Absolute Sandman 3/5 covers issues #40-56, which is Brief Lives, Ramadan, and a collection of stories set in the tavern at the end of the world. Brief Lives follows Delirium's plan to find her brother Destruction, and convince him to resume his caretaking of his role as a member of the Endless. She asks her siblings for assistance in turn, and eventually finds an ally in Dream. Brief Lives really fleshes out a lot of the Endless, and you see a lot more of how their inter-sibling dynamics works. It's really interesting to see, and it made all of the Endless rather closer to one another in the end. Certainly, it makes it harder for me to definitively say 'This one is my favourite' and have it be true all of the time. Additionally, it was really interesting seeing how the different aspects have different personalities that fit with their core areas of control. Dream is aloof and not quite real; he seems insubstantial and as though he could decide to end encounters at any moment. Death has a reverence for life that makes her treat everyone with respect and kindness. Desire is, in itself, fueled by the desire for more, more, more. Destiny is implacable and controlled, and believes in the rigidity of structure. Delirium is constantly flitting from one thought to another - everything she does follows a plan, but it's a loosely structured plan that will change in an instant if she needs it to. She can, and does, pull herself together if she needs to, but her concentration prefers to be split into many fragments analysing many different things, rather than focused all on one. Despair, like Desire, emulates her aspect. She despairs of despairing, but it is in her nature. Destruction is very interesting, what with the whole leaving-the-Endless thing. He cares so much about the limits of destruction that he was unable to face being the cause of too much destruction, which humans seem to be adept at. Instead he abdicates, and allows destruction to control itself while he wanders the world. Potentially my favourite story arc in Sandman so far.
The tavern at the end of the world business is also really, really well done. I enjoyed seeing how a lot of very different characters were brought together for a bunch of short stories that all revolved around a common theme. It was done really well, and Gaiman's characterisation is as always impeccable. There's something to relate to about everybody, and everyone feels thoroughly fleshed out - and for relatively minor characters who only really stand out for a brief time, that makes a big difference to the feel of the whole story. It feels like everyone's life is worth looking at - not just the Endless, but run of the mill people, too. It allows him to touch on things he would have difficulty working into bigger stories, and give them the attention they deserve.
All in all, the whole book has been a big hit with me. I'm currently almost at the end of Sandman 4 (been a bit lazy getting this up) and I'll be really sad when it finally comes to the point where I've read all the stories. Of course, then it'll be time to start at the beginning again, but it'll be sad to be 'done'.
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