Neverwhere

Rating:
Summary: as he loved the sound of all words
Review: This is, first and always, a book that is a damn fine read. You laugh, and you shudder, and you find yourself thinking, my god, he just used the word "fop," and then you finish, and it is good. And then, an hour, a day later you think--I want to go back, or just: I want to go. Gaiman's world is fullblown, richely hued and uniquely his, and I for one want it. Whenever I go back, which is about once a year, I find myself wondering, if I really was homeless, could I maybe disapear into this world of his? No author has ever made me crave to jump into his head and live forever there quite so much. This is a book to tell others about, to read big bits and little bits to friends, and certainly to read over and again. Fans of the DreamKing, read it like you've never known Neil, and those who've read Stardust, I'd like to introduce you to Missers Croup and Vandemar, to Door and Richard, the Marquis and Hunter, and to London, as your dreams have always know it to be.

Rating:
Summary: Well done but not as imaginative as some of his other work
Review: Neverwhere was a lot of fun, but not quite the masterpiece a lot of people seem to find it. Its premise of a fairy kingdom under the London streets is fairly standard fare for modern comic books, although apparently it caught some mainstream fiction readers by surprise. The characters are also all comic archetypes, but the whole thing is written very well. Gaiman really knows how to move a plot forward. Altogether, I'd say Stardust is a better book than Neverwhere, but this one does have the advantage of mass appeal. The Sandman books are still Gaiman's finest work, and I recommend them to anyone who enjoys Neverwhere. Don't be put off by the fact that they are "comic books", as the writing is as good if not better.

Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining book
Review: "Neverwhere" is set in a world like our own (perhaps our own) were a strange and fantastic underworld lies just beneath the one we are a part of. It is populated by those members of our society who were forgotten and fell through the cracks, those who were born there, and those who accidently came in contact with it and once touched by it could never be a part a our world again.

The hero of "Neverwhere" is the last. Once he stops to help an injured woman that his fiance is almost incapable of seeing he finds that no one knows him, no one remebers hims, and no one can even see him unless he purposefully gets their attention. Only others like himself even knows he exist.

It turns out the girl he saved is royalty in this otherworld and he's made himself a number of enemies because of it, so in addition to coping with his misfortune, he's swept up in a grand adventure in the shadows of our world and in the subways and the sewers.

"Neverwhere" has a sense of humor that is similar to "Good Omens" and somewhat like Douglas Adams style of Sciece Fiction comedy. But in "Neverwhere" the emphasis is on adventure. And the unique setting makes for a very intersting adventure. "Neverwhere" is easy to read and even though it isn't great literature, it is wel written, and it develops its plot and characters well.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Race Up the Stairs in Fear After Turning off the Light
Review: Croup and Vandemere still scare the daylights out of me! Not too cool when trying to maintain and insist to your 3 small children not to be afraid of the dark. If I think of those two, I'll run over myself trying to get up the stairs in the dark.

This book transported me in a way that hadn't happened since I was a child. (That book was Timothy Travels by Margaret Storey, excellent). I think Neil Gaiman is a genius.

Rating:
Summary: Harry Potter Grows Up
Review: This is my new favourite book. I have looked so long for a good fantasy book, and finally found it. At my high school, I am the president of a book club and have to read new books all the time, so rarely do I find a book good enough that I want to read it instead of having to. Gaiman's charachters are well developed and colourful. All I want is for him to write a sequel! Immediately this book grabbed my attention and kept me sucked in. I read it in hours, I couldn't put it down. And when I finished, I read it again! Anyone who is reading Harry Potter but looking for a more adult book, read Neverwhere.

Rating:
Summary: A simply amazing work of art
Review: There is only one word I can use to describe this book: AMAZING. Neil Gaiman has truly won me over with this book. Not only is it beautifully written, but it will keep your eyes glued to each page. It combines suspense, mystery, and a bit of fantasy to create a beautiful novel. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good read.

Rating:
Summary: a dark, lush tale of London below
Review: I read this book at the recommendation of a bookstore employee, and I am so glad I took her suggestion. Incredibly imaginative with wonderfully detailed elements, Neil Gaiman creates a whole world from the names associated with the London Underground. Having visited London in 1997 and ridden on the Underground many times, I recognized many of the place names Gaiman used to create his fantastic world of London Below.

Our reluctant hero, Richard Mayhew assists a young woman, Door, whom he find hurt on the street little knowing what is in store for him. His contact with the world of London Below sets in motion a series of events which changes Richard's life forever. First, the world of London Above (his world) suddenly refused to acknowledge his existence. No one recognizes him, they forget his name as soon as he introduces himself, his apartment is rented out, his desk is cleared away. Richard goes looking for Door for an explanation, and that is just the beginning of the adventure.

Three words only: Read this book!

Rating:
Summary: Emily 16, Arlington,VA
Review: The book Neverwhere, by Neil Gailman is a great book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes gory or science fiction books. I wouldn't recommend this book to any person who hates vulgar descriptions or people under intence pain. There are some pretty vivid parts of this book and they are not for everyone.

Neverwhere is about a man named Richard Mayhew, who lives in London, England. One day as he was going on a date with his fiance he stumbled across a girl, Door, that was hurt. He took Door to his apartment and helped her get well. After he had helped Door, he was strangely forgotton by everyone he knew, including his fiance. He could no longer live where he was so he talked to a beggar on the street about the girl he helped. The beggar than took him to another world which is called London Below. That is where the whole adventure is started.

The great part about this book is that something is always happening and you don't tale the time to understand it in the beginning you will never get it. Because this book is a slow read and very long I don't recommend it to someone who is impatient or on a real short deadline.

Another aspect of this book, and why it is so confusing at the beginning, is that it skips from character to character. At one minute you are reading about Richard and his adventures in London Below, the next minute you are reading about Door and her adventure somewhere totally different. Both of the adventures are happening simultaneously. This happens throughout the entire book and sometimes it skips between three or four characters. Although this is perplexing don't get distressed, you get the hang of keeping multiple stories of people in your head. All the characters meet and relate to the story so it isn't totally random. This shouldn't be a reason why you don't read the book because it keeps your mind from wandering and it really isn't that complicated.

I hope you like the book as much as I did. It is so highly acclaimed that you don't have to take my word for it. The author really captures the nature of the underground world snd it is hard to find a science fiction that relates to real life.

Rating:
Summary: Darkly Brilliant
Review: For those of us who are fans of Neil's earlier works, his unique combination of lyrical prose, gripping suspense, and wonderfully weird imagination is old news, but we never grow tired of reading it. Whenever I read a new short story of his, I rediscover what a strange and wonderful world this is. So when I began reading "Neverwhere," I was prepared, but I still got a shock. For any novel, it is first-rate. For a first novel, it is phenomenal.

The story centers around Richard Mayhew, a young man from London who stops to help a girl he finds bleeding in the street, and is drawn, against his will, into her world. London Below, a world of dark tunnels and strange people. At least, some of them are people. The girl is Door, who can open anything from a puzzle box to a blank wall, but can't unlock the mystery of who had her family killed, and why. Her companions are the Marquis de Carabas, who can get you anything you want in return for a favor, and Hunter, a predator among predators and an occasional bodyguard.

Back in our world, Richard is discovering that his ATM cards won't work, taxis won't stop for him, and unless he talks to someone directly, they won't even notice he's there, and if they do, their attention soon wanders and they forget that he's standing right in front of them. He has slipped into London Below, where the rats are kings, where the people who have fallen through the cracks of our world come, the lost and the forgotten. With Door, Hunter, and the Marquis, he embarks on a journey that will take him to places he's only seen in his nightmares.

From the first page to the last, this book held me so deeply in its thrall that I didn't leave my room for a day and a half, and then I ventured forth only for food, and I brought the book with me and read it at the table. "Neverwhere" was as far from what I expected it to be as "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is from "Curious George Goes To The Zoo." It has the temporary honor of being my favorite book (an often-changing position) and is sure to become a classic, not only in gothic fantasy, but in all literature.

Rating:
Summary: WTB: Editor
Review: The hook here is what got me: a vast underground (centered around the London Underground) composed of people and places that have "fallen through the cracks." I was more than willing to play along, but Gaiman's London Below does not seem to possess any internal rhyme or reason. The logic of who or what inhabits London Below seems to change depending on what new character or place pops into the author's head. There are allusions to Alice in Wonderland, Dante's Inferno, and Greek myth; some have even likened it to Adam's phenomenal Hitchhiker's trilogy, but to me, it plays as standard D&D fare: a quest composed of the one-dimensional archtypes fighter (Hunter), thief (marquis De Carabas), and elvin magician (Door) with a Willy Loman (Richard Mayhew) thrown in for good measure. In addition, there is some pretty heavy-handed foreshadowing and sloppy editing of the different sub-plots woven into the story that made me wince every once in a while. The first 100 pages could have been condensed into 10 by a decent editor, but from there, the story gets rolling along rather nicely as the reader's acceptance of Gaiman's world matches that of Richard - instead of questioning the next bizarre reality, you almost expect it. Though parts of Richard's character development are clichéd and predictable, it is paced nicely and believably. While I was not as taken with Gaiman's humor as other readers, he is a gifted storyteller nevertheless, as evidenced by the fact that I stayed up until 3am to finish the book despite its technical shortcomings. Overall, a great premise with some real promise, but I would have appreciated a tighter, more efficient package. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could, but it'll have to do with a 3 to balance out all those 5s out there. :)