Sandman Slim (Sandman Slim Series #1)

Is it Thursday, yet?

...that's something a friend of ours shouted out in a movie theater when the movie he was watching just dragged on and on. :)

Ok, I loved the title and the idea of the story. But I found the writing style to be very immature. The author tries to be pulp-fictiony and "cool" but just comes off cocky and silly. The main character is annoying -- a not nice guy looking for revenge. Oh, so sorry for him. The magical powers and weapons seem thrown in on a whim, without much thought. I don't care about the main character, who is a bit of a brat. The only person I really liked in the novel was the bartender. And I liked the head in the closet, but that was short-lived. I forced my way through the whole thing because it was short and I was determined. Nice try -- maybe future books will be better, but this one was a waste of time. Two stars instead of one because it had its moments.

3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Original Storyline with great characters

Richard Kadrey writes like Simon Green or Jim Butcher on speed with a bad hangover and a 3 day beard. Sandman is a unique anti-hero. He's still getting used to the idea of being alive. It's well written, surprising, not formulaic and although the story definitely ends, there's plenty of room for the next chapter in Sandman's adventures.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Great film noir vibe!

It may have been the cover or it may have been the description of the main character Stark, but while reading this book I felt a little film noir vibe going on. Was a nice touch and gave the story some flavor.

Stark was a cocky young magician who was betrayed and sent to hell by jealous fellow magicians. After managing to survive eleven long years, first as a sideshow attraction and then as a hitman, he manages to escape and returns to LA with revenge on his mind. After surviving the demons of hell, LA should be a cakewalk.

He wants revenge not just for sending him to hell, but also for the murder of his girlfriend. With a little help from new friends and old, Stark tracks down his old magician "friends" and gets to work. But no matter how much of a bad guy he believes he is, Stark can't seem to help doing a good deed every now and then. He's one of those heroes who does the right thing for maybe the wrong reasons, but still saves the day.

Read this book in one day, which is unbelievably fast for me. But it was so good that I couldn't wait to see what happened next! It's got dark humor, which I love, and is a little gritty. Be warned that Stark doesn't think much of angels or demons and lets them know it, so if you're easily offended, then this book isn't for you. Would love to see this turned into a series, as I'd like to see Stark again. Gave this book 4 stars as it was well written, fast paced, and darkly humorous.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

I bought the book because of the great reviews here on B&N,

I bought the book because of the great reviews here on B&N, because it sounded interesting, and because of the reviews on the book itself.
It would have been an excellent book, had it not been for the 4-5 chapter "don't know what the hell is going on". It starts off slow, while sandman gets his bearings, gathers information, and re-adapts to life on earth. Then, out of nowhere, he starts chasing after one of his targets because he finally decided to "google" them. His rash, unintelligent, and ignorant behavior should have obliterated him when he was in Hell.
At the end of the book, Information is also literally "thrown" at the reader just for the sake of adding "depth".

Honestly, The ideas were interesting, the premise was great, but execution was lacking. I actually recommend NOT reading the book. If you are looking for anti-heroes, there are many books out there that blow this one out of the water.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Yup. Yup. Yup.

Laser sharp. Plot moves and explodes like a Roman candle screaming. I think I'm in love.....

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Wow! Great stuff!

Being a fan of both the Dresden &Nightside series I loved this. Can't wait for the next one.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Not Amazing, but still a good read

I enjoyed this book, but I wasn't hooked on it or going crazy about it. I liked the urban fantasy elements of the world, the magic system and the story of Stark stalking his killers. The sexual references to Bondage and S&M were a little annoying at times, but they were something you could get passed and move on; nothing to make someone stop reading.

The book is written in first person present tense, which is a little weird to me since most novels I read are third person, past tense. It took a while to get used to it. Some flashback scenes are written first person, past tense, but the majority is the other.

Overall I enjoyed the book; I'd give it 3 1/2 stars if BN allowed it. I did buy the second book. I recommend this book if you enjoy Urban Fantasy, but if you don't really enjoy UF, then I suggest you pass.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I loved it.

This is a ride through LA subculture unlike anything I've ever read. Long story short -- I loved it. Stark is my new literary crush.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Recommended

While this is not my genre, I decided to take a chance reading this book. The main character is sarcastic, angry and not bright when it comes to figuring out what's going on. Sometimes he's over the top. To be honest, most of the characters written have the same personalities, i.e. sharp acid tongues, bitter outlooks on the world and no social interaction other than among themselves. The plot is revenge. Stark has been in hell for over eleven years and is out looking to get even with the people who put him there. For the most part, this book is fast paced but the characters aren't the type you'd feel warm and fuzzy about, or give an 'awww shucks' moment to. Stark is haunted by the death of Alice, his girlfriend killed by Mason's flunky but after eleven years, one would think he'd have closure. All in all, I gave it three stars only because some characters grated the nerves, as in the head in the closet...reminded me too much of the Bob character in the Dresden series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

If Cool Could Kill You Would Get Sandman Slim

I found strong recommendations for this book from Barnes & Nobles resident paranormal guide. Paul Goat Allen named this his best paranormal title of 2009 and I do concur! The book is fast paced, smooth talking, heaven and hell of a thriller.

From the first sentence foreword this book is in high gear. A page turner through and through. Part horror. Part mystery. Part comic (sans all the pictures). Sandman Slim is something like Men in Black meets Sin City. Without all the graphics.

Read this first then check out the follow up, Kill The Dead.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey

"Sandman Slim" is by no means a literary masterpiece and thank the demons below and the angels above that it isn't. It is, however, an extremely dark urban fantasy littered with the dead bodies of angels, demons, humans, magicians, civilians, Kissi, and Hellions, to name just a few. And one Hell of a good read!

The main character, Jimmy "Sandman Slim" Stark is forced by an evil cadre of magicians into Hell where he lives for eleven years fighting demons, monsters and worse in Lucifer's battle-arena of the macabre. Returning to earth, with the help of a magic amulet, he finds that during his absence the magicians who sent him to the Inferno have also murdered his girlfriend. Bent on revenge and with a little help of his own magic Stark begins an epic search for the men who sent him to Hell and killed the love of his life. Along the way he is befriended by arch-angels, alchemists and monsters and hunted by demons, magicians and police.

Kadrey definitely knows how to spin a dark tale. His language, while offensive to some, fits the character of the story perfectly. Gritty, dark, angst-ridden and graphic the dialogue and fight scenes are coarse, bloody and down-right mean spirited. And to me that's exactly what made this book spark. How could you not write noir razor-blades about a character this flawed and angry? Besides, if you had to deal with half the bad-asses Stark had to you'd be pissed off too! Beheadings, ritual sacrifice, demon weapons, magic, monsters and gore. just the way I like my back-alley fantasy!

4 out of 5 stars

The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin

http://thealternativeone.blogspot.com/

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

What would you do if your friends literally made a deal with the

What would you do if your friends literally made a deal with the Devil to send you to hell? Would you give up? Roll over and die? Not James Stark. He became an infamous hitman in hell for more than a decade before escaping to L.A. looking for revenge. This is the idea behind Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim and it’s a fantastically supercharged, alcohol-fueled demolition derby of awesome.

James Stark was a real magician, heavy on talent but light on ambition. He lived in L.A. with the love of his life, Alice, and a small circle of magicians. James was a punk of the first order and just didn’t care. He was young, arrogant, overconfident, and in love. Unfortunately, Mason Faim – the leader of their little club – wasn’t satisfied with that. Mason wanted more power and traded James to a minion of hell to get it.

After more than a decade in hell fighting and murdering for the pleasure of the fallen angels, Stark becomes a merciless killing machine. Keeping him in check was the death threat against Alice; once Stark finds out she’s been murdered, all bets are off.

Stark finds a backdoor out of hell and returns to L.A to bring his former friends – and Alice’s murderer – to violent and bloody justice. As he investigates their whereabouts, he sees how Faim rewarded some and murdered others, appearing to have embraced the role of a reclusive, power-mad magician.

Stark, meanwhile, has to learn what it means to be a person all over again. The “hit first, hit last, and hit a few more times then piss on the corpse” approach he adopted in hell won’t do him much good with people. However, as the perpetual bad boy, he still has a way with the ladies and manages to find a few friends to help him along the way.

Richard Kadrey brings a gritty, dirty style to the urban fantasy novel. Sandman Slim is filled with some of the most creative and foul similes and metaphors that will make you both laugh and cringe. Kadrey’s writing style is so visceral when you put the book down you will feel the comfortable burn of whiskey in your throat and smell cigarette smoke in the air.

Before his quest for revenge is over, Stark manages to piss off heaven, hell, and everyone in between. We meet magicians, demons, angels, Homeland security agents, and a multitude of strange creatures stalking the city streets.

Sandman Slim is a pretty standard revenge story and it moves along fairly quickly. The story feels like a really good music video more than anything else, with great imagery and enjoyable story but little substance. This book isn’t for the faint of heart or easily offended, but if you like fast-paced action and a badass anti-hero in the vein of Clint Eastwood’s “Man with No Name,” this book is a must-read.

Good, but could be better.

I like this series because it reminds me of a supernatural version of the Avery Cates series, but I find the present tense form of writing sort of annoying. Also, who doesn't love a badass?

Excellent read

Fans of urban fantasy will find much to like here.

Highly entertaining.

Well written with excellent characters, plenty of blood and gore action, an engaging story, and good forward momentum. The main character is foul-mouthed, snarky, and funny as hell. Definitely worth the read.

Gritty!

Really liked this one. Dark but has a lot of humor.

Deliciously gritty noir with a supernatual flare

A grab you by the throat read that I couldn't put down.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Dark, action packed, attention grabbing

This book is not exactly my usual cup of tea. I am a fan of the supernatural, so I thought I would give it a try. So what happened is this: I start the book with low expectations. I got sucked in immediately, and wasn't let go until the end. Of book two. Stark, or Sandman Slim as he is known in Hell, is an amazingly appealing character, despite his many, many flaws. Or perhaps his appeal is because of them? The humor is right up my alley, the snarkier the better as far as I'm concerned. I love the imagery used, often in surprising and amusing ways. This book is "dark", no light hearted romances or touching scenes anywhere to be found, and violence is a way of life for the main character. Also, if you tend to be sensitive about religious issues, God, Satan, etc., you might need to stay away from this one. If you like your views challenged and to get provoked into rethinking your long held views, by all means dig in! You might even find yourself unwillingly entertained in the process.

Entertaining read!

Got this when it was a freebie and finally got around to reading it. Very pleasantly surprised, it's a great story, well written with plenty of humor. I'll be looking for more by this author!

No sparkly vampires here.

Kadrey does an amazing job of bringing James Stark, former gladiator of Hell and slayer of monsters to life without over-romanticizing the supernatural. There's no cartoonish evil or superhero perfection in James Stark, who despite his very unusual circumstances comes off as an extremely real person with real issues to work out. Kadrey uses familiar themes, angels and demons, Heaven and Hell, God and Lucifer, but the story doesn't rely on religious dogma.

The book moves quickly, exactly like Stark, and echoes his brevity in telling the story. I got this when it was the free Nook book, and have since bought Kill the Dead.