KILLING PRETTY

 

Killing Pretty by Richard Kadrey
Book 7 of the Sandman Slim series
Read by MacLeod Andrews
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: paperback, ebook, & audiobook  
 

 

About Killing Pretty:

Someone has tried to kill Death — ripping the heart right out of him — or rather the body he’s inhabiting. Death needs Sandman Slim’s help. He believes anyone who can beat Lucifer and the old gods at their own game is the only one who can solve his murder.

Stark follows a sordid trail deep into LA’s subterranean world, from vampire-infested nightclubs to Weimar Republic mystical societies. Along the way he meets a mysterious girl — distinguished by a pair of graveyard eyes — as badass as Slim; she happens to be the only person who ever outwitted Death. But escaping her demise has had dire consequences for the rest of the world… and a few others.

Source: Info in the About Killing Pretty was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23213849-killing-pretty on 27/06/2016.

 

My Thoughts:

The thing I like so much about this series is, other than the bad-ass-ness that is, is the real-ness of the world building. I can so totally believe that god is broken into little pieces of himself. Like he gave birth to himselves by breaking up into smaller parts of him. He can’t grow anymore bigger so he broke up. Totally believable. I mean at some point in his life, he can’t get any bigger than he already is. So maybe the next logical step in his evolution is to give birth to himselves. And so appealing to me because that would explain so many shit in the world. This is one of the many reasons why I am such a fan of this series. I also kinda really like the idea of an anti-hero who kicks ass! 🙂

This book also have the most solid plot in the entire series that I could remember. Investigating a murder with a twist, nice plot! Ok, so there never was much of a plot in any of the books in this series, but this one got more than the others. But, for some reason, I find this book really slow… and I could not find the reason why because the story telling quality is as good as it always has been… maybe it’s me being slow. I think another factor contributing to this book being slow is the fact that the introduction to the main plot is very long. As in, half-the-book-worth long, of introduction. That gets tiring…

 

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 2.5
Pace = 2
Plot = 4.5
Narration = 4.5

 

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

 

Books In The Sandman Slim Series:

                       

 

The Author
	Richard Kadrey is a writer and freelance photographer living in San Francisco, best known for his Sandman Slim novels. His newest novels are The Everything Box, released April 19, 2016 and The Perdition Score (Sandman Slim, #8), released on June 28, 2016.
richardkadrey.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads | amazon | tumblr

 

The Narrator
	MacLeod Andrews is an actor and voice actor in Los Angeles He is a Company Member of Rising Phoenix Rep theater company in NYC
macleodandrews.com | facebook | facebook actor/narrator page | twitter | goodreads | instagram

 

 

FTC Disclosure:
This book, in all its formats, were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

 

THE GETAWAY GOD

 

The Getaway God by Richard Kadrey
Book 6 of the Sandman Slim series
Read by MacLeod Andrews
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook

 

 

About The Getaway God:

Sandman Slim must save himself — and the entire world — from the wrath of some enraged and vengeful ancient gods in this sixth high-octane adventure in the New York Times bestselling series.

Being a half-human, half-angel nephilim with a bad rep and a worse attitude — not to mention temporarily playing Lucifer — James Stark aka Sandman Slim has made a few enemies. None, though, are as fearsome as the vindictive Angra Om Ya — the old gods. But their imminent invasion is only one of Stark’s problems right now. LA is descending into chaos, and a new evil — the Wildfire Ripper — is stalking the city.

No ordinary killer, The Ripper takes Stark deep into a conspiracy that stretches from Earth to Heaven and Hell. He’s also the only person alive who may know how to keep the world from going extinct. The trouble is, he’s also Stark’s worst enemy . . . the only man in existence Stark would enjoy killing twice.

Source: Info in the About The Getaway God was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18456381-the-getaway-god on 11/01/2015.

 

My Thoughts:

In this book Richard Kadrey brought us back to Stark‘s origins which I wasn’t expecting and was a nice surprise. The past came to haunt him and almost got him too. But of course our bad-ass hero survived. Not necessarily win… but survived. However I didn’t like the way Stark lost the ability to shadow-walk… That one is a bummer… and that was one of his major advantage against his enemies. Now I wonder how the author is going to spin the story next and let Stark still survive enough for several more books down the line for this series… Probably beat the sh**t out of our hero… Anyway, this book still has the same good story telling quality which has always been true for this series. However, having said that, it still took me a very long time to finish this book. I’m not sure if its me, or the book is just slow. And compared to the other books I’ve read in this series thus far, this is my least favourite. I guess it gotta happen sometime… But that doesn’t mean that I am no longer a fan of this series, because I still very much am… Fingers crossed that Kadrey gets his mojo back with the next book.

 

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 3.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 3
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 2
Pace = 1.5
Plot = 3.5
Narration = 5

 

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries
     

 

Books In The Sandman Slim Series:

                   

 

 

FTC Disclosure:
This book, in all its formats, were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

 

Review: KILL CITY BLUES

Kill City Blues by Richard Kadrey
Book 5 of the Sandman Slim series
Read by MacLeod Andrews
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: hardback & audiobook

 

About Kill City Blues:

James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, has managed to get out of Hell, renounce his title as the new Lucifer, and settle back into life in LA. But he’s not out of trouble yet. Somewhere along the way he misplaced the Qomrama Om Ya, a weapon from the banished older gods who are also searching for their lost power.

The hunt leads Stark to an abandoned shopping mall-a multi-story copy of LA-infested with Lurkers and wretched bottomfeeding Sub Rosa families, squatters who have formed tight tribes to guard their tiny patches of this fake LA. Somewhere in the kill zone of the former mall is a dead man with the answers Stark needs. All Stark has to do is find the dead man, get back out alive, and outrun some angry old gods-and a few killers-on his tail.

Source: Info in the About Kill City Blues was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15783828-kill-city-blues on 10/01/2014.

 

My Thoughts:

This is the best book yet in the series. I’m not so sure though whether that is because Kadrey‘s writing has improved or I am just becoming a besotted fan. Or maybe a little of both. Either way, I enjoyed this book a whole lot more compared the previous books. I have to thank Kdawg91 for vigorously recommending this book to me!! In turn I recommend this book to all of those who likes the Supernatural show. Both have a whacked-out ideas of heaven and earth. Whacked-out or not, both are believable enough so that audience and readers can very easily suspend disbelief. Which I think is one of the reasons that both stories, Sandman Slim and Supernatural, has such staying power. Why both are such compelling entertainment!

 

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Ending = 5
World building = 5
Cover art = 3
Pace = 3.5
Plot = 5
Narrator = 5
 

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

 

Books In The Sandman Slim Series:

Review: DEVIL SAID BANG

Devil Said Bang by Richard Kadrey
Book 4 of the Sandman Slim series
Read by MacLeod Andrews
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: hardback & audiobook

 

About Devil Said Bang:

Getting out of hell is just the beginning

What do you do after you’ve escaped Hell, gone back, uncovered the true nature of God, and then managed to become the new Lucifer?

Well, if you’re James Stark, you have to figure out how to run Hell while also trying to get back out of it . . . again. Plus there’s the small matter of surviving. Because everyone in Heaven, Hell, and in between wants to be the fastest gun in the universe, and the best way to do so is to take down Lucifer, a.k.a. James Stark.

And it’s not like being in L.A. is any better — a serial-killer ghost is running wild and Stark’s angelic alter ego is hiding among the lost days of time with a secret cabal who can rewrite reality. Starting to care for people and life again is a real bitch for a stone-cold killer.

Source: Info in the About Devil Said Bang was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13157246-devil-said-bang on 26/10/2013.

 

My Thoughts:

I looked for an image that would epitome my idea of a “hellion harley” that Stark rode but all I could find is this. Not quite “it”, but close enough…

Richard Kadrey knows how to spin a story. That, I have to give to him. And in this book that masterful story spinning has been made blatantly obvious. For that alone this book cannot get a rating of less than 4. And for that reason also, I can forgive his slightly unorthodox way of building a story and/or plot. A new dilemma seems to crop up every 5 or so chapters, metaphorically speaking, because the book does not seem to have chapters. There is no chapter numbering. And then these dilemmas gets resolved and moves on to the next. Books usually have an over-arc-ing plot where sub-plots could fit in. But not this serial-delimma situation. I find it a little odd. It’s like reading a serial comics where the dilemma gets resolved every after so many issues.

This is book four, right? So I ought to know this author’s voice by now. And in a way, I think I do. However, it still surprises me every time I take a break from reading the book. I don’t know what it is about the author’s voice, but I needed frequent breaks from it. Otherwise this book would have flown by. As it is, it took me sometime to finish it even with the convenience of the audiobook format. Don’t know. Don’t really understand it, why that is so…

I think I’ve said it before in reviews of previous Sandman Slim books, that this series becomes addictive as you read along. I wasn’t that much of a fan with the first three books. But by the end of this book, I was a well-entrenched follower. The cover art is still in need of an upgrade though. But being a fan by now, I am feeling a bit more forgiving.

 

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Ending = 5
World building = 5
Cover art = 2
Pace = 2
Plot = 5
Narrator = 5
 

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

 

Books In The Sandman Slim Series:

Review: ALOHA FROM HELL

Aloha From Hell by Richard Kadrey
Book 3 of the Sandman Slim series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: hardback

About Aloha From Hell:

Supernatural fantasy’s greatest anti-hero goes back to hell!

In Sandman Slim Stark came back from hell for revenge.

In Kill the Dead he tackled both a zombie plague and being Lucifer’s bodyguard.

Once again all is not right in L.A. Lucifer is back in Heaven, God is on vacation, and an insane killer mounts a war against both Heaven and Hell.

Stark’s got to head back down to his old stomping grounds in Hell to rescue his long lost love, stop an insane serial killer, prevent both Good and Evil from completely destroying each other, and stop the demonic Kissi from ruining the party for everyone.

Even for Sandman Slim, that’s a tall order. And it’s only the beginning.

Source: Info in the About Aloha From Hell was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10439703-aloha-from-hell on 12/10/2013.

Sandman Slim
[Image Credit: John McKenna]

My Thoughts:

Here is a nice artist’s illustration of Sandman Slim by John McKenna. Although I think his left hand has more fingers in it than that crab-like pincers. He was pretty battered by the end of this book and he most likely kinda looked like that drawing. Speaking of which, maybe it is the violence. Or how the story is told. For whatever reason, I needed frequent breaks from this book. And that is why it took so long for me to read Aloha From Hell despite it being action after action all the way through. I don’t think it is the use of pop culture slang which slowed down the pace anymore because this being Book 3, I kind of gotten used to this author’s frequent use of pop culture slang even though I still don’t understand some of them, I just let it pass… On the bright side, this book, like all the books I’ve read in this series thus far, has a believable and wonderful world building which makes it very easy to suspend disbelief. That brought the rating of this book up a notch. It also has a solid plot with a well-structured story which I like in a book! By the end of Aloha From Hell, I became a Sandman Slim well-entrenched fan!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 1
Pace = 3
Plot = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Sandman Slim Series: