The Books of Faerie: Auberon's Tale

Bronwyn Carlton

Carlton brings us some backstory about Auberon, King of Faerie. Not a necessary addition to the Sandman universe, but an appreciated one. Like the Books of Magic, Gaiman's disappearance from the spinoffs as head writer has affected them negatively, but they're still above average.

Along with the Auberon-as-youth tale, there's a Tim Hunter piece from John Ney Rieber, which will no doubt be of interest to those following the Books of Magic. This one came off somewhat confusing (even though I had a general idea of what was going on, the specifics eluded me until the closing pages). I had originally wondered why this wasn't in one of the Books of Magic collections, and I now harbor a sneaking suspicion that it's because it's simply not as good as the Books of Magic stuff.

Still, like all things Sandman, this is worth reading.