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.

not a Dresden files or Constantine but close

it's not as good as the Dresden files or a good Constantine comic but very similar and very good.

highly entertaining

Story was well thought out. I was very interested and wanted to know how it would play out. The performance was good but when the male narrator was doing his best female impression it kind of dulled the moment, it was just too funny. Still I enjoyed this very much and will probably listen to it again.

I loved this book

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

Sandman Slim stands on its own and I liked it even more for that. Not really fantasy, not really a detective story, just a fun listen.

Have you listened to any of MacLeod Andrews’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was great.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

I loved this book!

A Wild Ride

This book is a masterpiece, and I can't wait to listen to the rest of them. I found the main character, sandman slim, extremely relatable. I don't know how that speaks to my character as a human being, but what I do know is that I've just finished listening to the best novel of my life.

Excellent character with a nasty smoking habit

I loved the book, and loved the narration, I just wish he could pronounce the word nephilim.

Much better than Dresden

Some people have said that this series is alot like the Dresden series. The similarity stops at the talking head both of the main charecters keep. Much more adult theme, the storyline is not predictable or politically correct, which is something I enjoy.

An excellent supernatural series

What did you love best about Sandman Slim?

has a good story, interesting character and the reader does a great job.

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

He does the main character exceedingly well

Any additional comments?

If you are a fan of Monster Hunter International this is a good addition to your collection

LA is hell.

The reader is exceptional. The characters in the story great. Truly describes what hell LA is. Thank god I escaped.

Slim Pickings

There is a moment halfway through Richard Kadrey's first Sandman Slim book when a bunch of new characters are introduced -- some idiots from Homeland Security and two new species of mythological beings. And everything changes ... for the worse.

To that point, it is about magicians and demons (here called hellions). Stark, the only living human to ever be sent to hell, comes back to L.A. eleven years later and seeks to violently gain his revenge on the circle of magicians who had him sent "downtown" and killed the love of his life. And that is all pure gold, especially the flashbacks to his life before and during his time in hell.

Then everything changes, and I for one got completely lost and totally lost any interest in this or any subsequent entry in the series. Which is a shame, because I totally loved Kadrey's recent non-Sandman novel, The Grand Dark -- I'm probably in a minority of his readers who got that sequence backwards, but I bet his Sandman fans didn't get the Kafkaesque Grand Dark, and I just didn't see the point of Sandman Slim.

I won't dissect it any further, though I could, except to say that I wasn't fazed by yet another entry into the well-worn genres of urban fantasy, or the slightly wider world(s) of magical, mythological or other supernatural beings living in the real world of today (a la Neil Gaiman, Chris Moore, and quite a few others) -- Kadrey's world is uniquely built despite being so genre-ically derivative. It's what he does after he completes building his world that fails me -- i.e. The Story.

MacLeod Andrews is excellent as Stark, a first-person narrator, totally nailing his noirish angst. Not his fault that Stark never grows from his erstwhile snarky snarl, snarkily snarling at everyone and everything from start to finish.

Fun story

Had this in my wishlist for over a year and now I want to go back in time and smack myself for waiting so long. Andrews brings this character to life like few could have. The writing was nostalgic for anyone old enough to have bought VHS tapes and it was consistent without too much foreshadowing. Slim could care less about light and dark...he just wants a cigarette and something to kill.