Working as a sideshow gladiator in Hell after being snatched by demons at the age of nineteen, James Stark escapes and returns to Los Angeles, where he plots to destroy the magic circle that stole his life.
This is one of the authors I decided to check out after reading his story in Body Shocks. I don’t recall which story he wrote, but I liked it and wrote his name down. I’m glad I did, because I enjoyed Sandman Slim quite a lot.
I’m a fan of hard-boiled magicians, and while I new I’d never read Sandman Slim before, much of the novel felt familiar. It was a beloved old story told by a new (to me) voice - well-written comfort food.
If you’re a fan of The Dresden Files, this’ll be right up your alley. Just be aware that while I’d rate Dresden a PG, Slim gets an R.
Review of 'Sandman Slim (Sandman Slim, #1)' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
No spoilers here. Just gonna say. Holy crap I enjoyed the hell out of this book! Definitely going to pick up the rest of the series. Damn this was a good read!
No spoilers here. Just gonna say. Holy crap I enjoyed the hell out of this book! Definitely going to pick up the rest of the series. Damn this was a good read!
I’m not gonna lie: I loved the hell out of this book. (Pun intended.) I wish I could have given it 6 stars, or go back and adjust my other previous 5 star reviews down to 4’s because this one set a new bar for me. It was a ton of fun to read. It grabbed me immediately and did a great job of balancing character history with running plot.
This is like a Hollywood blockbuster. Lots of explosions and little substance. Don't think too hard or it falls apart. Everything can't be the biggest and the baddest.
This is like a Hollywood blockbuster. Lots of explosions and little substance. Don't think too hard or it falls apart. Everything can't be the biggest and the baddest.
This wasn't poorly written, though the similes and metaphors were exhausting specific. It was just too... too similar to Harry Dresden, only not as good. Too dark for me, too difficult to empathize with the hero.
This wasn't poorly written, though the similes and metaphors were exhausting specific. It was just too... too similar to Harry Dresden, only not as good. Too dark for me, too difficult to empathize with the hero.
I really wanted to like this book. I like the Urban Fantasy genre, I'm an avid Dresden/Butcher fan, and I quite like Mike Carey's books. I like books dark and gritty in all genres. So, Sandman Slim should have been a good match. But no. The main character just fell flat for me. Kadrey tried too hard to tell us about how hardcore Stark is. And that's precisely the problem. It's mostly all tell, but not show. You want show? Read some Erikson. Or Donaldson, for Pete's sake. That's dark an gritty, all through show. Stark is tell and nothing but tell. Over and over we hear about his smoking cigarettes, drinking scotch, having escaped from hell. But I can't feel it. Nothing shows that he is bad-ass. Even The Acts of Caine do a better job with the showing.
It felt very cliché as well. Again the dark brooding …
I really wanted to like this book. I like the Urban Fantasy genre, I'm an avid Dresden/Butcher fan, and I quite like Mike Carey's books. I like books dark and gritty in all genres. So, Sandman Slim should have been a good match. But no. The main character just fell flat for me. Kadrey tried too hard to tell us about how hardcore Stark is. And that's precisely the problem. It's mostly all tell, but not show. You want show? Read some Erikson. Or Donaldson, for Pete's sake. That's dark an gritty, all through show. Stark is tell and nothing but tell. Over and over we hear about his smoking cigarettes, drinking scotch, having escaped from hell. But I can't feel it. Nothing shows that he is bad-ass. Even The Acts of Caine do a better job with the showing.
It felt very cliché as well. Again the dark brooding mage/magician. Well, that's a requirement for the fantasy noir genre. But again the cops, the bar(tender), the feisty vampire chick, the kicking against the angels because it's cool. I don't know. Those tropes could have been tackled a lót better. Kadreys just failed miserably.
Gods know I didn't like the first Dresden book exclusively for the writing, because ... well Stormfront isn't really a masterpiece. But I was told that it would get better after book three, and those first books were entertaining and humorous and fún to read. A lot show, not much tell, too. Maybe Kadrey gets better after some books. I will give book 2 a try. Maybe it's the narrator. The Dresden Files are what they are to me because of the stellar performance by James Marsters. Without him, they are a lot less enjoyable (see book 13). So maybe that's part of the problem ;-) I don't know. This book didn't work for me.
The most psychobilly novel I've ever read, the tone is what puts me off it. The story itself is interesting: a magician returns after having been banished to Hell for 11 years to seek revenge and gets caught up worse trouble. However, the wry, cool humor and overwrought threats never click for me, even as I can see the appeal.
The most psychobilly novel I've ever read, the tone is what puts me off it. The story itself is interesting: a magician returns after having been banished to Hell for 11 years to seek revenge and gets caught up worse trouble. However, the wry, cool humor and overwrought threats never click for me, even as I can see the appeal.
A friend recommended the second book in this series, but it's my inclination to start at the beginning, so...
A departure for me, this novel is a detective noir-fantasy hybrid (or that's what I'm calling it). There are lots of interesting ideas here, though parts of the story seem silly and illogical. There were some circumstances that were eye-roll convenient.
Still, I found myself drawn into this chaotic, wild story. I enjoyed the author's sense of humor and some of his similes are hilarious. It was over-the-top violent, but ended on a funny note. I appreciated that. And, by the way, this novel hardly takes itself seriously.
It was fun.
A friend recommended the second book in this series, but it's my inclination to start at the beginning, so...
A departure for me, this novel is a detective noir-fantasy hybrid (or that's what I'm calling it). There are lots of interesting ideas here, though parts of the story seem silly and illogical. There were some circumstances that were eye-roll convenient.
Still, I found myself drawn into this chaotic, wild story. I enjoyed the author's sense of humor and some of his similes are hilarious. It was over-the-top violent, but ended on a funny note. I appreciated that. And, by the way, this novel hardly takes itself seriously.
This is an excellent Modern Fantasy novel, and an excellent depiction of modern Noir. The Main Character functions like a foul-mouthed Noir detective, blundering his way through his problems with force and base cunning. The setting is interesting. The characters are dark at face value, but complex when examined. The plot of this first book is a classic revenge story with several twists.
Simon R Green and Chuck Wendig Fans pay attention, read this series.
Ummm I might move onto the next one, but the character is fairly dislikeable the story is fun and interesting. But the main character really is an arsehole. Mixed feelings towards this.
My friend phoebe recommended this to me on friday as there was a .99 special for the ebook on amazon. I don't think I even got around to reading the synopsis, sorta just decided that since it was a recommendation and so cheap, why not. Especially after someone said Dresden (I have heard awesome things about the series, and loved the tv show)
I think this was my first urban fantasy novel. I found I couldn't put it down. I was 50% done before 24 hours was up. I finished the rest of the book today.
It had a lot of the god/heaven-hell mythology tied into it. Angels, Demons, Other things. I'm not really sure what to say about that, but I thought it was put together to form a good book. Even the minor characters seemed to enough depth to pull you in and like them (or hate them).
…
My friend phoebe recommended this to me on friday as there was a .99 special for the ebook on amazon. I don't think I even got around to reading the synopsis, sorta just decided that since it was a recommendation and so cheap, why not. Especially after someone said Dresden (I have heard awesome things about the series, and loved the tv show)
I think this was my first urban fantasy novel. I found I couldn't put it down. I was 50% done before 24 hours was up. I finished the rest of the book today.
It had a lot of the god/heaven-hell mythology tied into it. Angels, Demons, Other things. I'm not really sure what to say about that, but I thought it was put together to form a good book. Even the minor characters seemed to enough depth to pull you in and like them (or hate them).
I've already picked up the next book and will get to it asap.
