Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Neil Gaiman weaves tales of fantasy and creates worlds entirely believable, to the point that you are terrified at the prospect some of these alternate realities might exist. He excels at creating both places of beauty and places of mystical horror - which turn out sometimes to be the same place. A good man to read to escape to another world and identify with the complex characters, but then be very glad to be back safe and sound in your own home after the tale ends.
This book is a recent collection of short stories and verse by a man who has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Like all short story collections the tone of each story/poem is very different; in one tale you might be reading a cute poem about retelling the story of Goldilocks, and in the next story one of the plot points involves a pedophile running an orphanage. But unlike other short story collections I have read, there isn't a tale in the collection that I didn't enjoy at all - of course I have favorites, but each contained a gem somewhere in it for me.
And, if you decide to read this book, make sure to check out the introduction, which is a work of art all to itself, going over the story behind the story, and making up stories inside of it all. Just read it...you'll understand what I'm talking about.
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