The psychosexuality of these dreams highlights the comments that Susan’s ejection from Narnia is related to original sin and the idea that as a woman, rather than a girl, she is no longer pure enough to enter. That alone could have made for a great story, but Gaiman takes it one step further, introducing strange dreams that portray Aslan and the White Witch as conspirators and lovers rather than enemies. As the title implies, he addresses this idea that Susan wasn’t allowed back into Narnia because she had grown too old. I also remembered “The Problem of Susan” from my first reading all those years ago, and I was happy to revisit it. This is a universe where stories have power and a life of their own. It’s very much in the same vein as the novel: Gaiman shines a light into the liminal space of fantasy in our world-what we might, if we’re feeling snobbish, call magical realism, although I don’t think that’s quite right either. Anyone who wants to know what happens to Shadow following on from American Gods needs to read this. The star of this book, if there is one, has to be the novella at the end, The Monarch of the Glen. I love me my novels, and that’s just a big fat bias on my part. But as I say every time I come to review a short story collection, this is just not the form for me. Many of the stories in here are clever a few are even brilliant, and some certainly made me smile. Yet I can’t say that I enjoyed Fragile Things that much. I like his ability to create characters through broad strokes that seem to shift and change in a different light: both American Gods and The Ocean at the End of the Lane feature interesting protagonists who gradually undergo existential crises as the story unfolds. Looks like I’m reading all the things out of order! And this doesn’t matter, I know, except to me-which probably makes it all the worse.

So when I wanted a change of pace, I took Fragile Things off my shelf, intending to knock it back so I could get to Trigger Warning. I totally forgot I bought Smoke and Mirrors. I thought I could read all three anthologies in publication order and enjoy the progression.

So when I bought that, I also picked up his first collection, Smoke and Mirrors. Then Neil Gaiman’s newest collection, Trigger Warning came out. I’ve been meaning to re-read it for a while so I can write a review. I first read Fragile Things back in my first year of university, after which I promptly lent it to a friend, who gave it back to me three or four years later-as can sometimes happen when I lend out books.

Neil gaiman fragile things review