What’s in The Everything Box? An Apocalyptic Romp
Some authors might be happy to crack the formula for one successful series. Richard Kadrey is not one them. His multi-volume Sandman Slim gritty urban fantasy series is a New York Times bestseller (volume eight comes out mid-2016), but he’s decided to up the ante and lay the foundation for another supernatural genre series with The Everything Box, a hilarious end-of-the-world romp that will stand proudly next to Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens in the pantheon of novels that make the end times go down easy.
The Everything Box (Signed Book)
Hardcover
$22.49
$24.99
The Everything Box (Signed Book)
Hardcover
$22.49
$24.99
Fans will already be familiar with his left-of-center wit, which is on full display from the opening chapter, a prologue set 4,000 years ago (“give or take”) that finds the angel Qaphsiel on the brink of destroying the world using the titular doomsday device. The only problem is, after many ominous proclamations, he is about to unleash the apocalypse (Lord’s orders!), when he realizes he has…er, misplaced the object. With mankind’s destruction on hold, the angel can do nothing but utter one rather less-than-angelic phrase: “Oh, crap.”
In the universe of The Everything Box—which soon jumps forward to modern day Los Angeles—magic (good, bad, or otherwise) exists, as do zombies, demons, monsters, spirits, vampires, werewolves, and any other supernatural entity you can imagine. And some you can’t. These supernatural forces are usually hidden from the view of normal folk, but if you know where to look, you can find them easily enough.
Enter highly-skilled thief Charlie “Coop” Cooper, whose specialty is “acquiring” magical objects for a fee. He soon finds himself recruited against his will by the Department of Peculiar Science, a top-secret governmental agency that exists solely to do battle with the forces of evil, as well as overt the occasional apocalypse. Coop is tasked with retrieving the missing-for-millennia doomsday weapon, but, just to make things a bit more interesting, he’s not the only relic-finder on the trail of the most dangerous object since time immemorial: there are others, each more bumblingly inept than the last, yet all equally hellbent on unleashing an apocalypse of their very own. The groups worship rival gods—have you heard the good news about “thundering archfiend” Caleximus? How about Dark High One Lord Abaddon?—and whoever gets the box first wins. Either way, mankind loses.
Fans will already be familiar with his left-of-center wit, which is on full display from the opening chapter, a prologue set 4,000 years ago (“give or take”) that finds the angel Qaphsiel on the brink of destroying the world using the titular doomsday device. The only problem is, after many ominous proclamations, he is about to unleash the apocalypse (Lord’s orders!), when he realizes he has…er, misplaced the object. With mankind’s destruction on hold, the angel can do nothing but utter one rather less-than-angelic phrase: “Oh, crap.”
In the universe of The Everything Box—which soon jumps forward to modern day Los Angeles—magic (good, bad, or otherwise) exists, as do zombies, demons, monsters, spirits, vampires, werewolves, and any other supernatural entity you can imagine. And some you can’t. These supernatural forces are usually hidden from the view of normal folk, but if you know where to look, you can find them easily enough.
Enter highly-skilled thief Charlie “Coop” Cooper, whose specialty is “acquiring” magical objects for a fee. He soon finds himself recruited against his will by the Department of Peculiar Science, a top-secret governmental agency that exists solely to do battle with the forces of evil, as well as overt the occasional apocalypse. Coop is tasked with retrieving the missing-for-millennia doomsday weapon, but, just to make things a bit more interesting, he’s not the only relic-finder on the trail of the most dangerous object since time immemorial: there are others, each more bumblingly inept than the last, yet all equally hellbent on unleashing an apocalypse of their very own. The groups worship rival gods—have you heard the good news about “thundering archfiend” Caleximus? How about Dark High One Lord Abaddon?—and whoever gets the box first wins. Either way, mankind loses.
The Perdition Score (Sandman Slim Series #8)
Hardcover $25.99
The Perdition Score (Sandman Slim Series #8)
Hardcover $25.99
Even with the end of the world at stake, there is plenty to laugh about. Kadrey populates his book with outsize personalities on either side on the border between sanity and bug-eyed crazy, and every interaction between them bristles with screwball humor and blunt force sarcasm. He takes a manic, rapid-fire approach to dialogue, and the zippy, wiseass back-and-forth increases the big time fun factor of an already giddily plotted action-adventure. Yes, we’ve all read one of these secret-society-magic-really-does-exist premises before, but few have given the setup quite so devilish a spin. It’s relentlessly madcap fun, in the best possible way.
While perfectly enjoyable as a standalone supernatural adventure, The Everything Box is the launchpad for an ongoing series. I can’t wait to see how we’re all going to bite it next.
Even with the end of the world at stake, there is plenty to laugh about. Kadrey populates his book with outsize personalities on either side on the border between sanity and bug-eyed crazy, and every interaction between them bristles with screwball humor and blunt force sarcasm. He takes a manic, rapid-fire approach to dialogue, and the zippy, wiseass back-and-forth increases the big time fun factor of an already giddily plotted action-adventure. Yes, we’ve all read one of these secret-society-magic-really-does-exist premises before, but few have given the setup quite so devilish a spin. It’s relentlessly madcap fun, in the best possible way.
While perfectly enjoyable as a standalone supernatural adventure, The Everything Box is the launchpad for an ongoing series. I can’t wait to see how we’re all going to bite it next.