As with all things Gaiman, a true delight from beginning to end. I enjoyed each and every work in this collection. ( )

What do you do when you adore two-thirds of the short stories in a book and detest the rest? Simple, you just state your opinion and leave the decision in the hands of the reader. That's what I'm going to attempt here.

Smoke and Mirrors is a collection of 29 short stories (some of these are in poetic form) by the master of fantasy, Neil Gaiman. Written over various years, the collection has stories from fantasy, mild horror, sci-fi and magical realism. In some ebook editions, there are three bonus stories. Plus, and I believe this is Gaiman's special gift to those readers who diligently read introductions even if they are long, there's a beautiful story even in the introduction. This makes it 33 stories in all. Of these, I really relished 22 stories. Though from various genres, these 22 stories are astounding and leave a great impact with their creativity and storyline. The remaining 11 were either boring or perplexing; I couldn't even complete a few of them. Thus reading the stories was a hit-and-miss experience. But the ones that worked, really really worked and how!!! In fact, one of them is a retelling of a very famous fairy tale and that story just blew me away with its brilliance.

Mind you, this book has strictly adult content. Just because you hear Neil Gaiman and fantasy and short stories, don't give this book to your teens. There's a lot of sexually explicit content, sometimes over-the-top. Many of the stories aren't recommended even for those adults who are either childish or prudish.

For those who want to get a fabulous audio experience, there is a special audio version of two of the best stories in the book. This is named "Two Plays for Voices" and is available on Scribd. In fact, I started with the audio book first, assuming that it was a different Gaiman book. When the epilogue said that these were two stories from Smoke and Mirrors, I was so excited that I recommended the book to my moderator gang immediately and started reading the ebook. Lesson learnt: never ever recommend a book without completing it first.

Rating: 4.5 to 4.75 for the 22 stories that clicked. Can't rate the rest but they would fall between 1-2 stars.

So who should go for the book?
Neil Gaiman fans: Do you really need my go-ahead?

Fantasy/SciFi/Horror fans: Yes, give it a try. It's worth the efforts of trudging through the boring stuff.

"I want to try Neil Gaiman" readers: Stay away for now. Begin with Coraline or The Graveyard Book.

Regular Short Story fans: You decide based on your love for this genre and this style of writing.




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The problem with collections of this sort is how uneven they tend to be, but there are moments when Gaiman's talent shines; moments, even, of brilliance. Still, it is largely merely "pretty good" with the occasional outright misfire. I loved Neverwhere and Coraline when I was young, and this collection, while it did not bowl me over, has convinced me that I should revisit Gaiman as a novelist now, in my 30s. ( )

Again, great collection! Loved all the stories. ( )

I like that we get to see the inspiration for each of the short stories, we really get to see a bit of insight into the writing process and how it becomes an end product. ( )