Kill the Dead: A Sandman Slim Novel (Sandman Slim Novels) (utgåvan 2012)

I absolutely adored the first Sandman Slim novel, but for some reason, I had a harder time getting into this one. The voice and characters were there, and Kadrey's writing swept me along pretty quickly, but somehow the story in this one just didn't catch me as being so compelling or engaging me in the same way. I'm not sure how much of it was me being distracted by the world and how much was the book, but this one somehow felt more chaotic than truly engaging, and I just didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I did the first in the series. There wasn't as much tension, certainly, and that sometimes made things drag. Still, I'm looking forward to reading the third one still, and hoping to be picked back up by the experience I remember having with the first one. ( )

I didn't enjoy this book. I'll explain why by breaking down the first book for you first.

The first story starts with the main character appearing in an alley after a long stint in hell.

From there the story begins.

We learn why he was cast into hell, and how. We learn of the loss of his girlfriend who he has justifiably pines for in the first story. He hasn't recovered, I get it. Hell didn't exactly allow him time to think about anything other than surviving. We're introduced to new characters and interesting foes all while telling us Sandman's backstory and what he has to deal with in the present. It's done really well. His attitude is abrasive but you understand why.

Everything that works in the first does not work in the second story.

Sandman has had time to heal, move on, and especially to grow up a bit. He has accomplished none of these things, and therefor comes off as a whiny, immature man afraid to accept that he isn't what he so desperately wants to be - an asshole.

This was a 61 DNF for me.

It didn't work.

At all.

Which truly did upset me, because I love when a series consists of many books like this one does. I was fully ready to swim in the sea of Sandman Slim novels. But unfortunately, I couldn't. Not with this hot garbage.

1 out 5 ( )

This is the second book in the Sandman Slim series. It is about James Stark (aka Sandman Slim) who was sent to Hell as a young adult (while still alive). While there he became famous fighting Helions in the fighting pits and was chosen by Lucifer to be an enforcer. In the first novel, Stark escapes from Hell determined to get revenge on those that sent him there. This book picks up where that left off. I read the first book a couple of years ago and it took me a while to remember the details of the different characters and events from that book. About half way through I was finally comfortable with who everyone was and what was going on. I like the character of Stark, he is a great anti-hero. I also like the supporting characters. They were a lot of fun and add to the character development of the main character. I also appreciate the moral ambiguity of the stories. Lucifer is not always the evil bad guy and God and the Angels may not always have the interest of man at heart. I am definitely interested in continuing the series. Some of the events from this book seem to be the type of things that happen later in these types of series, so I am curious to see where the author is going with the story.

I have absolutely no idea how to rate this book. For a while it felt like a two-star urban fantasy pulp novel with lots of shoot-em-up situations and, well, urban fantasy pulp banter. And then it turns around and has some really good plot twists, and even some seriously good settings and dialogues. I'll give it three stars, but in reality it's more like chunks of two-star stuff and four-star stuff mashed together.

(I mean, we get to know the protagonist's father, a new girlfriend who kicks ass, is a porn star by choice and still gets painted very much as her own person, and the protagonist is offered a job as Lucifer … by Lucifer … because Lucy goes back to heaven after the zombie apocalypse. Right.) ( )

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Better than the first. Snark and sarcasm run rampant, along with zombies, zeds, and more undead over-running LA.

There was something lacking in this book, however: a start-to-finish coherent plot. The start is good, the finish is good, but the middle fell off completely. There's a lot of soap-opera-type plotting (Stark trying to figure out who his father is; falling for an undead-killing porn star), there's a lot of talk and not much action or story movement until the grand finale.

Still, it's a good read/listen. MacLeod Andrews, as always, is an outstanding narrator.
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