The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones (The Sandman series)
The climactic confrontation between Morpheus and the Furies is not a battle in the usual sense of epic fantasy, with blasts of magic, armies clashing, and the final clash between the hero and arch-villain. In fact, it is more a battle of attitudes and moral stances, with both sides bound by their natures and those ancient rules we keep hearing about. So who made the rules? The Creator, yes, but why? And will he intercede in such conflicts? What does this say about the free will of the Endless? Destruction chose to exercise that free will and walk away from everything, but Dream is woven from different cloth.
Again, much to contemplate, and still a final volume awaits… Aug 27, Tahmeed rated it liked it. This is my lowest rating of the entire Sandman series thus far, and the main and only reason for this is that I absolutely hated the artwork in this volume. It was childish and very cartoon-ish and it prevented me from enjoying the story. The story itself was quite good, well great in fact, although I feel that its length could have been curtailed somewhat. Rose Walker's story-line in particular felt forced, especially since it distracted from the main arc of the Kindly Ones hunting down dream.
But other than that it was a finely crafted narrative with an emotionally satisfying conclusion. I hate to go on about the artwork, but it was just down right atrocious. If the publishers ever decide to bring out another edition in the future, I would recommend them to commission another artist and do the artwork all over again. The final scenes between Death and Dream deserve a better portrayal.
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Sep 21, Panagiotis added it. Jun 26, Rebecca Skane rated it it was amazing Shelves: All the peeps make an appearance. I feel like I need to start reading the entire series again now that I'm finally starting to get a grasp on all the many characters. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones
To view it, click here. Jesus, the artwork is awful on this. So here we finally get to see seeds that have been sewn, the kindly ones get their wish and Morpheus accepts that his sister must do her job and take his life, but all because he loved. Very sad, but all part of his destiny. Not my favourite volume. Jan 24, Kellan Gibby rated it it was amazing. This is what I signed up for when I bought the entire Sandman collection. Need more than 5 stars for this one. Definitely my favorite so far. I know I know I keep saying that but this one really is: May 12, Wing Kee rated it it was amazing.
A melancholy penultimate tale. The art is great, it's atmospheric and sets the tone wonderfully. It's not the best in the series but it's still pretty great. The world building is phenomenal this time, this is the penultimate book and with it comes all the pieces that Gaiman has created for the Sandman series, it's a culmination of the world building and all the things he's created and set in motion for the entire run.
Seeing them all interact to each other is absolutely amazing. Th A melancholy penultimate tale. The story is paced so well, the tone and the dialog is also amazing. There is a sense of melancholy to the story but it's sustained so well and handled so well. All the pieces that we've had on the run come together for this arc and it's astounding to see. The story I can't get into but the characters and their interaction and the slow boil of the story is what Sandman is known for and this is it.
Dream has been enigmatic since the start and all the enigmatic silent panels comes to an end here and we see where it leads. The Endless don't really have arcs, they are endless and ideas and somehow Gaiman was able to make Dream different since we first met him, this is the end of his arc and it's beautiful. The rest of the cast, I won't get into, the people we see this time around is amazing, all the pieces work together. This arc was amazing an culmination of ideas and characters Gaiman has created since Sandman 1.
Onward to the next book! Jun 20, Airiz C rated it it was amazing Shelves: The volume is pretty rich with subplots, but the main premise is this: She embarks on a spiritual journey to seek for the Furies, the aspect of the triple goddess who takes revenge on blood crimes.
The triumvirate seems hell-bent on making Morpheus pay—not for killing Daniel, but for killing his own son, Orpheus see Brief Lives. This is perhaps the longest volume in the series. Re reading this far, most of the secondary characters have already found themselves a special place in my heart. One of the many great things about this series is that it turns the stereotyped adversaries from other mythologies into well-molded, likable characters that lurk in gray shades—not white, not black.
Lucifer is a great Machiavellian example. He's cunning, dashing, and evil as a fallen angel can get, but he doesn't get around to be the 'pigeonholed demon', if you know what I mean. His small appearances after his role in the fourth volume represent a free soul, and his thought-provoking epiphany in the end serves as a signal of him being a character who isn't defined by "right" or "wrong".
The Corinthian is an awesome character as well--I'm honestly relieved to see him "recreated". He's the counterpart of good dreams and black mirror of man's inner after all, and I thought Morpheus should have seen some kind of parallelism earlier in the series, when the Presence asks for the key to Hell back in the fourth volume as Heaven is nothing without Hell. Anyway, no matter how cool the Corinthian is, I still get creeped out by the jagged skull teeth in his eye sockets don't even mention his penchant for eating boys' eyeballs.
But hey, no matter unconventional they may be, nightmares are supposed to be scary. Anyway, back to the story. For the last time Death and Dream interact, and we are reminded of the scenes in Preludes and Nocturnes last issue, The Sound of Her Wings, where Death smacks Dream with a loaf of bread for being the brooding, problematic creature that he is. No loaf-throwing happens this time, but there's a rather heart-to-heart talk between the siblings.
Deep and poignant, indeed. So Morpheus leaves his kingdom again, without a definite promise of coming back. This is a very tiring volume, but not in a bad way. I felt as if I was with the characters while facing the crisis. Needless to say, I love this graphic novel very much. This has been an emotional journey. Kindly Ones brings back everything full circle with so many, many call backs or easter eggs to previous stories and characters.
I'm an emotional wreck right now. Well I just started reading this. Here is something about that. I won't even save it til I write the proper review, because, god. F to this volume's introduction. There is the most giant spoiler in this introduction, and I didn't even read it. It's just sitting there in a conspicuous spot on the page, and I think that's on purpose. I saw it as I flipped past and my jaw dropped, so then I stared at it, and ugh. It is just the most flippant and obnoxious wa Well I just started reading this.
It is just the most flippant and obnoxious way to drop a spoiler. Isn't it just like Hamlet!? It made turning the page to start the actual book into the saddest, crappiest feeling. I'm not trying to be a whiner and claim the experience is really "spoiled", but I am just not in the mood for it. It's the wrong type of story for this.
Why not have the jaw drop at its appropriate time? Why not grapple with the idea when I know what it is for? You're forcing me to read it your way, and that sucks. If you want to compare it to Hamlet that is great. Then why don't you introduce Book 10! Or, I mean Book 7 didn't even have anything special happen and they moved the introduction to the end to preserve the story.
I don't get it. Interested how this will shake out, but I wish it could just feel like a normal story I will probably like. Ha ha get it. My issues with the spoiler aside, this was a pretty good read. I think I'm going to let my thoughts on the ending simmer until I read the next book, so no spoilers, this time, from me. I'm having a small crisis because I really want to round this up to 4 stars, but I can't justify it.
It's a really important part of the series, and it's long and a lot of interesting things are going on -- but also, a lot of it doesn't make sense. I don't exactly know what everyone was doing there, or even what actually happened or why. It might be enigma to unfold in the last volumes? But I feel like it's not. There was a nice best-of quality to the story. It was really, really nice to see Rose Walker again, who made Book 2 awesome awesome. But I'm so annoyed with the issues drawn by the guy who makes her look like a softcore schoolgirl.
What is up with them? Also great to see Thessaly again, from Book 5 which I loved, matter-of-fact and fixing things up, but being really creepy about it. Not that I understood what she was doing? The main story with Hippolyta seeking her baby was ok, though in a familiar mold. The clue that something weird is going on, her occasional super-strength, isn't quite present enough to make me very interested, and I still don't quite understand it. The part with the Gorgons is neat. I guess it's all right to moosh them together into the same entities?
I think that's what was up? Man this book was unclear. But I'm excited for the end of the series. Dec 14, Ryan rated it it was amazing. While reading Songs of Love and Death , a fantasy and science fiction anthology compiled by George R. I was surprised because after reading American Gods , I became convinced that Gaiman's best work was behind him. After all, he wrote the Sandman comics. For those not in the know shame on you!
Among other things, he is also the patron of stories While reading Songs of Love and Death , a fantasy and science fiction anthology compiled by George R. Among other things, he is also the patron of stories. His siblings include Death, Destruction, Destiny, and several other Endless beings. They are endless because they will always exist. It's a fine concept for a series, and it gives Gaiman more than enough room to flex his imagination. However, in spite of all that room, Gaiman spends quite a bit of time on planet earth, relating the events of -- get this -- ordinary human beings.
I forgot about this, which is why after I convinced my wonderful wife to read the Sandman comics, I was shocked by her summary: I started reading them and that's when I realized that my wife was about to say, "I told you so. How did I forget this? I think it's because The Kindly Ones , Sandman's penultimate story arc, is absolutely fantastic. Dream, for all his power and wisdom, has backed himself into a corner. The Furies, or kindly ones, are on his trail. He may be one of the Endless, but they're keen to cut his life's string.
And they never fail. If Gaiman has been indulgent or unfocused in this series, you'd never know it reading The Kindly Ones. Gaiman masterfully reveals that there was a method behind the occasionally uneven madness all along. And it's a method that builds into a fantastic tragedy, making for one of the most moving comics that I have ever read. The Kindly Ones illustrates why, I think, most people read long, drawn out fantasy series. We'll claim it's all about monsters and laser swords -- and those things are definitely great -- but really, we're like those children that can resist eating a cupcake so long as we'll get two at the end of the experiment.
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We understand the concept of delayed gratification. Ultimately, they've convinced us there's a hell of a cupcake waiting at the end of the road. And a hell of a cupcake is exactly what The Kindly Ones delivers. We have to read every other issue to get it, but fortunately, that's exactly the kind of thing we excel at. Dec 02, David Schaafsma rated it it was amazing Shelves: At more than pages, this is the longest of the ten volume epic series, and pulls out all the stops to complete the story. I waited to write this review until after I finished the tenth and last volume, "The Wake," which I liked even better.
I At more than pages, this is the longest of the ten volume epic series, and pulls out all the stops to complete the story. In this tale we get a conclusion, in ambitious, operatic fashion, introduced and described beautifully by Frank McConnell. I don't love all aspects of the introductions, which are typically too long, describe too much, and--this especially--spend altogether too much time deifying Gaiman as the single greatest contribution to comics and Literature itself EVER. Gaiman without question does make in this series one of the greatest contributions to comics and literature, but it makes one a little cynical to hear it page after page…intro after intro.
In this volume as with The Wake you get visits from the principal cast of characters from all the volumes. The idea is to wrap things up, and end it as we know it must end, with gravitas and grace and lovely writing, and we get all that is promised. I don't like the artwork in this finish nearly as well as the work in The Wake. I do like the idea of having different artists doing the art throughout, and Dave McKean, who never draws the stories, doing all the covers.
I like the idea of all these diverse contributions, even if I don't like all the unevenness of the styles. It gives one a sense of the variety of imagination, of the constructedness of the thing, as opposed to a sort of seamless artful tale. For all of its artful variation and power, not so much really happens in the last long volume except the unimpeded march of the Furies, Dream's creation of the Corinthian, a real nightmare, and revisiting all the characters we have met to end their individual tales.
It's not as memorable as some of the other volumes, but it does essentially end the story and end it powerfully and quite neatly, Shakespearanly, with all things coming together, as a great epic series must end. For my money, though, The Wake is the greater ending to the series, the most moving, the most creative. Jul 09, Jenny Reading Envy rated it really liked it Shelves: This is the account of what happens when the Kindly Ones enter the Dreaming.
The Kindly Ones (The Sandman, #9) by Neil Gaiman
There is some great stuff in here, and some surprises. I loved learning more about the characters living in the dreaming, particularly Matthew the Raven. I always love Delirium, but she really made me laugh in this particular volume. The randomness is a welcome respite sometimes from what is going on otherwise.
I ran across a book recently which suggested that the This is the account of what happens when the Kindly Ones enter the Dreaming. I ran across a book recently which suggested that the peace and prosperity of a culture was solely related to how many librarians it contained.
Possibly a slight overstatement. But a culture that doesn't value its librarians doesn't value ideas and without ideas, well, where are we? But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor. But what about the gods? The plurality of powers and dominions. The lords and ladies of field and thorn, of asphalt and sewer, gods of telphone and whore, gods of hospital and car-crash? Few mortals possess it, the willingness to step away from the protection of sanity. To walk into the wild woods of madness. The ninth in the Sandman series gathers a number of threads, some started as far back as the second book in the series, and brings them to a conclusion.
Morpheus is a stubborn character, someone who is not always prepared to compromise, and sometimes makes difficult choices. Characters from earlier books, including Hippolyta Hall, three witches, a Norse god and Thessaly are determined to settle those grudges But there is a cohesive and separate storyline in the book too.
A child is taken, and the The ninth in the Sandman series gathers a number of threads, some started as far back as the second book in the series, and brings them to a conclusion. A child is taken, and the mother thinks it is Morpheus and is set on destroying him. She turns to two ladies, The Kindly Ones, who she persuades to help her in this quest.
Faced with the greatest challenge in his life, Morpheus confronts his foes and fears from a high and desolate peak surrounded and may have to make the greatest sacrifice yet. Still dark though, but this time with an intensity and sinister and other worldly elements that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Sadly the artwork was not up to the quality of the previous books, not totally sure why, just lacked the detail.
Other than that great book. Jan 10, Kaethe rated it it was amazing Shelves: Immediately upon the death of Morpheus, Daniel becomes a new aspect of Dream, with white clothes and hair, and an emerald identified, in an earlier collection, as 'the heart of Khoschei the Deathless' suspended on his neck and chest. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Dark fantasy Mythology in comics. Retrieved April 14, The Sandman by Neil Gaiman.
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The Kindly Ones
Cover of The Sandman: The Sandman Vertigo Jam 1. Todd Klein Kevin Nowlan. Karen Berger Shelly Roeberg.