Neverwhere

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful dark fantasy
Review: Neverwhere was one of those books that really sticks in my mind. I don't think I'll ever forget its characters and images. At heart it's a standard fish-out-of-water-turned-hero story, but Gaiman's dark humor and incredible imagination make it far from formulaic. This is the best novel I've read in a long time.

I wasn't a Neil Gaiman fan; I picked up Neverwhere because the jacket copy caught my eye. I've now read everything by Gaiman I can get my hands on, and it's almost all terrific.

This book would be great for kids 12 and older. It's intended for adults, but I would have loved it at that age.

Rating:
Summary: A COOL BOOK!
Review: I really enjoyed this book! Neil Gaiman had such an imagination! Anyway, the characters are so individual, and yes, it is exactly what a twisted Alice in Wonderland would be like! It's strange that I have not read Neil Gaiman's other works. But this was the first good read I've had for a while.

Rating:
Summary: Wow...
Review: When I read the synopsis of this book, I thought it looked kinda dumb. Boy, was I wrong. This is seriously one of the best books I've ever read. Very fast-paced, and a new and exciting event around every corner. The characters are incredibly well-developed as well. The story itself is marvelous. When you first come across the idea of people living in the London sewer system, it sounds ridiculous, but Gaiman successfully brings it to life. Neverwhere has a perfect blend of fantasy, horror, humor, and philosophy - sure to satisfy just about anybody. One of the reasons I loved it so much was because he was so good at writing one paragraph that had me cracking up, and the next paragraph I was getting up and making sure all the doors were locked. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: owed a tremendous debt to Christopher Fowler
Review: Neil Gaiman, the renowned creator of The Sandman comic book, makes his solo novelist debut with this entertaining, though derivative, dark fantasy.

Richard Mayhew has come to London to make his way in the world. He works as a securities analyst & he's become engaged. He's a decent kind-hearted soul who never passes a beggar without digging out some change. Then one night on the way to dinner with his fiancee, the tatterdemalion who he stops to help turns out to be an injured young girl named Door. He takes her back to his apartment & shortly is visited by Mr. Croup & Mr. Vandemar, two vicious looking men in Victorian dress. He is unable to stop them from searching the apartment, but they do not find Door. When she comes out of hiding, she asks him to carry a message for her. He agrees & goes to fetch the mysterious marquis de Carabas, who takes Door away.

With these odd people out of his life, Richard tries to resume his life, but discovers that he has become a non-person. His bank card doesn't work, friends don't recognize him & many people don't even appear to see him. He sets out to try to find out what happened & ends up in London Below, a bizarre city that exists in some kind of parallel reality beneath the streets of the City. Finding Door and de Carabas, he joins them in a quest to destroy the Beast of London and find the angel Islington.

It seemed to me that Gaiman's story owed a tremendous debt to Christopher Fowler, but Fowler is largely unknown here & Gaiman's book made various best-of lists, so more power to him.

GRADE: B

Rating:
Summary: no underground travell will ever be the same again
Review: tube, u-bahn, metro or subway. they will never seem the same. neither will beggers, street music or anybody that 'fell through the cracks'. we all notice dark underground cabins and stops the train never pools into. Geiman uses them as a playground. the best book i have read for some time!!

Rating:
Summary: Well crafted Novel that delves into human-ness
Review: First off let me say that I gave this book 4 stars only because I believe that Lord of The Rings is the scale upon which all other fantasy novels should be weighed. This book came very close to 5 stars in my book. Mr. Gaiman is a master-storyteller, as evidenced in this book. The London subway system, the 'rarely seen' people who blend into the cracks because we choose not to see these people (the poor, outcast, homeless, etc.).

The book is full of interesting characters and an excellent twist at the end. I suspected certain things before I got the end of the novel but was pleasantly surprised by the way the author tweaked my mind.

If you are a lover of Fantasy and/or Science Fiction, this book comes highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: It's Neil Gaiman
Review: Very very nice book, with a very imaginative universe created. Sometimes it gives you the wish to go to London just to see the undergrounds.

Looks a lot with a comic series story, but hey, it's Neil Gaiman. :)

Rating:
Summary: i love this book!
Review: When i got to the end of this book, i didn't want it to be over. This is great storytelling at work, a mixture of fantasy and reality, horror and humor, that ought to convert anyone to gaiman fanship. I recommend this book to anyone brave enough to take the trip with Richard Mayhew through London Below, and experience this wonderful book. I have re-read it several times, and it is always with me.

Rating:
Summary: Visit a part of London you've never seen
Review: OK, so I've never been to London at all... but I don't think that matters. The world that Neil Gaiman has created is so vivid and teeming with exceptionally well-drawn characters that I never wanted the book to end.

In a way, it's like every other adventure story before it - "The Hobbit", "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", "Alice in Wonderland"... the protagonist's physical journey parallels some emotional or spiritual journey and is marked by an intense desire to go home -- to have things be the way they used to be. We know, of course, that that's never the case. A million stories have been written along these lines.

So, why is this one any different? Maybe it's the wry humor. Maybe it's the clever dialogue. Maybe it's the characters who are so outlandish, yet so real at the same time. Maybe it's the twists and turns. Or maybe it's the villains -- Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandermar -- a pair of baddies who are so perfect in every way. They are the villains you've always wanted to root against, and they say the most perfectly nasty things at exactly the right time. I found myself grinning often. And the story never slows. As soon as chapters ended, I wanted to start the next.

I can, without reservation, recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy or adventure stories. It's like a fairy tale for adults. One that I will undoubtedly return to again.

Rating:
Summary: Master at work
Review: Neil Gaiman got me hooked with his Sandman series. I'd say that he is one of today's most gifted writers. The way in which he creates a tale is amazing. Characters come to life like few other authors can do, and the atmospheres he creates are astounding.

Neverwhere is no different. Gaiman weaves a tale that mixes reality with fantasy, putting a fantasy world directly within the world of London and its underground. The story is written so well, that you start to wonder if maybe it's more true than we'd think. I had only one complaint about this book, it got over too soon. Gaiman's writing makes the time spent reading fly by.