Do You like book Butcher Bird: A Novel Of The Dominion (2007)?
You can see the beginning of Sandman Slim in this novel as it follows the same themes. I love Kadreys writing style and the imaginative settings and characters, but sometimes the plot seems secondary.This is subtitled "A Novel of the Dominion" but I'm not sure if there's any more stories of Spyder, Shrike and Lulu. An urban fantasy universe is set up well but perhaps Sandman took over.To summarise the plot: Spyder, a tatooist, and Lulu, his BFF and the one who handles piercing in their partnership are quietly getting drunk in a seedy bar when Spider slips out to the alley to relieve himself. Unknown to him one of the sigils he had tattooed on himself is of a demon, who attacks him, but luckily he is saved by Shrike - a blind swordswoman.Unfortunately the aftermath of the attack shows Spyder the real truth of things and the world no longer appears as normal as it once was. He is quickly entwined in a plot involving a varied cast of characters ending in hell itself...Yeah, I'd like more, but treated as an earlier work you can kind of see how Sandman Slim was born. Entertaining and imaginative: 4.5/5
—Stuart Reid
Although I normally enjoy traditional fantasy books, urban fantasy is more hit-or-miss for me. In my somewhat limited experience, urban fantasy books often have less clearly-defined world building and more of what feels to me like inexplicable chaos. I prefer the worlds I read about to have clear rules and logical, consistent cause-and-effect relationships. This helps me feel like I understand everything that’s going on. Sometimes, when I read an urban fantasy novel, I think to myself, “This must be what it feels like to be on drugs.”Butcher Bird had some of that inexplicable chaos. Scenes were described that contained a mish-mash of crazy and random imagery, and events occurred that weren’t entirely explained. There were chapters throughout the book that dealt with the mythology which helped serve as an explanation for many of the things that occurred in the main story, but there were still some unanswered questions and some “huh?” moments, especially near the climax of the story.In spite of that, I really enjoyed this book. Maybe it’s because I thought the story was so interesting, or maybe I was just in the right frame of mind to not be bothered by a little chaos. Most likely it was a combination of those two things. In any case, I had trouble putting the book down. I kept wanting to read “one more chapter” to find out what would happen next. The characters were also interesting and likeable, if a little messed up in the head!
—YouKneeK
I want to see pulp authors Richard Kadrey and Charlie Huston battle each other to see who is really the reigning king of the super-gritty urban supernatural thriller. I imagine the pre-fight insults would be epic, but I also wouldn't rule out the possibility that things would devolve into a slap-fight pretty quickly. Both authors play on my inner violence-monger and their noir-esque dialog leaves me giddy. Butcher Bird follows the adventures of Spyder Lee as he discovers a secret world in the shadows of his own, meets a pretty blind warrior girl and journeys into hell. If you've read the Sandman Slim series, this book will seem vaguely familiar. They aren't set in the same universe, but the universes are definitely close cousins. My one complaint is the climax. While satisfying, it felt very abrupt.
—Bryce
