Rating: 
Summary: Sandman's grand finale
Review: Although it is actually its second-to-last story arc, The Kindly Ones is, for all intents and purposes, the climax of Sandman, Neil Gaiman's acclaimed fantasy comic book starring Morpheus, a glum, superhuman entity who rules over the realm of dreams (The subsequent The Wake is like a long epilogue). While no previous Sandman story arc seemed like a continuation of a preceding one, The Kindly Ones is a meta-sequel of sorts that features characters and plot threads from Preludes and Nocturnes, The Doll's House, Season of Mists, A Game of You and Brief Lives. Likewise, new readers should best begin with one of the aforementioned volumes but those who have already devoured two of three of the preceding Sandman story arcs, will delight in this excellent conclusion.The Kindly Ones features sub plots galore. But the main story concerns the abduction of three-year old Daniel Hall. Daniel is the child of Lyta and the late Hector Hall, who as The Fury and The Silver Scarab, respectively, were part of the superhero team Infinity Inc. In a series of events too complicated to recount here (see The Doll's House), the Halls were swept-up into the Dream World for most of Lyta's pregnancy. Because of this, Morpheus considers Daniel "his" and when the child is kidnapped, Lyta believes the Dream King the culprit. After the real captors trick her into believing that Daniel has been killed, Lyta seeks out the Kindly Ones, avenging spirits who torment and slay those who have killed their kin. Because he committed the mercy killing of his own son (see Brief Lives), Morpheus has little defense against the Kindly Ones as they ravage through the dream world. Meanwhile, Nuala, a faerie princess who was made a "gift" to Morpheus (see Season of Mists) reluctantly returns to her homeland; Delirium, Morpheus' loopy kid sister who governs the realm of insanity, searches for her lost pet dog; Lucifer, who renounced the throne of Hell (also in Season of Mists), opens an LA nightclub and Rose Walker, the young American woman who was once a "dream vortex" (see The Doll's House) trots across the Atlantic. One can surely deduce from the above recap that The Kindly Ones is a sprawling and ambitious opus (at 13 issues it is the longest Sandman story arc). And it works. Gaiman masterfully weaves together each facet of the tale, leading to a conclusion that does not disappoint. Marc Hempel's super-cartoony art is controversial among Sandman fans, but he has won me over. His images are bright, alluring and strangely conducive to the matter-of-fact manor in which Gaiman tells of fantastic creatures and events. The Kindly Ones was obviously meant to be the grand finale that capstones the Sandman experience and it succeeds on every level.
Rating:
Summary: A maturing storyteller keeps getting better
Review: For sheer narrative drive, The Sandman began gathering no moss with The Season of Mists. Neil slowed down his storytelling, savoring the dialogue and deliberate pace, and started tackling the linear story of the downfall of Morpheus. And this story reaches one of its finer moments in the tome, The Kindly Ones. Most Importantly, Neil has abandoned the more realistic/detailed artwork of his earlier Sandman works and plunged into the iconographic style that is more effective storytelling. He has made the reader identify with the Sandman through a simpler style of art.. (For more on this, check out Understanding Comics, one of the most scholarly and enjoyable examinations of the art of comics available. If you like comics and want to know more about the process, this is a DON'T MISS book. If you think comics are a juvenile storytelling form [in which case you're probably not reading this review; que sera], read this book!) In addition to the change of drawing style, Neil's story is extraordinary. Quite simply, this is a moving story that pulled me along without break. The ending is inevitable, powered by the characters' various personalities and flaws. Heck, the whole story is powered by personalities and character flaws and human interaction. Isn't that what is normally considered great fiction? It's a classical treatment of tragedy, that is both mythical and human and has a lot to say about life ... and death
Rating:
Summary: A Joyous, Tragic Masterpiece
Review: I believe in magic. I'm not talking about arcane forces controlled by wizards or anything of the sort. I'm talking about the magic of storytelling. So much of it has been lost in this age of technology, where quantity is more important than quality. Gaiman captures the essence of ancient myth and the grand beauty of the human experience in The Sandman series. From the first, I was entranced by this world of such profound depth and intricate simplicity. Yet I knew, in the end, what was to come. The Sandman is a tragedy. That is evident from the very beginning. Morpheus...I have never met his like in all the years of my literary odyssey. He is an unforgettable "point of view," so noble in his bearing yet so very close to humanity. The Kindly Ones is indeed a tragic tale. It is the eruption of the climax that has been building ever so slowly and inevitably. It is a revelation of the power of women. Lyta embraces her power as a woman, and it is a power older than time itself: a power even the Endless must acknowledge and bow to. In his usual flamboyance, Gaiman flawlessly melds Greek myth and a modern journey into the dreams and very psyche of Hippolyta Hall. This is the Sandman at its best: a revelation, an insight into the heart and soul of humanity. The Endless are ideas personified, but it is their interactions with mankind that makes this story so very powerful. I first read this book in a bookstore, and though I did not start bawling, I could not help but cry a few tears. It is that powerful, and the characters are that gripping. In The Wake, Gaiman reveals an overbearing theme that applies to the entire series: "Omnia mutantur, nihil interit." "Everything changes but nothing is truly lost." Apply it to The Kindly Ones, apply it to your life. Drink of this cup, for you will never find its equal in all the world that has gone before or is yet to come.
Rating:
Summary: The Edge of the Cliff
Review: I don't really know where to start with this review. I started to write it about six times, but the end result has always been the delete button on my keyboard.
Maybe it's because i'm a product of throw-away pop culture, maybe it's because i'm white Australian with no connection to any real sense of cultural mythology, maybe it's because i like stories, but whatever it is, Sandman speaks to me. And i know i'm not alone here because i've seen other people's faces when they've just finnished a sandman, and the first reaction is usually, "MORE!". Well, this is the end, my friend. The second-last chapter in the Sandman saga in which a lot happens, but nothing that i could really detail without giving too much away. I will however, say that the stakes are high for all involved (including the reader, if you're in the least bit human), and not without good reason. A mediocre story may make you laugh, but a great story can make you cry. This is a great story. Read it and feel like a human being, who has been walked to the edge of the cliff, and now has a view of the world.
Rating:
Summary: The climax of a masterpiece
Review: I first came across the Sandman because a flatmate of mine had some collections of it; her name was Nuala (hi, Nuala) and she was quite proud of the fact that Nuala is a character in the saga. Being generally allergic to fantasy of any sort (I'm usually a sternly Realistic sort of person) I picked up one of the books (I think it was "A Game of You") and was surprised to find myself quite enjoying it. Little did I know that I'd end up a total addict. I've now read the whole series, including both the Death spin-offs, and am somewhere at the back of the queue of people who would like to shake Neil Gaiman by the hand and thank him for repairing my battered faith in people's capacity for hope and renewal. Enough about me. "The Kindly Ones" is the climax of this vast saga about the imagination. It's incredible that a story that was basically written on the fly could be brought to such a grandly symphonic and yet intensely moving end - even though it's not really an end. I mean, I write plays for a living, and wild horses with voluptuous succubi on their backs couldn't persuade me to try and come up with a new and brilliant episode per month. And yet, Gaiman did it. If you haven't read the previous episodes it's not going to make a hell of a lot of sense, but basically what we're talking about here is a story about a man who's also a sort of god (Dream) and his realisation that he's not really able to change. The previous stories, written as the mood and the necessities of the plot came to Gaiman, are brought together here with fantastic skill and generosity. It's funny (Lucifer plays cocktail piano in a bar in LA), violent (a perfectly innocent minor character is burned to death for no better reason than a Norse god's caprice) and immensely sad; the recurring leitmotif is "All good things must come to an end", and you can sense that Gaiman is slowly and inexorably winding up this huge, sprawling, vastly entertaining and wonderfully intelligent story. And it's here, in The Kindly Ones, that the Sandman comics achieve story-hood; so many other comics glow and blaze and fade and disappear (or more frequently, fail to disappear - why did Doom Patrol need to continue after Grant Morrison gave it up?), but the Sandman is one of the few true modern epics. I can't think of a single "serious" novel published between 1989 and 2000 that aimed so high and hit so sure. I sympathise with a previous reviewer who said that it came as close to making him cry as anything has done in his adult life (well, I've cried since I've passed 18, but not over a fiction.) The fact that it was followed by the marvellously mellow, bittersweet "The Wake" is an extra bonus. Fantastic stuff. It got me reading comics again for the first time in ages.
Rating:
Summary: Gaiman's Genius
Review: I have read "The Kindly Ones" many times, and each time I get something new from it. I have only rarely come across a work of fiction so close to sublime.
Rating: 
Summary: um, it was cool
Review: i love sandman. i love weird story lines and art. um, this is my fave part in the seires cause i love lyta hall and marc hempel is my art idol. although i'm not sure why all these "artsy intellectual new yorky" people fawn over it. there are more comics out there dealing with intense story lines. and all in all sandman was good but not any where near the greatest.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest story i have ever read
Review: I love the sandman series and it is such a pity that some people do not understand it. Neil Gaiman has created a fantasy world with its own gods and goddesses and it is so believable you can feel it. This is definately the greatest of the sandman series, but if you read this one, you must read all the ones before it or else you will struggle to understand it. This is one of the saddest but one of the greatest stories i have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: by far the best sandman novel - highly recommended
Review: I open each Sandman novel knowing I'm going to be impressed. But I think this is the first one that truly made me want to read on and on and actually got me perplexed and thinking. If you enjoy Sandman, or just want to read great storytelling, this is the best one to read.(Though it should be forwarned that if you haven't read the other Sandman novels, you might get a bit confused!)
Rating:
Summary: Super-taut Story Line
Review: I picked up this book while I was home on vacation for some spare-time reading. I love _Sandman_ and with Neil's writing I was intensely drawn in like never before. While the illustrators were far from being my favourites, it didn't matter. I got hooked into the arc right away. I was emotionally involved in all that happened and wanting to cry (and even did a little) becos it was all so real. All I can say is BRAVO!
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