Sandman Slim

Sandman Slim, Book 1

By: Richard Kadrey

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews

Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

When he was 19, James Stark was considered to be one of the greatest natural magicians, a reputation that got him demon-snatched and sent downtown - to Hell - where he survived as a gladiator, a sideshow freak entertaining Satan's fallen angels.

That was 11 years ago. Now, the hitman who goes only by Stark has escaped and is back in L.A. Armed with a fortune-telling coin, a black bone knife, and an infernal key, Stark is determined to destroy the magic circle - led by the conniving and powerful Mason Faim - that stole his life.

Though nearly everything has changed, one constant remains: his friend Vidocq, a 200-year-old Frenchman who has been keeping vigil for the young magician's return. But when Stark's first stop saddles him with an abusive talking head that belongs to the first of the circle, a sleazy video store owner named Kasabian, Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than he counted on, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future.

©2009 Richard Kadrey (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Loved it

If you are adverse to cursing this is not the book for you. I this book is a great urban fantasy read. I loved the writer's descriptions of the protagonist's dingy and bleak world.

Dark humor

This shit was dark, somewhat confusing, but so awesome. I enjoyed it very much and will conti ue through the series.

More Self-Pitying Smart A$$ than Anti-Hero Bad A$$

I picked up Sandman Slim on sale and found it entertaining enough to justify the sale price, but not engaging enough to continue this series. James Stark (Sandman Slim) as the raging anti-hero is driven solely by revenge and seems unable to feel much beyond anger and petulance; I kept wanting to shake him and say, "Oh, grow up, buddy". Although there is an attempt at sardonic wit in Richard Kadrey's writing, the book actually comes across as snarky at best and vulgar or flat at worst and there is little of the wry humor or chuckles of some other urban noir fantasies. The plot is convoluted, the dialog is stilted, and the magic system doesn't quite hang together. MacLeod Andrews as the narrator does a good job of assuming and conveying the persona of Sandman Slim and I think his performance would be even better if these characters were more fleshed out.

There are hints of potential in Sandman Slim - the occasional great descriptive line, interesting plot turn, and some level of maturing for Stark at the end - that make me suspect that the series could get better with following books. However, I just don't like this main character - more wiseacre than avenging angel - enough to give him more time. Listeners who really enjoy a lot of comic-book type action sequences may find this book more appealing than I did (there are a lot of graphic fight scenes), but for great characters, better writing, more engaging plot lines, more consistent magic systems, and true wit, I'd recommend Felix Castor, Harry Dresden, or Peter Grant over Sandman Slim.

$4.95 This was a good value.

I picked this up on one of those $4.95 sales. The main character was a gritty bad boy with a chip on his shoulder looking for some payback. There was plenty of action with lots of fights. If you are sensitive about hell, demons and fallen angels then I would skip this, but if your not then you might find this interesting. I am not claiming this will win any literary awards but it is entertaining.

Beware of Sandman Slim

What made the experience of listening to Sandman Slim the most enjoyable?

Sam spade meets Philip K. Dick. An incredible story of bitter anti-hero who can't help but piss people off.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Stark is a guy you love to hate and hate to love.

Which character – as performed by MacLeod Andrews – was your favorite?

Each character that Andrews embodies in his reading gives the performance depth and weight.

Any additional comments?

This is better than any of the plethora of vampire and zombie books that are disgracing the books stores these days. Forget Twilight and Walking Dead, here comes Sandman Slim: The moster who kills monsters!

An exciting, fun and humorous jaunt into Hell

I had no expectations starting this book, and it turned out to be one of my favorite series so far! Sure, it has vampires and witches and demons - but the story is so very original that it sets itself far apart from other works in this genre. It's done with intelligence and an almost self deprecating humor and the action was interesting and non-stop. After finishing this - I went right for the 2nd and 3rd in the series. If you enjoy paranormal testosterone driven action novels - this is the series for you. I highly recommend you read them in order. Enjoy!

Great story. Poor Narrator.

If you could sum up Sandman Slim in three words, what would they be?

Cool, interesting, unique.

What other book might you compare Sandman Slim to and why?

The Dresden Files, for the first-person narrator and urban fantasy setting.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of MacLeod Andrews?

Almost anyone else. The narrator terrible. He is, in fact, almost the only downside. He has no sense of tempo or pacing, reads like he has a bitter hatred for punctuation, makes only the barest effort to differentiate between characters, doesn't pause between chapters, and makes no effort to indicate a passage of time.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

He came back from Hell to send others there instead.

Any additional comments?

The story is great. The narrator is terrible.

Scuzzy Urban Fantasy Revenge Noir

“You do have a habit of pissing on other peoples’ welcome mats.
But, when a gentleman gives you a bootie call to a massacre, it’s easy to be forgiven.”
The story starts with the promise of John Wick meets Constantine, introducing Stark as a thirty something, invincible killer who spent the last decade as a gladiator in Hell and is back in L.A. to bring a reckoning on the fellow magicians who sent him there. The plot, magic and world building also start strong but quickly sour as Stark reveals himself to be more A-hole than Anti-hero and the plot pinballs aimlessly. Halfway through, the plot detours into an odd battle of Angels & G-men v Devils & Skinheads v anti-demons (Kishi). Eventually, plots come together in rather predictable fashion. Ultimately, no depth of characters or story to invest me, just occasionally good wisecracks and fight scenes.

“I’m a rockstar, but all I wanted was a burrito.”
While I’ve enjoyed MacLeod for other books, he makes the MC sound like a teenage Jack Nicholson on downers or a young Dennis Leary. Listening at 1.3x helped, but it never matched the MC or the tone.

For me, this series peaks here. The rest are fodder for matinee sales.
For better stories along similar lines, here’s a few recommendations:
📌Consider these series if you want urban fantasy (UF) with an anti-hero lead, starting from less to more noir and viscera: Storm Front (book 1 in Dresden series), The Last Smile in Sunder City (book 1 in Fetch Phillips series), or the Nightwise series (this last is my favorite of the three, but not for the faint of heart).
📌If your main jam is the revenging bad-ass thing, consider Fury of a Phoenix, combining a female John Wick with mafia UF or Dead Acre by Rhett Bruno (currently free in Audible Plus, bonus!) as an avenging enforcer from Hell sent back to go all Unforgiven in an UF Horror-Western.
📌Want mouthier, but funnier anti-hero UF? Go with the Quincy Harker series (start with the omnibus for a better value) and follow this Dracula descendant in a pulpy, irreverent good v evil acid trip.
📌Just want to be wowed with a unique, back from the dead detective noir UF? Try The Dispatcher by Scalzi (surprisingly meaty novellas)
📌 Finally, if Sam Spade meets steampunk UF with dirigibles and an anti-hero bruiser with a brain sounds delicious, start with Hard Magic by Larry Correia (which I liked far better than his Monster Hunters series).

somewhat curious ...

Any additional comments?

I kept thinking, "Oh, I've jumped into a book in the middle of a series, and I don't know the backstory." I googled around and found that no, this IS the first book in the series. The backstory is explained along the way. Interesting concept, unlike anything I remember reading. I've since read (listened to) a couple of others in the series.

A Fantasy/Horror/Theology/Hardboiled Winner

I find I have accidentally stumbled into a run of a genre I didn’t know existed: the hardboiled theological quasi-horror fantasy novel. There’s Ian Tregellis’s Something More than Night and Brian Evenson’s Last Days, and there’s this. All three are surprisingly good – especially the Evenson – and I wonder how such a niche came to be. Something in the zeitgeist, I guess.

As with those others, I doubt I’d have picked this up if I’d known how much it depended on a conventional heaven-and-hell conception of the universe. As with those others, though, I couldn’t have counted on Kadrey’s skill to overcome such a flat background and provide an innovative and compelling take on fantasy and the hardboiled. (To be fair, Evenson is in a different class, but Tregellis and Kadrey are plenty of fun as well.)

Our protagonist, Stark, is a magician, a guy who simply has a knack for picking up power. He’s cocky, and he rubs the rest of his circle the wrong way, prompting them to banish him to hell. A decade later, after he’s survived everything the demons and fallen angels throw his way in the gladiator pits of hell, he escapes and sets out to kill the ex-friends who sent him there.

That’s an over-the-top premise, again, one I wouldn’t ordinarily trust, but Kadrey finds the perfect mix of fantasy, humor, and the hardboiled. To take an early example, Stark tracks down one enemy and, in a swoop, slices off his head. The wound isn’t fatal, though, and he keeps the head around for a while, taunting it and getting information from it. Sometimes he gives the head-in-the-closet a drag on his cigarette, sometimes he subjects it to a stream of television infomercials. And the banter is always great – Kadrey does dialogue in a big way.

There are other shots of humor here, too, including an ongoing bit about Stark’s inability to understand how the internet has emerged in the decade he’s been away, and another about his propensity for burning through whatever clothes he happens to be wearing.

Side by side with that surprisingly consistent comedy, Kadrey commits to the genre. He passes up many opportunities to get sentimental or saccharine. Stark really is “Sandman Slim,” a bogeyman of the hell-crowd. There aren’t easy answers or happy-ever-afters. He’s a creature of hell, and hell is trying to break through, and none of that is finally a joke. As he deals with it all, though, Stark never gives into convention, never plays the assigned part. It’s a hardboiled trope, but it’s one that only the good writers can manage.

Without spoiling the end, I have to acknowledge – again, it seems – my frustration with the final chapter or so. Kadrey and/or his editors must have seen he was onto something good, so he’s added a chunk that invites and sets up the sequel, eventually, says audible.com, a series of sequels. This one is plenty of fun, and I’m on board for more Kadrey, but I find it irritating that this strong novel has to be distorted in the service of what feels like marketing.

This is certainly a lot of fun, though, and I will be looking for more from Kadrey – maybe even, sigh, the next Sandman Slim.