Smoke and Mirrors - Neil Gaiman

It takes a certain knack to write short stories, an entirely different knack from writing long-form fiction, and it's one that I think Gaiman possesses.  I've read some of his short stories before, in Trigger Warning, and was glad to read some more.  As with his other story collections, these are fantasy stories.  Gaiman breaks down why he wrote each of them in the foreword of the book, and also includes a little bonus story that you'd  miss if you just skipped straight to the first listed story.  But as with any collection, not everything here can be a total hit.

I don't plan on breaking down every bit of this book; that would take forever.  But here were the high points: "Troll Bridge," about a young man who repeatedly encounters a troll who wants to eat his life; "The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories," bits of which are apparently true (which bits?) and takes place on a surreal trip to Los Angeles; "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar," which is Lovecraft-inspired; "Bay Wolf," which is Beowulf told as if it's an episode of Baywatch; and "Snow, Glass, Apples," which is a creepy retelling of Snow White.  For low points, I would say that the poetry isn't my favorite; "Vampire Sestina" is nice but the rest I could pretty much take or leave.

The stories here are pretty diverse in scope and include some racier things than I've seen in Gaiman's long-form work.  But while most of them were enjoyable, they weren't dazzling, and I can't see myself reaching for this again and again like I can with his novels.  Neverwhere, American Gods, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane in particular are so wonderful and magical, and I just didn't feel like any of the things in this could quite build up to the precedents that those had set for me.  But "Snow, Glass, Apples" is very good, and really reinforces that I love Gaiman's fairy tale-type stories.  He's written another one since this, which I actually read first, called "The Sleeper and the Spindle," which is also wonderful, and of course Stardust is delightful as well and The Ocean at the End of the Lane has a whimsy to it that's similar.

Overall, a nice collection but not something I can see myself reading again.  But it was nice to pick up and put down; I read some big chunks of it at once, but did find this was a better book to pick at rather than to just read.

3.5 stars out of 5.