Neverwhere

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Summary: I Love The Way This Author Thinks!
Review: Neverwhere was my first Gaiman read. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Richard Mayhew transform from somewhat of a slug in the early chapters, into a hero. Gaiman's imagination is boundless. The manner in which he described 'below London' was unique and written with abandon. There were surprises around every corner. His villains were truly vile, and his heroes were truly heroic. Although some of the characters kept you guessing as to whose side they were on, ultimately this is a good-versus-evil story. Previous reviewers have given you the gist of the story. I'd just like to say I feel I've discovered a diamond in Gaiman. He's now one of my favorite writers. I'm reading STARDUST next.

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Summary: Neverwhere wish i was there
Review: Neil Gaiman takes a to a world of incredible imagination with his book Neverwhere. I am blown away by his concepts and character ideas. I completely fell in love with characters such as the marquis de carbas and hunter. The evil characters are so well put together that you find yourself gripping the pages when you read their names. I was completely taken away by this book and its concept and story. I think neil gaiman must be a real genius to think of the things and write the story he did. Amazing.

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Summary: Great fun.
Review: A really fun book to read, exactly as it should be and completely compelling and spellbinding, with none of the credibility gaps this kind of story is prey to. Just great fun!

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Summary: "Neverwhere": an anticlimactic novel
Review: "Neverwhere" is the first book I've read by Neil Gaiman. Now that I've finished it, I hope that his other books are a bit more captivating. I'd be interested to see.

While I *really* loved the opening of this book, I found that as it went on, I continually waited for a turning point -- that particular chapter where the reader stops picking it up just to turn pages, and instead picks it up because the plot has become interesting. I found Nail Gaiman's description very unique, and for that reason I enjoyed "Neverwhere", but I had trouble identifying with Richard Mayhew and Door, the two main characters. While well constructed, both seemed to fall flat, especially as the book went on.

The book was flooded with scenes (which, I might add, are usually jumped to and from, so that there are sometimes up to three scenes "occuring" at the same time. Few scenes last for more than five pages before jumping to another), but each followed a typical surreal-fantasy structure, making them contrived and at times, vapid. "Neverwhere" seemed more a novel of Gaiman's ideas -- perhaps dream sequences and scenes -- but even Gaiman seems hardly invested in his own characters.

In the end, I found "Neverwhere" to be anticlimactic and disappointing. Instead, I recommend "Sabriel", "Lirael", and "Abhorsen," by Garth Nix.

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Summary: Good, but definitely pre-"American Gods"
Review: I like Neil Gaiman. His writing is deft yet fluid, always flowing through descriptions like the water in the sewer tunnels he creates in "Neverwhere." The concept is very interesting -- homeless people all over the world aren't really as homeless as they may seem... they craft societies and have fiefdoms and lordships, and these little societies mysterious hold people who are as young as infants, and as old as the Roman legions. The ones that conquered Britain.

"Neverwhere" is a throughly enjoyable read. Mystery, adventure, and suspense all rolled into one, from the benevolent angel Islington to the almost comical Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar... who are also scary and extremely creepy. But "Neverwhere" doesn't flow quite as well as Gaiman's later novels, there are a few plotline hitches, occasionally the author seems to disbelieve himself what he's writing, and takes a bit before he goes back on track. But this is indeed an excellent book, and I highly recommend it. It's hard to put down, but not glued to your hand like "American Gods."

In summary, I recommend this book, like I recommend any Gaiman novel. Although it still goes into my library ranked below "American Gods."

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Summary: Nice premise, but a bit... boring?
Review: I'm having a great deal of trouble getting into this book. I've read massive novels such as Imajica which is perhaps similar to Neverwhere, and have thoroughly enjoyed them, but with Neverwhere... well, I'm just bored by the book. If you're looking for a fun read, then look elsewhere :)

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Summary: The Neil Gaiman Experience
Review: I'll try not to gush. I can babble on and on forever on how wonderfully AWESOME Neil Gaiman is, but I'll just let you read this book.

The plot, in a nutshell: Richard, a Londoner, is going out to eat with his high maintenence fiancee, Jessica, when he sees a wounded young girl on the sidewalk. Feeling pity, he skips dinner and takes her home. When he awakes, he is faced with strange predicaments involving hired assasins, a charismatic con man, angels, and, most importantly, an alternate world in the London underground. The adventure that follows is one of fantasy and beauty.

I loved this book. I never wanted it to end. For those of you who are Douglas Adams readers, Richard is a character who is actually quite comparable to that of Arthur Dent. As for the hired asassins, they bear more than just a little resemblance to the New Firm in Terry Pratchett's "The Truth". Door-the wounded girl-, the Marquis De Carabas (the con), and Islington (the angel) are so richly characterized that they are simply their own characters. The whole story is absolutely rife with imagination. You are drawn into the story so that you care very much about the characters, almost as if you were in the story yourself. When the characters are scared, you are scared. When they are happy, you are happy. When there was a shock, I gasped audibly. The only flaw in Gaiman's amazing story, is that the book itself is so wonderful that you are unsatisfied once you've finished it. To sum my review up: READ THIS BOOK! It is wonderful, and is really an experience unto itself.

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Summary: I don't usually like sci fi but...
Review: This one combines the historical novel, an urban planners vision of London, romance, and the sci fi genre. A life imagined underneath the London underground in modern Victorian times is really fun.

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Summary: engaging and fast-paced dark fantasy
Review: I just finished Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Both my friend and myself read through it at a ravenous pace, as the book is difficult to put down. For all its fairytale otherwordliness, this is no children's story. This deals with adult themes and situations.

The setting is London's underground tunnels and rooftops - an alternate reality that exists in the spaces inbetween. Richard, the main character, is an ordinary man who stops one day to help an injured girl and finds himself thrown in this alternate reality. No one from his previous ordinary life can see or hear him, and he is forced to deal with this new and confusing world. In this world, rats can speak and a raggedy earl holds court in abandoned subway stations. Here is where the book becomes an engaging fantasy in a dark milieu. Richard, not having other options, joins a quest to help the girl avenge her family and hopes someday to return to the surface.

Previously, I had only read Gaiman's graphic novels, and Gaiman can paint a picture with prose just as well as with colored inks. The settings and characters are lavishly drawn, and each scene is fully imaginable in three-dimensions. The connections between real London locations and the underworld add a touch of reality.

The book touches on the theme of homelessness, and "invisible people". The people of this alternate universe look like vagrants to ordinary Londoners, if they are seen at all. To most people, they are invisible. This is a metaphor for all the invisible people in our world. Gaiman even touches on the fact that service people can be invisible, as Richard greets the doorman of his office building for the first time after experiencing being invisible himself.

The setting reminded me of the documentary book, The Mole People, if it were taken one step further. Neverwhere poses the question whether the homeless man talking to himself is crazy, or is it just that we cannot see what he sees?

Rating:
Summary: Starts well, then ....
Review: Another of Gaiman's compelling works, I read this one years ago.

This one is simply written, follows another tale of a world that mirrors our own, yet, despite two genuinely scary characters and a shocker of a villain at the end, the hero failed to gain my complete sympathy. Without that, I just didn't care which world he chose at the end.