With the conclusion of Mansions of the Silence, I have completed over half of Mike Carey’s Lucifer story. And from a structural perspective, it is pretty obvious that the story is about half over. Well, I can’t say that much, but it’s at least obvious that it has reached a dividing point. That’s it’s half instead of a third or whatever, that can only be seen in retrospect. My point, anyway, is that the loose ends are rapidly being tied off. In keeping with his character, Lucifer is repaying his debts regardless of the cost to those around him.

Half the story follows his crew on a journey he himself cannot take, to rescue the soul of Elaine Belloc and clear that debt to her. And it makes for a pretty good travel-adventure yarn, sailing through the planes of the heavens on a Norse boat of the dead, built by honest-to-God[1] giants out of the fingernails of dead Vikings. Good mythical stuff, is all I’m saying. Meanwhile, the angel himself and his brother Michael take advantage of a device Lucifer recently found that can see into the mind of God, the results of which have almost certainly set in motion the second half of the story in ways that are currently well beyond my perception.

Pausing to take stock and look at the series through the Sandman lens[2], the storyline is pretty much as complex still, but the literary weight is… I’m having a hard time with it. It’s either not so much there, which is kind of reasonable, Sandman being pretty much seminal in the field of literary graphic novels. Or else, it’s there, but much weightier and a lot of it is sliding by me. Which is certainly possible. But without being too full of myself, if I’m missing it, most of the other readers are too. Anyhow, I say again: not quite living up to Sandman means you have a damn fine story happening.

[1] Er. Yeah, sorry about that.
[2] Since this seems to be my day for comparisons.