasy-style reads I've encountered in a long time (The really last good ones I read were the Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan which were hard to put down I found) they seemed strangely believable which is what I think makes a great novel no matter the genre :shock:

...I intend to go on to Anansi Boys next and wanted to know your thoughts on this, in my opinion, brilliant author/screen writer (I just found out he co-wrote Beowulf too :))

:cheese:
Joose
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Post by Joose »

If I were a woman I would happily bear his children.

He is almost certainly my favorite author ever. I have yet to read something of his that I didn't like.
they seemed strangely believable
I know what you mean, I think its because he has such well developed, believable characters. He spends more time on the people in the story than the story itself, whereas a lot of authors are so busy driving the story forwards that the characters seem like...well, characters, rather than people. Because you can believe in the characters, you have a better understanding of why they are doing what they are doing, so the story itself becomes more solid.

And if you liked American Gods, you'll like Anansi Boys. Best book I've read in ages, and I read a *lot*.

Did you know that he also does a lot of graphic novels too? His Sandman books are bloody brilliant, very...I cant think of a better way of putting it than "grown up". I don't mean that they are all full of sex, violence and swearing (although there is some of that) but the stories he does in Sandman are similar in style to the stories he does in his other novels. Even if you don't normally like comics, I would recommend at least giving Sandman a go, I know several people who consider graphic novels and comics as just for kids, but still like Sandman.
Lateralus
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Post by Lateralus »

I read his American Gods and Neverwhere after reading Small Gods which he did with Pratchett, and I loved them all. I want to read Ansai Boys too, but have been reading more Sci-Fi again recently. I'm also keeping my eyes peeled for his graphic novels. Not read Stardust yet, but I really enjoyed the film. Having the author involved in the film production always improves the end result immeasurably, and ensures that the films stay on track. Seems to have not quite worked in the 2 Pratchett films so far, but in most other cases it seems to be true.

I know just what you mean about his characters, and agree wholeheartedly. I'd recommend his books to most people regardless of their tastes.
Roman Totale
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Post by Roman Totale »

I love Neil Gaiman's books. Anansi Boys is very, very good - I enjoyed it even more than American Gods which I liked a lot.

Lateralus wrote:I read his American Gods and Neverwhere after reading Good Omens which he did with Pratchett
Fixed
HereComesPete
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Post by HereComesPete »

Add me to the list of Gaiman readers, unsurprisingly. I've not met him, but he doesn't strike me as a pretentious fag like Pratchett does, so that's even moar plus in his favour.
Lateralus
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Post by Lateralus »

Roman Totale wrote:Fixed
Thanks, I had a feeling it was wrong, but the book was all the way next door when I wrote it.
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