The Sandman Act – II By Neil Gaiman

Book Title: The Sandman Act – II
Author: By Neil Gaiman
Publisher: October 10, 2007 by Vertigo
Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics, Mythology , Comic Book, Urban Fantasy, Dc Comics

My Review

“The song of Orpheus is breath-stopping. Must follow the series.”

Read more: The Sandman Act – II By Neil Gaiman

About the Author

Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman born Neil Richard Gaiman, 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theatre, and films. His works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He has won numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards, as well as the Newbery and Carnegie medals. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, The Graveyard Book (2008). In 2013, The Ocean at the End of the Lane was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards. It was later adapted into a critically acclaimed stage play at the Royal National Theater in London, England that The Independent called “… theatre at its best”.

My Thoughts

Neil Gaiman is back again with a new season of “The Sandman Act-II”. His voice, it’s just… , it’s breath-stopping. I usually go numb whenever I listen to him. His narration takes me in a different trance. His storytelling skills can capture your mind every time you hit the play button on Audible.

Let’s talk about the second series, which doesn’t focus much on Morpheus. Many new characters are introduced in this series. At every turning event, you can see Morpheus more and more mature. His ego has calmed down, and he learns to apologize for his mistakes, but still, there is more to this character that is still hidden from the audience that makes you hold on to the story.

The story of Orpheus

Orpheus, an ancient Greek legendary hero endowed with superhuman musical skills. He became the patron of a religious movement based on sacred writings said to be his own.

Traditionally, Orpheus was the son of a Muse (probably Calliope, the patron of epic poetry) and Oeagrus, a king of Thrace (other versions give Apollo). According to some legends, Apollo gave Orpheus his first lyre. Orpheus’s singing and playing were so beautiful that animals and even trees and rocks moved about him in dance.

Orpheus, talented at playing music

Orpheus is known as the most talented music player of ancient times. It is said that the god Apollo was his father, from whom took his extreme talent in music, and the Muse Calliope was his mother. He was living in Thrace, in the northeastern part of Greece. Orpheus had a divinely gifted voice that could charm everyone who heard it. When he has presented first the lyre as a boy, he had it mastered in no time at all. The myth says that no god or mortal could resist his music and even the rocks and trees would move themselves to be near him.

According to some ancient texts, Orpheus is accredited to have taught agriculture, writing, and medicine to mankind. He is also attributed to have been an astrologer, a seer, and the founder of many mystic rites. The strange and ecstatic music of Orpheus would intrigue the minds of people to things over natural and had the power to broaden the mind to newand unusual theories.

However, apart from musical talent, Orpheus also had an adventurous character. He was believed to have taken part in the Argonautic expedition, which is the voyage of Jason and his fellow Argonauts to get to Colchis and steal the Golden Fleece. Orpheus played a vital role during the expedition because, playing his music, he put to sleep the “sleepless dragon” that was guarding the Golden Fleece, and thus Jason managed to get the Fleece. Moreover, the music of Orpheus saved the Argonauts from the Sirens, the strange female-like creatures who were seducing men with their nice voices, and then they were killing them.

Orpheus’s heartbreaking love story

Love at first sight

Orpheus used to spend much of his early years in the idyllic pursuits of music and poetry. His skill had far surpassed the fame and respect of his music. Humans and beasts alike would be enchanted by it and often even the most inanimate of objects would yearn to be near him.

Well into his youth he had mastered the lyre and his melodious voice garnered him audiences from near and afar. It was at one such gathering of humans and beasts that his eyes fell on a wood nymph. The girl was called Eurydice, she was beautiful and shy. She had been drawn to Orpheus enamored by his voice and such was the spell of beauty in music and appearance that neither could cast their eyes off each other. Something inexplicable tugged the hearts of the two young people and soon they felt dearly in love, unable to spend a single moment apart. After a while, they decided to get married.

Their wedding day dawned bright and clear. Hymenaeus, the god of marriage, blessed their marriage and then a great feast followed. The surroundings were filled with laughter and gaiety. Soon the shadows grew large, signaling an end to the revelry that had lasted much of the day and the wedding guests all took leave of the newlyweds, who were still sitting hand-in-hand and starry-eyed. They soon both realized that it was time they were on their way and departed for home.

The snake-bite

However, things would soon change and grief would ensure happiness. There was one man who was despising Orpheus and desired Eurydice for his own. Aristaeus, a shepherd, had plotted a plan to conquer the beautiful nymph. And there he was, waiting in the bushes for the young couple to pass by. Seeing that the lovers were approaching, he intended to jump on them and kill Orpheus. As the shepherd made his move, Orpheus grabbed Eurydice by the hand and started running pell-mell through the forest.

The chase was long and Aristaeus showed no signs of giving up or slowing down. On and on they ran and suddenly, Orpheus felt Eurydice stumble and fall, her hand slipping from his grasp. Unable to comprehend what had just happened, he rushed to her side but stopped short in dismay, for his eyes perceived the deathly pallor that suffused her cheeks. Looking around, he saw no trace of the shepherd for Aristaeus had witnessed the event and had left. A few steps away, Eurydice had stepped on a nest of snakes and had been bitten by a deadly viper. Knowing that there was no chance of survival, Aristaeus abandoned his try, cursing his luck and Orpheus.

A supernatural plan

After the death of his beloved wife, Orpheus was no longer the same carefree person he used to be. His life without Eurydice seemed endless and could do nothing more than grieve for her. This is when he had a great yet crazy idea: he decided to go to the Underworld and try to get his wife back. Apollo, his father, would talk to Hades, the god of the Underworld, to accept him and hear his plea.

Armed with his weapons, the lyre, and voice, Orpheus approached Hades and demanded entry into the underworld. None challenged him. Standing in front of the rulers of the dead, Orpheus said why he was there, in a voice both mellifluous and disquieting. He played his lyre and sang out to King Hades and Queen Persephone that Eurydice was returned to him. Not even the most stone-hearted of people or Gods could have neglected the hurt in his voice.

Hades openly wept, Persephone’s heart melted and even Cerberus, the gigantic three-headed hound guarding the entrance to the underworld, covered his many ears with his paws and howled in despair. The voice of Orpheus was so moving that Hades promised this desperate man that Eurydice would follow him to the Upper World, the world of the living. However, he warned Orpheus that for no reason must he look back while his wife was still in the dark, for that would undo everything he hoped for. He should have waited for Eurydice to get into the light before he looked at her.

With great faith in his heart and joy in his song, Orpheus began his journey out of the underworld, joyful that he would once again be reunited with his love. As Orpheus was reaching the exit of the Underworld, he could hear the footfalls of his wife approaching him. He wanted to turn around and hug her immediately but managed to control his feelings. As he was approaching the exit, his heart was beating faster and faster. The moment he stepped into the world of the living, he turned his head to hug his wife. Unfortunately, he got only a glimpse of Eurydice before she was once again drawn back into the underworld.

When Orpheus turned his head, Eurydice was still in the dark, she hadn’t seen the sun and, as Hades had warned Orpheus, his sweet wife was drowned back to the dark world of the dead. Waves of anguish and despair swept over him and shuddering with grief he approached the Underworld again but this time, he was denied entry, the gates were standing shut and god Hermes, sent by Zeus, wouldn’t let him in.

The Death of Orpheus

And so it was that a group of irate women, furious for his scorn towards them, chanced upon him. Orpheus was so desperate that he did not even try to repulse their advances. The women killed him, cut his body into pieces, and threw them and his lyre into a river. It is said that his head and his lyre floated downriver to the island of Lesvos. There the Muses found them and gave Orpheus a proper burial ceremony. People believed that his grave emanated music, plaintive yet beautiful. His soul descended down to Hades where he was finally reunited with his beloved Eurydice.

From then on, the heartbroken musician was wandering disoriented, day after day, night after night, in total despair. He could find no consolation in anything. His misfortune tormented him, forcing him to abstain from contact with any other woman, and slowly but surely he found himself shunning their company completely. The songs were no more joyful but extremely sad. His only comfort was to lay on a huge rock and feel the caress of the breeze, his only vision was the open skies.

The song is heartbreaking and captures every bit of you when you listen. The author does describe the meaning of the song. It makes you think, can someone love so deeply?

Whatever your answer, I really want the readers to at least listen to the song for once.

About the Series

Enter the Dreaming again as the blockbuster audio adaptation of “the greatest epic in the history of comic books” continues in The Sandman: Act II. James McAvoy returns to voice Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, in this sequel to the number-one New York Times audio bestseller. Journey into a world of myths, imagination, and terror based on the best-selling DC comic books and graphic novels written by Neil Gaiman (returning as the Narrator), and lose yourself in another groundbreaking, immersive drama adapted and directed by the award-winning audio master Dirk Maggs.

In the packed Act II, the dark fantasy resumes and the Sandman expands into the French Revolution, ancient Rome, 19th-century San Francisco, eighth-century Baghdad, and beyond. New and familiar characters abound, voiced by a bright mix of performers, including Kat Dennings, Regé-Jean Page, Emma Corrin, Michael Sheen, Kristen Schaal, Brian Cox, John Lithgow, Jeffrey Wright, and so many more, including fan-favourite narrators Simon Vance and Ray Porter.

Just close your eyes and listen again as the greatest epic continues.

Act II of the audio series The Sandman adapts collected volumes four (Season of Mists) and five (A Game of You) of the comics in their entirety, and most of volume six (Fables & Reflections).

Happy Reading!!!

Recommended Reading

Sandman Act -1 – Neil Gaiman
Mythos – The Greek Myths Retold- Stephen Fry
Mahagatha 100 Tales from the Puranas by Satyarth Nayak
Jaya Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharat By Devdutt Pattnaik