Good overview of Gaiman's work across all media, though a lot of page count is synopses (so if you've read a lot of his work, it goes quickly). ( )

The Cemetery Dance edition was solicited and paid for in March of 2009.
Book is NOT as originally solicited.
At various times the delay was attributed to waiting for Bissette's exclusive artwork. This art is missing, including the piece I purchased from Mr. Bissette, a Sandman piece done especially for this edition.
Cover is absolutely atrocious and one of the worst on any book. If seen on a bookstore shelf, you would pass this by.
If memory serves me properly this was originally supposed to be signed by Gaiman as well, it is not.
A 6 1/2 year wait for a huge disappointment.
Better paper than the original release, but the original has much more art and a better cover. ( )

What was I thinking? I don't like the Gaiman books I've read so far, feeling like beating him with long, leathery things studded with flesh-rending hooks, because CHARACTERS HAVE TO CHANGE SOMEHOW as a result of the journey of the novel, and his don't. So far, anyway.

So why read this gushing fanboy spoiler-fest? Why inundate myself with the trivia and ejecta of the man's undeniably interesting career doing things I don't care about, like comics and graphic novels?

To see what all the fuss is about. Still don't know.

I'm just not interested in comics/graphic novels, really, and that's about 250pp of the 500pp book. Gaiman's entire ouevre is spoilerized, which I found handy since I just can't make myself read another book by him. Now I don't have to. But really, now, the mind that can conceive the fascinating, delectably textured premise for American Gods can conceive an endinig for it! Having read the plot summaries of his comics work, I know he's done it before. So what was the problem?! Turns out...it was his first novel. The collaboration with Pratchett on Good Omens isn't all his. The novelization of Neverwhere isn't a novel from the ground up. The author himself says it was his first real novel.

But still! No ending! *mutters sulphrously*

Oh, anyway, I gave this book 2-1/2 stars because it's a breathless, giddy, golly-gee convention panel brochure that got delusions of grandeur. Don't read it unless you're a) sleepy yet can't fall asleep, b) a Gaiman fanatic AND under 24, or c) *desperate* to know what you're missing that everyone else is getting from this pop-culture phenom. (Nothing, the emperor's nekkid, but keep it quiet 'cause they're fun to watch.) ( )

Reviewed by Christina Tsichlis for TeensReadToo.com

PRINCE OF STORIES: THE MANY WORLDS OF NEIL GAIMAN is a wonderful book for any fan of Neil Gaiman. It is an overview of his work as well as his life. It is clearly a book written by friends of the man himself and has a jovial feel to it, almost like friends telling stories about one of their own to one of their own. As a reader, one feels almost included in the circle of friendship that clearly helped to generate this book.

Virtually everything a Gaiman fan could want is included in this book, from a list of websites to discussions on characters, from family photos to cover art, and from interviews to journal entries. Gaiman's amazing accomplishments in the Science Fiction, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, and Film worlds come to life through the anecdotes and commentary in this book.

A reader comes away feeling like they have known the man for years. It is not simply a cut-and-dried look at Gaiman's amazing accomplishments or life. It carries in it the liveliness all of Gaiman's own works include.

While there is nothing that a parent of a younger child would particularly object to, this is a book written for older readers, for people who have already read Gaiman's work. If one has not read his books yet, it would be giving away some of the most wonderful joys and secret pleasures of reading books written by a master.

Gaiman is THE fantasist of our time, and his ability to shift between mediums is amazing. Considering that this book covers all of his work, some even that have not yet been published, it would be a shame to read this book before you have read or watched what Gaiman himself has created. ( )