The Sandman: The Kindly Ones

I feel like I've been crushed by a planet-sized metaphor, just when I needed tea and a hug.
If you also enjoy brief sessions of self-flagellation, do give this a try.

Morpheus is not okay, and the furies, a.k.a. the kindly ones, take advantage and plot a serious reckoning. Several old debts come to haunt the Sandman, though one of them ends up saving the Dreaming. But at what cost?

I've always gone into each Sandman volume, expecting heavy themes, serious collateral losses, but still ending on a hap-- erm hopeful note. Sure enough, vol. 9 follows the same pattern, but leans particularly hard into the fallout aspect. The tone is harsh enough that not even my perpetually distracted mind could shrug it off as just growing pains.

The whole show more demented fairytale vibe of the series had lulled me into a false sense of peace. Despite the large number of terrible things lurking around the corner, the story would stop just short of real tragedy. At least when it came to the characters that I liked. Then again, you could still say that life went on. Even if in mourning, for now.

This book felt insanely long, complicated, and hermetic. Even with my usual slow and pause-heavy reading pace, it often felt like I wasn't making any progress. Not that it helped that I needed to constantly check previous volumes for the recurring characters.

That said, I have to admit that I truly loved the overall atmosphere. Even the art style ended up growing on me, for all that I found it generally all over the place in terms of quality. Except when it came to Rose Walker, who yet again is drawn in wildly different styles. I seriously don't get why she ends up looking anywhere from a bratty 14-year-old to a 40-something sexy vixen. If it hadn't been for her distinctive hair colouring, I would not even have recognised her half the time.

Score: 4/5 stars

I'm annoyed at the unexpectedly dark outcome, which left me in a funk for a few days. And yet, I can't deny that this volume delivered a brilliant story, packed with unexpected outcomes and lovely sentiments. show less

"Las Benévolas" es EL ARCO de Sandman. Todo lo que ha pasado, Lucifer abandonando el infierno, Loki y Puck escapando de sus mundos, la historia de Rose Walker, la captura de Sueño por Roderick Burgess, la vuelta a casa de Nuala, la muerte de Orfeo y, por supuesto, el destino de Daniel Hall, llega a su punto álgido de tensión. Por primera vez, Sueño tiene en frente a un contrincante peligroso, las Furias (aunque no quieren que les llamen así) y... bueno, no sale bien parado. Es la conclusión de cada hilo argumental que han tejido las Tres Mujeres a lo largo de nueve tomos, y es prácticamente perfecto.

Tenemos así respuestas a varias preguntas no resueltas, como el misterioso funeral celestial de "Worlds' End" e incluso quién el show more amorío que lleva a Sueño a su estado emo en "Brief Lives". Todo lo que pasa en estas páginas, la historia más larga de la saga, da forma a toda la narrativa anterior y casi hace que quiera darle cinco estrellas a algún recopilatorio pasado. Podría haber sido perfectamente el final, pero hay ciertas ganas de ver qué pasa a continuación, aunque girará alrededor de todo lo que acaba de pasar. Es maravilloso y supera a "Brief Lives", otro tomo excelente, con creces. show less

The Kindly Ones is undoubtedly the best book in the Sandman series so far. (Yes, I know I've said that several times now, but it's really true this time!) Many of the events throughout the series are culminating into an epic struggle between Dream and The Furies, which results in the most intense, profound, and endearing plot to date. Morpheus seems more human than ever, and though he has faced many a trial in the past this is more emotionally charged than anything Gaiman has presented to date. A testament to the continual improvement of his writing.

The art direction for this book is interesting. It uses a very simple and rather cartoonish style and colored with somewhat flatly with bright, vibrant colors. It's very different and the show more book has a completely different feel than previous ones, and at first I wasn't a big fan of it. However, though I'm not sure it is the best fit for the atmosphere created by the story, the style grew on me with time and I think I might actually prefer it over what has been done in the past several books.

This deep into the series I really can't say a whole lot more in my review other than that I have enjoyed the experience thus far and I look forward to seeing how everything is wrapped up in the end. show less

This one is probably the one that I love the most, but not because of the quick pace, the literary references, the art, or the final act. Or maybe it's because (or not because) of all of it.

No spoilers, but the furies can be a real bitch, and so is their puppet.

Then again, who's really pulling the strings?

This one brought me to tears both times I read it. It sneaks up on you. Even when you know it's coming from the previous volume's foreshadowing, it still sneaks up on you and you expect something else to occur and yet... it was always to be, wasn't it?

Fuck you, Destiny.
Fuck you to hell.

Oh my. I might be getting a little carried away with my emotions a little.

Wow. I just finished The Sandman Volume 9: The Kindly Ones and my mind is still in a whirl. Don’t let the title fool you, this volume is one of the darkest yet. Except for the side story of Delirium searching for her lost dog which was charming, the rest of the book took us to the depths of Dreaming.

Reviewing this volume is difficult without putting spoilers in, but rest assured that Neil Gaiman has brought his series full circle. This is the thickest volume in the series and the pace is exceedingly fast, but the chaotic story is both a nod to the past and a path to the future. Be ready to get reacquainted with just about every character that ever graced a Sandman tale. The way these characters are brought back and fit seamlessly into show more the story is incredible and a nice reward for those of us who have followed the story from the beginning.

I felt that in this issue many threads from previous volumes were laced together but in true Gaiman style, there are still unanswered questions and avenues to explore. The Kindly Ones augments the legend and assures the reader that the dream continues. show less

I hereby declare Sandman a part of me; so whoever loves Sandman loves me.


Wasn't it really inevitable, that the story of Dream had to end this way? I knew what was coming at every step I took towards the end of the story, and yet I read on.

And Gaiman didn't disappoint. It was not some grand battle, it was like how a fire dies, little by little till you cannot remember where.

Still, I loved the little moments of artistry, where the writing touches your heart and kills you at the same time. It was like being granted love and having it taken away - it's hard on you but, you would go through it all over again.

Neil Gaiman's The Sandman reaches its zenith in The Kindly Ones, in which Morpheus, the Lord of the Dreaming, comes to grips with the events that precipitated the entire series. Gaiman returns to many of the side characters that have populated his world, weaving their stories back into that of Morpheus even as the Kindly Ones (or the Furies or the Fates) weave lives. The denouement transcends the previous stories to create something both new and familiar. The artwork feeds the story just as much as Gaiman's writing, with powerful visuals that subtly illustrate ever-building tension leading to the inevitable climax.