Since I don’t drive, I only listen to audiobooks when I grab my hook and yarn and sit down to crochet. This is the only reason why it took me almost two weeks to listen to The Sandman, the audio version of the epic comics. Otherwise, I would likely have listened to it in one sitting.
That is how good it was. From Neil Gaiman’s impeccable narration to the stellar cast led by James McAvoy (who plays Lord Morpheus), to James Hannigan’s brilliant score, to the masterful sound effects, listening to The Sandman was like being in my own movie theatre. One in which I had my own images (since I never read the graphic novels) but no less enthralling and gripping from beginning to end.
The 20 chapters of the audiobook are made just like a TV show, where each chapter is a different episode, which isn’t to say that they don’t follow a specific storyline, since some of those storylines might cover several episodes, to the listener’s delight.
Be it with Morpheus’s kidnapping, the gruesome Dr. D, the visit with Death, or the return to the Sandman’s land, among others, each episode or storyline was epic, sometimes horrifying (seriously, if I ever catch that bastard who drowned the kittens, I’d show him to murder innocent animals!) or downright horrific (the Diner episode, particularly), it is a trip down fantasyland worth every second.
My only complaint? It wasn’t long enough. I would have taken so much more of those characters! Credit to the impeccable cast, for which they really put everything they had, and which paid off.
If all audiobooks came with those special effects and different voices for every character, the medium would probably be even more popular than it is now. This does not undermine the work of the “single” narrators, who have an enormous job of doing all the voices without the support of sound effects, and usually achieve it with great success. However, having a full cast is a refreshing difference.
Five stars on all counts! ✰✰✰✰✰
Caro's Reads 
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