REVIEW | Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey

Sandman Slim is the most unforgiving Urban Fantasy I've ever read with deep underpinnings of a hardboiled crime noir and sometimes biting humor. Kadrey has concocted the epitome of anti-heroes with Stark who is kind of a mystical Charles Bronson with some very cool powers and weapons.

 Used and abused by Hell and ignored by Heaven, Stark is a native of LA with the mentality of a demon. He has been burned, beaten, befouled, disembowel, and trained as the most fear fighter in Hell for the past 10 years and now he escaped and is back for revenge on those who killed his girlfriend and sent him to Hell. But Stark is not a detective so don't mistake this for a Dresden Files knock-off. If Stark met Dresden in a dark alley he would probably kicked Dresden in the balls for being such a Goody two-shoes before he knew what was going on.

 As with Kadrey's Butcher Bird, Sandman Slim plays with religious mythology in some standard ways, but also takes it places most other authors wouldn't dare. If you have delicate feelings about Christendom I'd stay away from Sandman Slim, but if you don't mind Kadrey's sometimes tawdry hand doing awful things to angels than this just may be the one for you. Stark says and does some very bad things related to religion and God in particular that some devout may have an extreme dislike with. However, if you keep in mind this is fiction or you are open to different interpretations you should have no problem. Most of the truly horrible things that befall the characters are not shown, but rather just mentioned briefly which makes it easier to stomach and most serve the story or development of the characters in some fashion. Surprisingly, there is a lack of sex although Kadrey will probably remedy that in subsequent volumes. Kadrey has introduced a great cast of characters with a lot of back-story left to be revealed, which bodes well for the continuation of this series.

If you are in the mood for a dark high-octane revenge tale with talking heads, Fallen Angels, demonic weaponry, and cool occult artifacts check out Sandman Slim. It is definitely a ride you won't soon forget. I had wished for a bit more closure with the ending, but Kadrey has bigger plans it seems. I give Sandman Slim 8 out of 10 Hats. I'll most definitely be checking out the succeeding volumes in this planned trilogy. Fans of Simon R. Green's Nightside, Carey's Felix Castor, and maybe people looking for a razor-sharpened version of Sniegoski 's Remy Chandler will surely find something to like here. I highly recommend checking out Kadrey's twitter feed as he writes some of the snarkiest tweets around.

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