The Sandman

Captured by a cult for nefarious reasons, the King of the Dream realm lies within a crystal prison. Morpheus bides his time, denying the cult even the sound of his voice. After all, what is a human life to one of the endless? But as Morpheus waits for his chance to escape, his realm is collapsing. When at long last the moment of escape arrives, Morpheus finds he has much work to do. Revenge is only the beginning of his tale. Morpheus must collect his stolen tools, rebuild the Realm of Dreams, and capture his freed nightmares.

The audiobook for The Sandman was remarkable. While the story is primarily dialogue-based due to its origins as a graphic novel, there was no confusion or lack of detail evident in the audio recording. The settings were created by a combination of ambient sounds and vocal clues from the characters within them. And the voice acting was so well done, bringing the various characters and creatures to life with unique dialects and accents. There were some moments I found it hard to understand certain characters due to their way of speech, but it made them feel all the more authentic.

The Sandman is not a tale for those faint of heart. Neil Gaiman spares no details as he dives into the dark side of humanity. From humans that will create nightmares to amuse themselves, to the nightmares themselves that use humans for entertainment. There are many facets of savagery and violence shown. Morpheus does what he can to amend the wrongs brought to those undeserving. However, if anyone so much as crosses Morpheus or brings harm to innocents, he will not hesitate to bring about his form of justice. Some may even find themselves living an eternal nightmare.

A few plot lines are left hanging in the balance by the end of this collection. Any story with planned sequels should have some amount of mystery left to solve. But there are characters introduced early on who did not quite line up with the story direction. For instance, there is the universe’s attempt at creating a Sandman when Morpheus is imprisoned. The new hero is a mortal who puts villains to sleep for a swift capture. But as Morpheus’ story progresses, the Sandman fades away. In later chapters, Morpheus takes up the title instead. I hope to see some of the loose ends tied up in later volumes. There is much left to explore in the world of The Sandman.

While I am not a graphic novel reader, I enjoyed the tie-in to the DC Universe. Fans of DC will certainly enjoy the cameo appearances of familiar characters. The Sandman is a thrilling and fast-paced adventure into the heart of humanity’s darkness. With much lore left to discover and a cast of characters yet to be fully realized, I look forward to the second audiobook.

Ideally I would give this 3.5 stars, but I've decided to round up because it really was a hell of a ride.

The pros:
- The sound design was incredible. It was immersive and well-balanced (at least it was in my AirPods, can't speak to other sound options) and I loved the dimension of it.
- The voice actors were all very good. All of the characters felt incredibly alive.
- It's Neil Gaiman. ‘Nuff said.

The cons:
- It's a bit odd to binge through. It is very episodic, which makes sense coming from comics but can be jarring for an audiobook, especially when some of the episodes are very connected with seemingly no break in storyline while others jump decades or continents without warning and the characters only sometimes reappear.
- The mouth noises. One of the characters eats prominently in an episode and I almost had to turn it off. Very gross. (Although this does speak to the good sound design again, so...)

That said, I will definitely be continuing on to part two.

Truly so much fun!



Dear Reader,
This is the first review I have done in a long time that comes with a massive disclaimer. I don't do graphic novels or D.C and usually feel out of place but I loved this. I'm a huge fan of audiobooks, I listen to them all the time – more than music and never podcast unless it is true crime. I was a little hesitant to start this Audible original. The music, sound effects and multiple players added to the enjoyment of this production. Many talented voice actors and all delivering Gaiman's splendidly surreal art. I have to say that having someone you enjoy spending time with read a book with you makes things so much more enjoyable. We have read the second installment, but I can't wait to tell you about that tomorrow. I have had my eyes opened to fantasy and I have enjoyed every minute immensely.

This is still an exceptional work that most listeners of this genre will appreciate. I know that this is the book that sparked my joy for this genre.

I can't decide if it's a 4 or 5! I loved the cast for this audiobook and I enjoyed the various actors, background sounds, and pacing! And the fact that Neil Gaiman is narrating is also a plus. Some of the episodes were more intriguing and fun than others, some more disturbing than others.

This does also include many trigger warnings, so I would suggest looking those up before entering the Sandman world.

Some episodes I commented on in BLC:

Episode 6 (24 Hours): Gosh this was a very gruesome episode.. if it gets adapted into the show, I don't think I can watch it because of all the descriptions, gore, and death. Episode 8 (The Sound of Her Wings): How hilarious it is to find Dream in "casual" wear feeding pigeons! I found it interesting that Death is so perky and their relationship to be fun!Episode 10 (Man of Good Fortune): I think this might be my favorite episode! The idea of taking death away and Dream was the one to come back every 100 years, and Gaiman narrating what the pub looked like each time was also interesting. For Dream to admit Hob is his friend was cute and heartwaming.Episode 16 (Lost Hearts): I'm happy Rose is alive, Gilbert was so sweet and for Unity to take Rose's vortex was; and ugh, to know that her friend was a victim of the killings in the diner T__T