Review: The Sandman

Image: The audible book cover is an illustration of Dream/Morpheus from The Sandman. He is shown from the waist up with his right hand held upward, bent at the elbow. He has fabric draped over his right shoulder and across his torso from there. He stares directly at the reader. He has very light skin, dark, straggly medium length black hair, and black eyes, the left of which glints brightly like a star. Across the top in white, sans serif letters is, "audible original."  Across the center is the title in stylized letters with the authors names below it. In the bottom left corner is "DC" enclosed in a circle (the DC Comics logo.)

It feels strange reviewing the Audible production of Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" in the book category. Not because it is an audiobook, but because it is more than that. It reminded me much of what I imagine an old school radio play would have been like in the years before TVs were a fixture in many households. I was cautious at first. Having read all of the comics a very long time ago, I wasn't sure I remembered enough to be able to follow an audio version. But, they managed it quite well and I think I even ended up liking it more than I liked the comics- which is really saying something because the art in the comics is a huge draw for reading them. I still encourage people to check out the print versions. Dave McKean's covers alone make that worth doing.

Like any good goth industrial kid (and adult,) having read The Sandman series felt like a bit of a rite of passage. I will admit, it's honestly not my favorite thing in the DC Vertigo universe. I lean far more towards loving science fiction than I do this kind of fantasy. But, Neil Gaiman's forte is fantasy and he does do it well. I can appreciate that. Thus, I was happy to experience this story again in audio form. Something I realized while listening is how much the Sandman series included gay characters. This was pretty revolutionary at the time and still is to a certain extent. There are both women-loving-women and men-loving-men couples that appear as extras or minor characters in the story.

Gaiman is the narrator of the first installment of The Sandman (in what I hope ends up being a series,) and his voice fits very well with the whole atmosphere. He actually sounds a bit like the late Alan Rickman to me. I am showing my USAmerican ignorance, but they both have a similar distinct sort of British accent and I am not sure if it is just personality or location derived (or if I am not hearing it correctly at all.) The rest of the casting (boasting a great many big names) was also really great- particularly James McAvoy as Dream/Morpheus and Kat Dennings as Death. McAvoy captured Dream's complex, over dramatic, salty, vengeful personality well and Dennings' version of the kind, gentle, and laid back Death is just how I would have imagined her. 

Unlike most audiobooks, this one comes with a fully immersive set of sound effects and music to enhance the experience- which is a creative move to replace the visual aspect of comic books. This is what truly elevated it from audiobook to radio play for me. It helped to really visualize and feel immersed in the happenings of the story. I am going to refrain from an indepth review of the story due to comics having more of a production than a story alone. Overall, I hope they continue doing this for the rest of the series. 

This was also posted to my goodreads.