She was the power incarnate, standing in the crackling air. She was the storm, she was the lightning, she was the adult world with all its power and all its secrets and all its foolish casual cruelty.

and THIS is why Neil Gaiman is:
1. a god (because he knows this)
2. one of the most important writers in English in our era (because he says it so perfectly and therefore makes it so apparent it can’t be un-known)