Early Review- Kill City Blues (Sandman Slim, Book 5) by Richard Kadrey (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 400 pages
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: July 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-0062094599
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Sandman Slim series
Source: eGalley for review from Edelweiss
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the 5th book in the Sandman Slim series and it was an excellent one. I love these characters, the strange cultural references, the gritty surroundings, the crazy action scenes, and of course the hilarious banter between characters. I got a copy of this to review through Edelweiss; thanks to Harper Voyager and Edelweiss for the chance to read this book.

Stark (Sandman Slim) has finally gotten rid of his job as Lucifer and he is trying set up a life for him and Candy in LA. Of course somewhere along the way he misplaced the Qomrama Om Ya, and this kind of was the weapon that is preventing the old gods (you know the ones that want to destroy the earth and humanity) from escaping their prison. So of course he needs to find it, and to find it he will have to venture into the incredibly creepy and dangerous Kill City.

Excellent continuation of this series! I just love these books so much, they are so much fun. I read them and chuckle and laugh out loud the whole time. The violence is hilariously over the top and Stark just has so much attitude. I love watching him trash all the rules and knock heads together…because of course you know he’s doing it all for the good of mankind…and maybe a little bit for his own chuckles.

All of our favorites are back in this story. Candy, Brigette, the Father, Kasiban, and of course all the pieces of God. They all interact so well together and are so crazy they are just a pleasure to read about.

Stark, with Candy and his friends at his side, is different than before. Now he has backup and people he cares about. Really it’s made him a better person, now he has a reason for all the violence that goes beyond survival.

The action scenes are awesome and gory and hilarious, the settings are creative and dank and creepy, the banter between characters in hilarious, and the obscure cultural references make you feel a bit warm and fuzzy inside when you understand them. This series just keeps getting better and better. It is wrong to laugh and chuckle at the murder of people? Nah, not if they are really bad people…right?

The book is lots of fun to read and incredibly entertaining…it was also very hard to put down. Parts are disturbing and parts are hilarious and all of it is downright wonderful. I love that each book wraps up a portion of the story nicely but is part of a broader story as well.

Overall a perfect addition to this series. I love these books so much. This book is gritty, funny, has great interesting characters, wonderfully creative settings, and is spectacularly entertaining to read. Definitely an adults only read, duh. I also love that these are complete stories but are part of a broader story as well. HIghly recommended to those who love gritty urban fantasy. Seriously this is one of my favorite urban fantasy series out there. I can’t wait to see what this series brings next.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– 150+ Reading Challenge
– Paranormal Reading Challenge
– Color Coded Reading Challenge