James Stark, Sandman Slim, the monster who kills monsters, is a testosterone fueled, angry, white, cis, het male anti-hero that a feminist can feel good about loving. Stark is a nephilim, half human, half angel, hated by almost everybody. He has been a punk kid magician, a gladiator in Hell, an assassin, Lucifer, and a PI. He hates bullies and the entitled rich. He is fighting an endless battle against human and angelic forces that use up and abuse human lives and souls. But he’s a smart mouthed asshole while he goes about it. He does better with violence than diplomacy, but he’s trying to do better with the violence.
“I’m trying to save everybody’s soul, you know.”
“And we appreciate it,” he yells back. “But you’re still a dick.”
Honestly, I can’t argue with that.
Over the course of the series he’s learned to truly value his friends and to think about how his actions will affect them. It’s hard though, for a monster to let go of being a monster. Stark’s primary motivation for being a better man is his girlfriend Candy, who is currently going by Chihiro. Candy is a jade, a breed of monster that can look human, but can liquefy your insides with a bite. Candy has been trying to go straight (as human as possible) since before she met Stark. She has her own life and her own interests apart from Stark, but they are a wonderful couple. They are like a punk rock Nick and Nora Charles.
The Perdition Score starts off with Stark battling headaches and PTSD. There is a war in Heaven between the rebel angels who don’t want to let human souls in the Pearly Gates and God and his loyal angels who want to let in all souls, even the damned. Stark has lost the ability to walk through shadows, so there isn’t much he can do about it. He thinks he’s out of it until a dying angel brings him a mysterious box and another angel shows up and tries to kill him. Stark is back in the game and has a mission and a target for all his violence.
This is where I’m meant to be. I’m Heaven’s Abomination. I’m a monster. I’m going to Hell. And I’m completely at peace. My sleep is deep and comforting. No more nightmares for me.
In Kadrey’s Sandman Slim universe, problems don’t go away just because you kill the people who cause them. Kadrey has always made it clear that he does not like the 1%, particularly the people and systems that chew up others and spit them out as garbage. Stark has done his best, every time he saves the universe, to make things better for the little people. But there is always someone or something that thwarts his efforts. Being pals with God didn’t help. Being Lucifer didn’t help. In Stark’s world, and in ours, there are power structures outside of the visible and obvious structures of power and they are very hard to dismantle. Stark isn’t going to let that stop him from wreaking vengeance, or from slowly picking apart the invisible machines that grind us down.
Kadrey has begun to streamline his books a bit. The story is still operatic, but has fewer ballet interludes in the production. As Stark has begun to see the bigger picture, the scope of the story has become more focused. As I’ve said in another Sandman Slim review, it really does take me a few days to get my head out of Stark’s world. For some reason, Kadrey’s vision and the language he uses to bring it to life resonate with me.
I want him to hear the rebel and righteous angels fighting it out for his future. I want him to know that the difference between salvation and damnation is small and getting smaller. Maybe he’d understand and maybe he wouldn’t… I don’t want to be his friend, but it would be nice if just once, someone like him understood that I’m not his enemy.
As I’ve said before, I primarily listen to the audio books, because MacLeod Andrews has a dreamy voice with the right amount of world weary pathos and smart ass. My reviews of the rest of the Sandman Slim Series: