Stardust, the movie based on Stardust the book by Neil Gaiman was pretty good. But I think I'll ignore your brother's friends' lit picks in general just to be safe.
Stardust was a rare case of the movie being far superior to its book. I really enjoyed that flick. It's what made me keep trying Gaiman's writing for so long, before I ultimately realized it was an aberration, and most of his books are nihilist dreck.
the only of Gaiman's books I've actually enjoyed over the long run is Neverwhere, and I hear from many that China Mievelle actually does that one better. In the '90s, I read some Sandman, and of course Death: The High Cost of Living - it should be telling that other than the collaboration he did with Yoshitaka Amano, those comics have stayed in storage since the early 2000s. He is easily one of the most overrated writers of the last 50 years, pretentious, and deconstructionist towards things (like the canon of Western Civ) that he thinks he understands, but actually does not understand.
See, I hated Neverwhere. The one great one I think he did was Anansi Boys, and I thought The Graveyard Book was a fun take on The Jungle Book. But then I went on to read Stardust, Ocean at the End of The Lane, and two or three others, and he just sucks. I've never even bothered getting into the GNs he was involved in.
Stardust, the movie based on Stardust the book by Neil Gaiman was pretty good. But I think I'll ignore your brother's friends' lit picks in general just to be safe.
Stardust was a rare case of the movie being far superior to its book. I really enjoyed that flick. It's what made me keep trying Gaiman's writing for so long, before I ultimately realized it was an aberration, and most of his books are nihilist dreck.
the only of Gaiman's books I've actually enjoyed over the long run is Neverwhere, and I hear from many that China Mievelle actually does that one better. In the '90s, I read some Sandman, and of course Death: The High Cost of Living - it should be telling that other than the collaboration he did with Yoshitaka Amano, those comics have stayed in storage since the early 2000s. He is easily one of the most overrated writers of the last 50 years, pretentious, and deconstructionist towards things (like the canon of Western Civ) that he thinks he understands, but actually does not understand.
See, I hated Neverwhere. The one great one I think he did was Anansi Boys, and I thought The Graveyard Book was a fun take on The Jungle Book. But then I went on to read Stardust, Ocean at the End of The Lane, and two or three others, and he just sucks. I've never even bothered getting into the GNs he was involved in.
I haven't read the others, but 100% on American Gods. It wasn't bad, but a bit over the top.