The fourth Absolute Sandman volume completes the main story arc of the series, combining disparate elements and characters to produce a finale that I did not expect at all at the beginning. Initially I struggled with not being able to discern how anything related to anything else but the second half ravels everything up neatly.

Another beautiful addition to this sweet little story. I am a huge fan of Pitch Black and in this book we finally get his whole story told to us. It's heartbreaking, beautiful, and tragic. I love learning more about him and his daughter and I love seeing how even beings like him, deserve some love and respect.

In this book, we have a returning character from the picture books. Sandy! I love this little guy. So much strength with such little words spoken. I adore him. I also love that this is the first time we get to see Nightlight grow a little as a character. He was someone who was very immature in his way of thinking. But it's in this book that he learns that things are not just black and white, good and evil. That there are many layers to who a person can be and many reasons to explain the actions one choose to take. I think it's a brilliant lesson for anyone to learn. Especially Nightlight, a boy who never ages.

I love this series so much. I know the writing can be quite simplistic at times, but the story and the characters more than make up for it. I think with such a lovely story, you don't need flowery writing. The story speaks for itself. 

I am close to the end of this series now. I've never read the last book before. This will be my first time reading it. Makes me nervous to finally find out what's going to happen. I love Pitch and I don't want him to get a nasty end for just being different. I will hold on to hope that the ending of the series will be just as sweet as the rest of it has been.

If you haven't read this series yet, I highly encourage that you do. It's a lot of fun with endearing characters and such fantastical ideas that it will make you want to explore your own imagination as thoroughly as you did when you were younger. Or still do. Some of us never forgot our "child-like wonder." I hope you never do.

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I feel like I have been wanting to read this book forever. I bought the ebook more than eight years ago and added the audiobook to my collection nearly six years ago. I am not really sure why it took me so long to finally get started with the series but I am happy to report that this book is really as good as I had hoped it would be. I am so glad that I finally took the time to give this one a listen.

James Stark was only 19 years old when he went to Hell. It is now 11 years later and he is back and ready to deal with the friends who sent him away. The past 11 years have been hard on Stark but he survived and picked up a few skills along the way. Things have changed in the world while he was away and he has a few adjustments to make as he works to settle the score.

I really liked Stark. He is tough and able to think on his feet. We learn pretty early on that he can be rather brutal when necessary but he will also go out of his way to help others who are truly innocent. We really learn a lot about Stark in this book and I think that his past and time in Hell have helped to shape him. Stark does have a sense of humor and there were times that I found myself chuckling. I also really enjoyed the supporting cast of characters and I think that the whole ensemble really helped to make the story entertaining.

This story is really exciting. It is really interesting right out of the gate and everything builds as the story progresses. I like that there is no big information dump as you sometimes find in the first installment in a series. Instead, the world-building happens slowly as the story is told. There is plenty of action to keep things moving and a few scenes where we really get to see how much Stark has lost. I think that the pacing of the story was very well done and I liked that I was always eager to get back to the story.

MacLeod Andrews did a phenomenal job with the narration of this book. He really brought James Stark to life and I couldn't imagine this character having a different voice. He handled all of the character voices extremely well and added a lot of excitement to the story. I know that I enjoyed this story a bit more because of his narration.

I would not hesitate to recommend this book to others. This is a very strong start to a series that I can't wait to continue. The characters were very well done and I found myself completely engaged in the story from beginning to end. I cannot wait to read more of this series!

Initial Thoughts
I ended up really enjoying this one. The narrator of the audiobook does an amazing job with this story and the story itself is really exciting. Stark is a great character. The more that we learned about him, the more I found that I liked him. There is a lot going on in this story and I found that I had to start the audiobook over at the midpoint since I was pretty sure I missed some key points. It was worth putting in that extra time. I like that there was a bit of humor that was worked into this story along with some pretty intense action. I cannot wait to read more of Stark and the rest of the gang.

Book source: purchase

And continuing on with this amazing series is the sequel, The Sandman: The Story of Sanderson Mansnoozie. This book is just as amazing as the first. The artwork is stunning as always. The story captures the reader with its whimsy and the characters have you intrigued about where they come from and how they came to be. I love this book. It's so beautiful.

I love that we are getting to see more and more of Pitch Black. You can't help but wonder why he is doing this. What is he getting out of bringing Nightmares to children? We'll just have to continue reading to find out! 

Sandy is a precious being, I love how he cares so much that he himself starts to lose sleep when he is not sure as to how he's going to bring sweet dreams to children. He's just a lovable being.

If you love stories about fairy tales and whimsy, if you love a different take about all the characters you've come to know whilst growing up, then read these books. They only get better and better as you keep reading. Highly recommend them! 

Well, this is of course, brilliant. But why? It occurs to me that the world Gaiman set up for himself was in fact the perfect tool for him: He could incorporate any mythology, religion, genre, location or time and still make it all self-consistent, hence allowing his imagination to go wherever it wanted or needed to. This particular volume is a great showcase for this variety and it is enhanced by the various changes in art style accompanying the changes in mood, atmosphere, character and location.

Bring on Vol. IV!