Smoke and Mirrors

Short Fictions and Illusions

By: Neil Gaiman

Narrated by: Neil Gaiman

Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

In the deft hands of Neil Gaiman, magic is no mere illusion... and anything is possible. In Smoke and Mirrors, Gaiman's imagination and supreme artistry transform a mundane world into a place of terrible wonders - where an old woman can purchase the Holy Grail at a thrift store, where assassins advertise their services in the Yellow Pages under "Pest Control," and where a frightened young boy must barter for his life with a mean-spirited troll living beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks.

Explore a new reality, obscured by smoke and darkness yet brilliantly tangible, in this extraordinary collection of short works by a master prestidigitator. It will dazzle your senses, touch your heart, and haunt your dreams.

©1998 Neil Gaiman (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

Frustrating!

I love everything Gaiman. So, it breaks my heart to give anything less than 5 stars. Unfortunately, the production team let me down, this time. The book is a collection of short stories. In a book, you can write the introduction to all these stories in the beginning and the reader can reference them, as needed. That method does not work for audio books! So, I sat through 30mins of vivid, candid, endearing descriptions of all these wonderful tales knowing full well that I wouldn’t remember half of them when I got to their corresponding stories. If there are any producers out there, please, for the love of Gaiman, reorganize the damn audiobook so that the introductions are before their respective stories. Thank you!

I love Neil Gaiman, but this is not his best work

This is a collection of short stories, some great, some good, and then some that were not that good. I look at this book like an album where the artist included A few too many songs, which takes away from gems.

Excellent storytelling, voice acting, and...

And above all, excellent stories!! There's a few real gems in here. Especially the angelic story, and retelling of a dark retelling of a children's story... No spoilers!!

Highs and not sures

All in all this is a good listen and there are some true gems in among the short stories. For the mechanics of listening there isn't a sufficient break between stories for one's mind to register the shift and the rather detailed froward about all the stories is too out of context in a listening format. It would be fine in a book. Most of the stories are fantastic Neil Gaiman and others it seems he his playing wth boundaries. This is probably better in short stories that in novel format. Some of the stories for Penthouse I ended up skipping over.

Read by the author in a way only he can...

So Neil knows his characters. Neil has heard them in his head, and has scribed their words, thoughts, dreams, passions, back stories, etc. Only Neil can read these stories as they were meant to be read. It's a good collection of stories and poems. A little R-rated. Definitely worthy of a listening or two or three...

GOOD...but no new favorite.

If you've never read Neil Gaiman, go get another book first, maybe Fragile Things if you have an itch for short stories. I'm glad I listened and I may go back for seconds on his introduction or even the second to the last story, but this is no Neverwhere, How the Count got his coat Back or American Gods. If you want to love Neil Gaiman's performances overall, start in the middle like I did with American Gods.

NSFW! but so so awesome

I love Neil. I love everything he's written, even the über sexual ones that make me a wee but uncomfortable.

Ups and Downs

Would you try another book from Neil Gaiman and/or Neil Gaiman?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

This is a collection of short stories, and poems, and thoughts. So really just not very well suited for Audible. Especially as there is no real table of contents. I had to go find the text to actually enjoy half of it, as I enjoyed the blurbs in the introductions detailing each story.

Underwhelming and Disappointing

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Hard to say. This is a collection of different stories that go from really innocent to incredibly obscene. I might recommend it solely for the final story—a reimagining of Snow White, told from the "Evil Queen"'s perspective.

What was most disappointing about Neil Gaiman’s story?

I love Neil Gaiman's work most of the time—I love Trigger Warning, his other book of short stories—but this was... bad. The most disappointing part was his inability to write sex; I don't believe I've ever read/heard such unappealing descriptions of sex (even in their awkward contexts). The stories without terribly written sex were simply devoid of the usual magic and wonder you'd expect from Gaiman. This isn't completely atrocious, and I understand how someone else might like it precisely for the reasons why I don't but, to me, it's bad.

Which scene was your favorite?

The ending of the final story.

Amazing

Gaiman is a great reader, and a great writer. I listened to this book for over three months as I walked. It has been great, and I’d suggest this for anyone. Although, let me warn you. These stories can get VERY sexual, so if you aren’t into this stuff, then please don’t get this; you’ll be wasting your money. Note: not all of the stories are sexual, but some of them are. It’s a mixture really, but be aware.

Neil Gaiman reads his own work like a master. I’d say he’s the best reader I’ve heard, ever.

I’d highly suggest this book!