Sandman Slim: A Novel by Richard Kadrey


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

'James Stark spent 11 years killing monsters in Lucifer's arena for the entertainment of fallen angels, but now he's back in seedy, magic-riddled L.A., trying to avenge his girlfriend's murder and hunt down Mason Faim, the black magician responsible for getting him sent downtown. He meets with some initial success, beheading second-rate magician Kasabian (whose head becomes Stark's smart-mouthed sidekick), but he can't find Faim. Instead he encounters Homeland Security agents, a near-psychotic angel and some odd nonhuman, nonangelic beings called the kissi.'

Okay i read this fairly quickly and whilst I did enjoy it I just found that the main character Stark was just too powerful for me to fully get behind him. I never felt he was in any danger , however that is always going to be a failing in first person perspective novels. I did enjoy the dark noir los angeles setting, the quality of the writing is excellent, and i will be definitely looking for ward to reading the second installment. So to sum up ,if you like your action balls to the wall, with lots of angels, demons, and vampires then you should really enjoy Sandman Slim.

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