Fragile Things | Neil Gaiman

Fragile Things ~ Neil Gaiman
By: Fatma Al-Hajri

A collection of stories (and a few poems) by the famous fantasy author Neil Gaiman. In this book amysterious circus terrifies an audience for one extraordinary performance before disappearing into the night, taking one of the spectators along with it . . . In a novella set two years after the events of American Gods, Shadow pays a visit to an ancient Scottish mansion, and finds himself trapped in a game of murder and monsters . . .

In a Hugo Award-winning short story set in a strangely altered Victorian England, the great detective Sherlock Holmes must solve a most unsettling royal murder . . .

Two teenage boys crash a party and meet the girls of their dreams—and nightmares . . .
In a Locus Award-winning tale, the members of an excusive epicurean club lament that they've eaten everything that can be eaten, with the exception of a legendary, rare, and exceedingly dangerous Egyptian bird . . .

Such marvelous creations and more—including a short story set in the world of The Matrix, and others set in the worlds of gothic fiction and children's fiction—can be found in this collection, which showcases Gaiman's storytelling brilliance as well as his terrifyingly entertaining dark sense of humor. By turns delightful, disturbing, and diverting.

Personal opinion: It is hard to rate a book that is a collection of short stories. Some stories were great and some were OK and then there were some which were just ugly.

I was really excited to read some of the stories, like "A Study in Emerald" which combines Sherlock Holmes with the world of H.P. Lovecraft. I was really curios to see how it would turn out and it was very good.

My other favorites in this collection are:

- "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire " which has a strange name and a stranger blot, but is really enjoyable.
- "Other People " show us hell and it is really scary.
- "Harlequin Valentine " I liked it even though I don't know anything about Harlequins.
- "Sunbird" really engaging, you read it and you will have an idea about what will happen next and you can see the characters going slowly to their doom and that what makes this story great.

"October in the Chair ", "Bitter Grounds ", "My Life ", "Feeders and Eaters" and " Goliath " were good too.

Now we move on to the ugly starting with " Keepsakes and Treasures ", I really cant understand why this story was ever written. It tells the story of unlikable group of people and knowing their background didn't make me like them or appreciate their twisted life.

"The Problem of Susan" made feel uncomfortable, it is disturbing and I couldn't enjoy it.

"The Monarch of The Glen", I didn't read AMERICAN GODS so I didn't care much about Shadow. Also Beowulf was the worst movie I have ever seen, so reading this story reminded me of the movie and I immediately hated it. Not to forget the presence of the horrible Mr Alice and Mr Smith from "Keepsakes and Treasures " which was another factor to destroy the story for me.

The rest of the short stories didn't leave an impact on me, they just weren't memorable

My Rating: 7/10

I recommend it to readers who like fantasy and can enjoy a collection of short stories. Also for readers who want to read their first Neil Gaiman book.