The Sandman: The Dream Hunters
Sandmanfans should feel lucky that master fantasy writer Neil  Gaiman discovered the mythical world of Japanese fables while researching his translation of Hayao Miyazaki's filmPrincess Mononoke. At the same time, while preparing for the Sandman 10th anniversary, he met Yoshitaka Amano, his artist for the 11th  Sandman book. Amano is the  famed designer of theFinal Fantasygame series. The product of Gaiman's immersion in Japanese art, culture, and history,Sandman: Dream Huntersis a classic Japanese tale (adapted from "The Fox, the Monk, and the Mikado of All Night's Dreaming") that he has subtly morphed into his Sandman universe.Like most fables, the story begins with a wager between two jealous animals, a fox and a badger: which of them can drive a young monk from his solitary temple? The winner will make the temple into a new fox or badger home. But as the fox adopts the form of a woman to woo the monk from his hermitage, she falls in love with him. Meanwhile, in far away Kyoto, the wealthy Master of Yin-Yang, theonmyoji, is plagued by his fears and seeks tranquility in his command of sorcery. He learns of the monk and his inner peace; he dispatches demons to plague the monk in his dreams and eventually kill him to bring his peace to the onmyoji. The fox overhears the demons on their way to the monk and begins her struggle to save the man whom  at first she so envied.Dream Huntersis a beautiful package. From the ink-brush painted endpapers to the luminous page layouts--including Amano's gate-fold painting of Morpheus in a sea of reds, oranges, and violets--this book has been crafted for a sensuous reading experience. Gaiman has developed as a prose stylist in the last several years with novels and stories such asNeverwhereandStardust, and his narrative rings with a sense of timelessness and magic that gently sustains this adult fairy tale. The only disappointment here is that the book is so brief. One could imagine this creative team being even better suited to a longer story of more epic proportions. On the final page ofDream Hunters, in fact, Amano suggest that he will collaborate further with Mr. Gaiman in the future. Readers ofDream Hunterswill hope that Amano's dream comes true.--Patrick O'Kelley