'M is for Magic' - Book Review

M is for Magic is a 2007 short story collection for teens/young teens by Neil Gaiman. The stories are mostly fantasy, with a bit of horror and science fiction thrown in. I was surprised at how consistent the tone is across the stories since they weren't written as a unit, but it's Gaiman: he has an elegant simplicity to the way he writes. Sometimes his adult stuff gets a bit sexier or darker, but it's always him.

Something I've found odd is that in that "elegant simplicity," he almost never achieves greatness in the writing. American Gods has always been my premiere example of that, with its brilliant ideas and non-entity lead character. I absolutely loved Good Omens, but that was co-authored with Terry Pratchett. Sometimes his work achieves greatness in the presentation: The Sandman in particular comes to mind.

In this case, every one of the stories was quite good - which is unusual in a short story collection. But none was great. It's a quick read, and enjoyable.