Friday 26 February 2021

Review: The Sandman

The Sandman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Sandman is a full cast adaptation of the comic book / graphic novel series by Neil Gaiman. This Audible Original edition covers the events of the first three volumes: Preludes & Nocturnes, The Doll House, and Dream Country

Torn from his realm, The Sandman - Morpheus, the immortal king of dreams, stories and the imagination – was imprisoned on earth for decades. On escaping he must restore his power, descend into hell to face Lucifer, chase rogue nightmares, visit a serial killer convention and cross paths with characters from DC comic books, ancient myths, and real-world history.
Audible and DC present the first in a series of audio adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s best-selling graphic novels, adapted and directed by multi-award-winner Dirk Maggs, performed by an ensemble cast with James McAvoy in the title role, and accompanied by an original score by James Hannigan. As narrator, Neil Gaiman will lead you through this dark, literary world in a twisting fantasy journey of myth, imagination and terror.

I really liked this, like a lot. After that I'm not sure there's much to say so gimmie a minute...
...right I've had a bit of a think and I've come up with some specific things I liked and one that took me out of the narrative for a second but really isn't a big deal.
First off I liked just how little had been changed for the audio play. As far as I can recall there wasn't a single thing (except that thing I alluded to before). Not one of the cast sounded like they were phoning it in or just there for the cheque and each voice was spot on. The effort each and everyone one of them put in for an audio play speaks volumes for their talent and dedication. The soundtrack and incidental music were just right though a small number of the louder, higher pitched sounds were distinctly unfriendly to headphones users.
Now on to that one teeny, tiny, niggle...
...they gender swapped Lucien. I'm only raising it as an issue because otherwise I just come off as a frothing fanboy and I'll admit it did take me out of the story in a "huh, Lucien as a woman. Never thought of that" kind of way.

If you're a fan of The Sandman, Gaiman in general or just like good quality listening materiel I cannot recommend this enough. If on the other hand you're a philistine give it a miss.



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