Ratings914
Average rating4.1
I found this book at the back of a shelf a couple of days ago. I read it back in 2013, before I wrote reviews, and had given it 4 stars. I vaguely remembered the story-line, but only just. So I thought I would read it quickly this weekend, so see whether it stacked up at 4 stars still.
And it did. Very easy to read, and still the only full length novel I have read by Gaiman, the story is clever and funny, the characters interesting and the writing easy to read. The story rolls out for the reader - it is no deep thinking novel, but an enjoyable urban fantasy story.
Set in London Below, making use of the London Underground tube stations for inspiration and settings, and riddled with historical tie-ins, mythology and . The main protagonist characters are a mixed bag who join together to complete a quest, aided by peripheral characters, and hindered mainly by masterful assassins Mr. Croup and Mr Vandemar.
There are many reviews which will set out the plot, so I will leave it here, with a few quotes I enjoyed.
“There are four simple ways for the observant to tell Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar apart: first, Mr. Vandemar is two and a half heads taller than Mr. Croup; second, Mr. Croup has eyes of a faded china blue, while Mr. Vandemar's eyes are brown; third, while Mr. Vandemar fashioned the rings he wears on his right hand out of the skulls of four ravens, Mr. Croup has no obvious jewelery; fourth, Mr. Croup likes words, while Mr. Vandemar is always hungry. Also, they look nothing at all alike.”“I'm not scared of falling,' he told himself. ‘The bit I'm scared of is the bit where you stop falling, and start being dead.”“Sir. Might I with due respect remind you that Mister Vandemar and myself burned down the City of Troy? We brought the Black Plague to Flanders. We have assassinated a dozen kings, five popes, half a hundred heroes and two accredited gods. Our last commission before this was the torturing to death of an entire monastery in sixteenth-century Tuscany. We are utterly professional.
I know, 5-stars. That's how good I thought this freakin' book was. Gaiman never ceases to amaze me. Never have I seen such a seamless ability to fuse the real-world and the fantasy-world together. When you can write a 370-page book about the sewers of London, where a protagonist learns to communicate with rats and ultimately becomes a figurehead of ‘London Below' through a series of amazing mishaps; including instances with angels, two assassins who house similar traits to a fox and hound respectively, floating marketplaces, and an existential crisis where one is burdened by visions of people who are actually himself made manifest by the dark powers of the Blackfriars...well, there's something unique and imaginatively superb about it. This is the third Gaiman book I've read and for me this is up there with the prestigious American Gods. Perhaps not as complex in nature as American Gods but equally as magical, mysterious and flat-out bewildering - Neverwhere is a book I'll definitely pick up one day many years into the future. I'll flick the pages, I'll smile, and I'll remember why the world we see isn't the only world that's out there.
Gaiman is an amazing author and everyone should just read this book because I have absolutely no words to describe how wonderful it is.
I liked this book, the concept of a London Above and a London Below was brilliant, and really well written. I felt that despite the great concept and the good writing, that the plot lacked something enough for me to give it five stars. I would recommend it, Gaiman's writing style is certainly special.
There's London Above―that's where you lived―and then there's London Below―the Underside―inhabited by the people who fell through the cracks in the world.This is my first Neil Gaiman book, and I doted on it. All the time I kept thinking, “This is so fascinating. Bloody hell, all this while everyone's been hounding me to read Gay Man's books and I just didn't listen!”Reminiscent of [b:King Rat 68498 King Rat China Miéville http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312030792s/68498.jpg 1870961], I was intrigued by the idea of Neverwhere, even though I've never been to London. Reading the book, you just know that Neil Gaiman's is a British bloke. It was incredibly absurd and gloriously strange. I loved the very ordinary Richard Mayhew and even Door, but I've got a special place in my heart for The Marquis De Carabas and his not so charming ways. The only ones I didn't like were Croup and Vandemar. Also, I never would've guessed that the Angel Islington was behind it all along. That shocked me. Anesthesia and Hunter broke my heart. I even found that bit about the sewer canals gripping (not dripping. I hope you don't see what I did there, it's lame.) Neverwhere's pulled off what [a:Clive Barker 10366 Clive Barker http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1200469782p2/10366.jpg]'s [b:Imajica 567704 Imajica Clive Barker http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333844729s/567704.jpg 1371342] couldn't. I loved Neverwhere more than [b:Coraline 17061 Coraline Neil Gaiman http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327871014s/17061.jpg 2834844], which is generally thought as rotten judgement on my part by everyone. I'll admit that it could've turned out into a cornball dark fantasy at it's tawdriest if it wasn't for the decent writing and the impressive story.
I began this book while sitting in a jury waiting room after having been called to take part in jury selection (just doing my duty), and was swept away by the story of Richard, Door, and the rest of the under-Londoners.
Mr. Gaiman himself handled the reading of the audiobook, calling it “the author's preferred text” so I have no idea if that means unabridged, added-on to, or whatever. Not that I minded, his characterizations were wonderful. The mystery of who was pulling the strings played out beautifully as I was unable to guess which characters were involved in which things until the end. I wish I could be more descriptive, but I don't want to spoil anything.
On the whole, another great story from Mr. Gaiman.
Full review at http://bookwi.se/neverwhere-by-neil-gaiman/
Short review: Gaiman is a wonderful author. This is the story of an regular guy that falls through the cracks of London into London Below, where everything and everyone that doesn't quite fit or isn't really wanted ends up in London Below.
This is a quest book. And like most quest books, there is some treachery and things are not really what they seem. But it is good, the characters are well developed and memorable.
I found this book at Goodwill a while ago. But I haven't read it yet,so hopefully it'll be good.
1/2/10
Wasnt good. I only read parts. Ack.
This is an entertaining novel. It's your basic Gaiman - fascinating world with fantastic imagery, creepy villains, fast-paced plotting and a fair amount of chuckles. It's worth reading if you like dark-ish alternate reality fantasy.
I love Neil Gaiman. This is the second book I've read by him (Stardust was the other). I saw the movie MirrorMask and loved it. Gaiman's tone is clever and funny; when you read his books you feel like he is sitting there telling you a story, rather than you reading a book (especially so with Stardust, where the characters are more archetypal). His descriptions are precise, accurate, and oftentimes hilarious because he doesn't give any of his characters a break.
If you like Doctor Who or Monty Python, this is a book for you. If you write fiction that takes any hint whatsoever from fairy tales, mythology, or legends, Gaiman is an excellent example to read to get a feel for what other writers are doing. (Another good example would be Marquez, but I'll save that for when I review Of Love and Other Demons.) Gaiman, to me, is what I imagine the Grimm Brothers were to their contemporaries. All three men take inspiration from life, make the most mundane or horrible facts fantastical, and demand in the nicest way possible that you get something out of the story by the end. I highly suggest reading the author note at the end to really drive this point home.
Originally posted at http://worderella.com/2008/05/book-neverwhere/
