I liked this much better than the last one, even if there's no Death in it. The story seems less mean-spirited, less enamoured with its own violent edginess and less reliant on non-stop horribleness to run the plot. Not that there isn't plenty of blood and guts in this volume, but it felt less hysterical about it. I'm still pretty much entirely indifferent to the Sandman, but I did care about Rose and was decently invested in what happened to both her and Unity. Also, the collage aesthetics of the title pages and so on are fantastic, the best part of the novel I think! All credit to the illustrators.