Preludes & Nocturnes (The Sandman 1) by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth,...

Welcome to the beta version of Shelfari’s new Book Detail pages!

These pages are editable by the community, so please contribute! Click here to learn more about this feature. We’d love to hear your feedback.

see page historyNotify me when this page changes.

Description

"Wake up, sir. We're here." It's a simple enough opening line--although not many would have guessed back in 1991 that this would lead to one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comics of the second half of the century. In Preludes and Nocturnes, Neil Gaiman weaves the story of a man... read more

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis

show spoilers

Show ridiculously simplified synopsis (warning: may contain spoilers)

Summary

Write a summary of the plot or a synopsis of this book.

Cast of Characters/Important People

Dream: Also known as Morpheus, Oneiros, Lord Shaper or Kai'ckul. He is one aspect of the embodiment of dreams, and reigns over The Dreaming.
Roderick Burgess: A magician that tried to capture and control Death.
Hecateae: The three-in-one sisters that stands for wisdom, self-revelation, and, more than that, are weavers of fate. They are also called the Witch Queen by those who respect or fears them ("witch" comes from the same root as "wit" or "wisdom"). The youngest is the life giver, the midle one is the life preserver, and the oldest is the death bringer. More powerful than The Endless, they can be invoked to answer three questions, but can also appear by their own to whom they consider their daughters. In all of their encounters, names are very important to them, and they are known by different names in many mithologies: to the Greeks they are the Moeare (Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos), to the Vikings they are the Wyrd or Norns (Urth, Verthandi, Skald), to the Irish they are the Faery Morrigan (Ana, Babd, Macha), to the Hindus they are Kali (Parvati, Durga, Uma), to the Romans they are the Fate or Fortuna (also called as Uni), to the medieval world they are Fata Morganna, and finally to the modern ages they are the Witch Queen (Cynthia, Mildred, Morgaine).
The Endless: They are seven beings who are aspects of the conscience, so they exist only while conscious beings still exists. They are, in order of age: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delight/Delirium. Dream is the main protagonist of the series. Only Death will last longer, as she will retrieve the last conscious being (in The Sandman universe, even planets, stars or dimensions can have consciousness).
Death: The second of The Endless, appears to remember Dream of the responsibilities of being an Endless.
Lucien: The Dreaming's librarian. One of the few dreams that stayed in the Dreaming, awaiting Dream's return.
Destiny: The first of The Endless. His role in this book is just a cameo appearance.

Popular Covers

Choose your book’s cover

Memorable Quotes

List your favorite quotations from this book.

First Sentence

Wake up, sir. We're here.

List the chapters of this book.

Glossary

The Dreaming: The land where dreams are created, it's also where gods are born and return to die. The Dreaming is so part of Dream as he is part of it.
Land of Nod: A pun on "Land of Nod (Gen. 4:16)", is the mythical land of sleep.
Materioptikon: Another name of the Dream Stone, given by John Dee.