The Sandman: The Kindly Ones (1996)

Marc Hempel's art just doesn't do it for me this volume. ( )

First, a warning: Don't read the introduction of this book if you haven't read the book yet. Here there be spoilers.

What an incredible denouement to the Sandman story arc. Characters long since forgotten appear again with new significance. Elements from every preceding volume suddenly tie together in unforeseen ways. It's exciting and inevitable yet nonetheless surprising.

The art took me aback at first. I didn't quite like it. I didn't hate it, but it definitely didn't appeal. However, as I sank deeper and deeper into the story, it grew on me, and in the end, I can't imagine this book drawn any other way. ( )

Para mi gusto ha cojeado en algunos puntos y no lograba mantener toda mi atención, pero es imposible puntuar con menos de cuatro estrellas. ( )

The second to last Sandman collection is something inevitable, and incredibly sad. There is a return of old characters, a culmination of questions answered, and the story ends where it began with the very first volume - a cage of sorts, and some reformation.

Gaiman ties a story up well, and while there is still one more volume, I cannot truly see what it would contain after all that happened in this one. That's what a good author does well, though, right? Mysteries, madness, secrets, and strange. I look forward to this - it's been a hell of a ride. ( )

The longest volume in the Sandman series, and it made for a satisfying, winding tale. I liked how so many elements from the previous books were incorporated into this ninth volume - even though I'm sure I didn't pick up on all of them, mainly due to the fact I can't remember - and how the story had so many facets, and a brilliant and strange cast of characters, some of them with teeth for eyes and some who make fish float out of thin air (Delirium is my favorite!) and some of them actually talking animals. I can't wait for volume ten, to see where it all goes. ( )