Once again Gaiman is on his mark, as the writing and overall story is amazing. The artwork? Not so much. This is easily the poorest illustrated volume in the Sandman series. But the story is strong enough to not only make the reader feel depressed, but also feel hopeful with the next volume.

Three minor, supporting characters really shine in this volume - Matthew, The (new) Corinthian and Lucifer. These three characters alone have enough emotion to interest many people, and combined with the overarching story they really shine.

Again, the writing is top-notch Gaiman, and the storyline is fantastic. The artwork is at the very bottom of the series - but the writing alone makes up for the poor artwork. This is a volume that will change things for many people and should not be read unless many of the earlier volumes have been read. ( )

The Kindly Ones takes off with great speed from the end of WE. Part of us knows what's happened, but nevertheless, we refuse to really believe it until we must. I think my biggest grievance with KO is the dramatic change in artwork style. I don't think it's nearly as good as the art has been in the past Sandman books, and it's not consistent with the rest of the series which disturbs me greatly. It's a large adjustment to ask of your reader when it's half of the story. KO is suspenseful, fast paced, touching, but also remarkably human. Neil Gaiman clearly underlines certain human flaws taken to the extreme and plays out the plot of KO with almost a sense of classic Greek tragedy. Dream falls into multiple traps, but Gaiman leaves hints that Dreams own involvement in his destruction may be greater than he lets on and he DOES let on. The mistakes of hubris and vengeance as well as impulse are all highlighted and the end that maybe we all knew was coming does come to pass in KO. There's a lot of heartache in KO, but not all of it is created by the eminent death of Dream. Love also plays a strong role in KO through the stories we poke in on from previous issues of Sandman. Gaiman is good about not giving too much away and leaving the reader to fill in holes on their own along with connecting the dots from where we last left our characters. We also learn more about insanity and reality as Lyta Hall goes through the heartache of losing her son and she gets lost completely within herself. It's something most people never manage to accomplish; to become completely apart of all things that ground us and let go with all entirety. I was originally quite taken with KO and for a while, it was my favorite of the Sandman books, but I didn't find it as good this read. On a personal level, I think there was fluff that could have been cut out, but my opinion means little. Nevertheless, this is still better than most other novels I've ever read and the point is that KO is very, very good read. ( )

This is a heart-thumpingly good read. The action drives along at a wicked pace, bringing together elements from many of the previous volumes, into a beautifully heartbreaking conclusion. I'll confess; I cried. I do seem to be in the minority, however, in that I didn't care for the art in this volume.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Yes, yes. I'm behind. I finished The Kindly Ones this evening, and I still need to write about the last three books. Yikes! Maybe Sunday afternoon I'll have time to catch up.

So, it's Sunday afternoon, and I'm catching up. :) The Kindly Ones was a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, and I truly believe it will someday be regarded as such by people much more important than myself. Our basic plot: Dream has killed his son, Orpheus, and the Kindly Ones (the Furies) are now at liberty to pursue him because they are "allowed" to avenge blood debts. Hippolyta Hall (mother to Daniel) has her son stolen, and she blames Dream, despite the fact that Dream does not steal her son initially. She is the one who awakens the furies wrath against dream, and it only spirals downward from there. We also discover in this volume that Nuala is in love with Dream, and we see the reappearance of Thessaly as Larissa. She kind of falls in love with Dream too. Dream is one of those tortured souls that attracts women apparently. I wouldn't say I'm in love with him, but I can certainly see the attraction. So Dream dies, but Death spares him being tortured further by the furies. My favorite characters were definitely Matthew (the raven), Rose Walker, and Delirium. In some ways, Dream ceases to be a character in this book, but I'm not sure I could explain why. He just reacts to things rather than actually initiating action himself.

This book was definitely less sad than it might have been without the preparation of the previous two books. Still, the end of a myth is sad no matter what, even if it's a myth we've only known briefly (just this month, in fact). I did keep hoping throughout that Dream wouldn't die. I know that's childish, but I don't think it's fair to expect my readings to be that different than the average person. I'm sad when Romeo and Juliet die too. I keep wishing that they will work it out differently no matter how many times I read the tale.

Okay, so all that being said, I want to mention artwork. This volume was very "cartoony." I'm sure there's a technical word for this style of artwork, but I don't know what it is. The best way I know to describe is that the curves are more emphasized than the lines. It makes everyone seem less sinister and more innocent. There's nothing really hideous here: even the scene where "A makeshift barge made of dead flesh is slowly poled down a river of cold semen" becomes more about the words than the image this way. I normally really like cartoons, and I like that style of artwork. But, it definitely does not do the horror genre as well as some others. For the first time since reading this series (a pitfall of having several different artists), I felt like I was reading an illustrated story rather than a graphic novel. However, this is also the first book I've read in which I've found panels that I would blow up and hang in my bedroom...actually, I might just do that. It could be my next art project :).

I'm thinking about writing a longer blog on the series as a whole. I want to discuss this issue of dying mythologies at length, and it doesn't really fit with the purpose of these individual "reviews," if that's even what they can be called. We'll have to see if I make time to do it. ( )

'The Kindly Ones' is the longest, most complicated volume of Sandman's saga, as well as the story's climax. Gaiman knits together his characters and 'yarns' to create an inevitable destiny for Morpheus. He who is Endless must incorporate ending into his story. He who is changeless must integrate change into his being. He who is shadow must face the shadow's shadow. He who is Dream must awaken. Early on, he explains why he creates nightmares: 'Imagine that you woke in the night and rose, and seemed to see before you another person whom slowly you perceived to be yourself. Someone had entered in the night and placed a mirror in your sleeping place, made from a black metal. You had been frightened only of your reflection. But then the reflection slowly raised one hand, while your own hand stayed still...' (Part I, 14)

It is appropriate that the Maiden/Mother/Crone trio of witches plays a significant role. They first appeared in volume 1 as sybils granting oracular clues to Dream's 3 questions about identity. Here they take on shifting, bloodthirsty aspects of the many triple goddesses. Did brother Destruction abandon his realm because he did not want to be responsible for the heartlessness of these dark ladies who create and destroy? Or do the ladies act so terribly because Destruction gave up any effort at control?

So many names for triads of immortal females: the Roman Furies were originally the Greek the Erinyes (the angry ones, born from the blood of a castrated Titan) and their flip side the Eumenides (the gracious ones). There were the gorgons of which Medusa is the best remembered. The three Fates were Moirae to the Greeks, Parcae to the Romans, and Norns to the Norse. The Greek Charites and the Roman Gratiae were the three Graces. Even Allah, in his pre-Mohammad pagan days, had three goddess daughters.

Gaiman calls his Maiden/Mother/Crone triptych 'The Kindly Ones,' and it is meant ironically, euphemistically, as perhaps the name Eumenides was intended in Greek legends. In this story, a deluded and demented mortal asks the three witches, 'Are you going to hurt me?' 'Hurt you?' responds the crone as if it is the most stupid question possible. 'Of course we're going to hurt you. Everybody gets hurt.' Then she tells gleeful riddles about destiny. 'Those who ask don't get. And those who don't ask don't want.' (Part II, 15-16)

Of course the Ladies have their own side to the story. In the marvelous opening to Part I, they are served a cozy English tea while they speculate on the Mother's new 'knitting project' made from yarn spun by the sexy Maiden. 'He could be a poet in a lovely scarf, perhaps. Or a fisherman in his special woolly sweater. Or a hunter in his nice thick socks.' (Part I, 1) The crone gripes, 'It's not like anyone notices what we do. Not like anyone cares. And they're always complaining: they don't like the fit of it; too loose - too tight - too different - too much like everyone else's.... It's never what they want, and if we give them what they think they want they like it less than ever. 'I never thought it would be like this.' 'Why can't it be like the one I had before?' I don't know why we bother.' (2)