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Summary: How I fell in love with Mister Croup and Mister Vandemar
Review: There's a bit of the bogeyman in Mister Neil Gaiman. He likes to play, not by just scaring us a little, but making a bit of mockery along the way. In Neverwhere, he succeeds perfectly. Richard, our Everyday Everyman, slips into the world of The Lost, where time bends and memories flutter and whirl about with a life of their own. This neverwhere of the title is London Below, a kind of fairy-tale-land inhabited by all sorts of people, places, and things, and believe me, they are the antithesis of our everyday hero.But what does a man do when he is wandering (running too) around in the shadows, fighting not only for his sanity, but his life? Well, for starters, he hopes he does not meet Mister Croup and Mister Vandermar. I fell in love with these two horrible hitmen. After all, they were so polite, so English, so dedicated to their work. I wanted to sit down and have tea with them, though I imagine, sitting down with them would mean having my hands and feet tied, and my tea, ever so sweetly mixed with some mysterious and slow, slow-killing poison. Well, they are a loveable twosome in some nice sort of twisted way. Richard fights the good fight and yes, well, I won't spoil the end. Let's just say, the fairy-tale-land London Below is a lot more fun than the London Above and this is where our Mister Gaiman really says something important about our modern lives. He understands why I, a plain Jane from the Nowhere, could fall in love with Mister Croup and Mister Vandermar, and why Neverwhere seems so terribly inviting to me. I want to lose myself among The Lost, too! This is a wonderful, fantastical novel that speaks to the resistence in all of us who feel we are stuck in a modern wasteland of consumerism and pop culture icons. [Where are Croup and Vandermar when you really need them? Hopefully, they are now working in New York and Hollywood.] Tea anyone?
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Summary: 20,000 Leagues under the City
Review: Although I expected this book to be a devolved version of Gaiman's marvellous "Sandman" world, I was delighted to find a completely different story. All the Gaiman hallmarks were there - elaborate but satisfyingly logical mythology, flashes of hilarity, voracious evil and stumbling, frightened good - but the secrets of London Below were thrilling and almost always unexpected. The bad guys were gruesome, the good guys self-interested, and the division engrossingly unclear. Richard Mayhew, the Everyman and our guide to London below, was far less irritating than his role would suggest, and Gaiman managed to avoid the trap of having the locals explain everything to the reader through Richard, though sometimes only barely. The few times that Gaiman's vision faltered were, unfortunately, very obvious, and these few clunky moments tended to occur at moments that should have been climactic rather than annoying. Gaiman's fantastical London and its ragtag denizens are the real attraction of this book, and the occasionally laboured plot is a small price to pay for the visit.
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Summary: Want to be a Writer - Read this Book
Review: Neverwhere is a kind of fun and fantastic adventure through a London we've never seen. It's the London Below, where those who've slipped through the cracks end up, and one man's (he from the "normal" world) journey as he winds up in this world. And despite all the enjoyment with the characters and the wonderful story that takes us everywhere, it's Gaiman's own enjoyment which comes through the pages. One impression I get as a read this book was Neil Gaiman every now and again sitting back while at his computer and laughing at some small element of story or wording or character that came out and how fun it was. Example - while walking through some rather thick London fog, the main character coughs, and says, "Sorry, fog in my throat." Short, funny, and fun. A nice pun that I think had Gaiman laugh for a moment. I think he had a blast writing this book. And those who want to write will love this book. It's inspirational in that it reintroduces you to having fun with the craft of storytelling. Fun with your characters as they surprise you, fun with your setting as you see where it takes you, and fun with your story as you see what happens next. Reading this instantly made me want to run off and write my own stories, merely for the sheer fun of it. Merely to have as much fun as Neil Gaiman seemed to have had with this.
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Summary: Different
Review: This book provides it's reader a great deal of unusual characters and scenarios like in "Alice in wonderland", only not that cute. Neil Gaiman creates an unreal world beneath our real world and does it keeping balance, in the story, between both of them that gives the author so many possibilities to write a story in wich the reader can not guess what's gonna happen as he turns the pages of this incredible book.
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Summary: Fiction or Reality?
Review: This book, in my opinion, is one of the best books I have read that has ever come close to sounding as if it were actually based on a real person's experience. I thought that this book was written very well, and I especially liked the parts that told of the main character's experiences underground. Ever since I finished reading this book, I began to wonder if, somewhere, maybe an underground world truly does exist. :)
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Summary: A wonderful tale of losing and finding oneself
Review: Neverwhere is another masterpiece by Neil Gaiman, who takes the reader and shows him just how deep down the rabbit hole goes. For the main character, Richard Mayhew, his trip to London Under is a confusing and harrowing journey that nearly ends his life on a matter of occasions, but for the reader it is a magical journey that explains those little things that we just catch in the corner of our eyes on dark nights. This book has it all: humor, drama, comedy and even some horror. Throw in the villian and some betrayals and you have a rollercoaster of a good time. Highly recommended!
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Summary: Alice in Neverware
Review: As many reviews have said, this is a modern day Alice in Wonderland with a darker side. Gaiman's graphic novel backround really shine in this comicbook-esq fairytale. I was captured very early into this novel but the unique, cartoonish characters and setting. This tale never lets up as it propels you down into a dream world and holds you tight until it spits you out into the unexpected ending. This is the type of book that makes remember why you loved those bedtime stories as a kid. If done respectfully, this would translate into one heck of a movie. I am very much looking forward to reading Gaiman's other novels.
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Summary: A must read!
Review: Gaiman has created a world in London Below that is as fascinating as it is believable. Even the secondary characters are well defined and interesting, which is unusual in fantasy fiction. The main character of Richard is thrust from his ordinary life into the world of London Below by a simple act of human kindness. After a rough start, he handles the challenges a lot better than most people might. Without giving too much away, I can guarantee that you will never look at London in the same way ever again! Knightsbridge and Earls Court especially. <VBG> This book is destined to be a classic, and well worth reading two or more times in order to savor all of the details! I highly recommend this book to anyone searching for a good read with an absorbing plot, interesting characters and superior writing! Gaiman is one of my favorite writers!
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Summary: A Tale of Two Londons
Review: When Richard Mayhew stumbles upon a bedraggled young girl and saves her life, his own life changes and certainly not for the better. Soon after the appropriately named girl Door disappears, Richard finds reality as he knows it disintegrating. Neverwhere poses an intriguing question: suppose you're yanked from your life and flung into another--a darker, more malevolent, but ultimately more lively life. Given the opportunity to return to the safety of your former life, would you want to?
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Summary: A Dream...
Review: This book is truly an amazing and wonderful thing - and idea - a dream masterfully put into words so captivating that one can't but help looking at reality differently after reading it. Gaiman has acomplished what is almost impossible to do with the english language's almost meaningless words: he has taken a dream and written it so that others may live it too. Definetly not a book to pass up.
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