The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Two stars feels unfair to this book, but since I like to stick to the Goodreads rating system and three stars is ‘I liked it', two stars it is. It didn't suck, let's stick with that.I certainly don't feel the book lived up to its amazing hype or time spent on a bestseller list, but I suspect it appeals to those who are either a) Gaiman fan legions, or b) people who don't usually spend time in the fantasy genre. Nothing wrong with either of those, except I am not either of those. Gaiman certainly is someone who can put words together in a sentence in a lovely way, though.On a completely superficial level it reminds me a lot of Jo Walton's [b:Among Others 8706185 Among Others Jo Walton https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317792367s/8706185.jpg 6449955] in that the fantasy aspects, while underlying the whole story, don't really penetrate the world in a tangible way. Yes, these things do happen to this kid, and yes they're supernatural, but he doesn't really remember. I suspect if this sort of Urban Fantasy was something I liked more, or if I were once a seven-year-old boy, I may have identified with this book in the same way I identified with Among Others.As it stands, it didn't suck. I don't think I'll pick up any more Gaiman though.