Sandman, The: The Kindly Ones - Book IX

Marc Hempel (Illustrator) and Richard Case (Illustrator)

Written by Neil Gaiman; Art by Mark Hempel, Teddy Kristiansen, and various; Painted Cover by Dave McKean Distraught by the kidnapping and presumed death of her son, and believing Morpheus to be responsible, Lyta Hall calls the ancient wrath of the Furies down upon him. A former superheroine blames Morpheus for the death of her child and summons an ancient curse of vengeance against the Lord of Dream. The "kindly ones" enter his realm and force a sacrifice that will change the Dreaming forever.

• ISBN10: 1563892057
• ISBN13: 9781563892059
• Publish Date: 1 September 1996
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 14 October 2016
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: DC Comics
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781563892059

Reviews

[empressbrooke]

I've rated both this and [b:The Sandman Vol. 7 Brief Lives|25105|The Sandman Vol. 7 Brief Lives|Neil Gaiman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167577136s/25105.jpg|25855] 5 stars, but I think I liked Brief Lives better, for the sole reason that it contained more scenes with Delerium. Here, Delerium is searching for someone again, this time her talking dog Barnabas, and the scene where they're reunited was charming as all get out.

Practically every other character we've met along the way shows up in the Kindly Ones, and it was just more proof that Gaiman is the master of making everything he writes have a purpose. It was very, very impressive how it all tied together. I know that some people say you can read most of these as stand-alones, but the pay-off for following them in order is not to be missed.

I haven't mentioned Morpheous much in my reviews, despite the series being named after him. I'll take a moment now to say that his evolution as a character is very subtle, but very well done. The scene between him and his big sister Death towards the end were beyond touching.

I'm not sure how I waited so long to read this series (that is a lie, it took me forever to realize that libraries carry comics, and I couldn't afford to buy them all before), but thank goodness I finally did.