Endless Nights is another book from Neil Gaiman in the world of The Sandman. It contains seven stories, one for each of the Endless. It is … impressive.
Each of the stories captures the personality of one of the Endless. Possibly the weakest of them in that respect are Death’s and Dream’s, but they’re also probably the most prominent characters in the Sandman series, so the lapse is forgivable, especially since Dream’s gives some very nice backstory for the Endless.
Probably my favorites from the set are Desire’s and Destiny’s stories. Each is a succinct encapsulation of its respective Endless’s personality, combined with some stunning artwork. Death’s, Dream’s, Delirium’s, and Destruction’s are all good stories, with excellent artwork of their own. Despair’s story is probably the one most different from the others, and while it’s very well done, I can’t say that I enjoyed it, largely because it isn’t really meant to be enjoyed. I’ll say simply that it is very well executed, contains superb artwork, and I had to rest for a while after reading it to recover.
If you’re a fan of Sandman, buy this book. If you’re not familiar with Sandman, a lot of the point of this will be missing. It’s probably still worth reading for the artwork alone, but the Endless are what really drive this book.
For my part, I’m very happy to place this book on my shelf beside my other Sandman novels.