Rating: 
Summary: Neverwhere reminiscent of Crowley's Little, Big
Review: I first heard of Neil Gaiman in 1989, when I picked up issue #6 of Sandman. Sandman(and his Miracleman stint)turned me into enough of a Neil Gaiman fan that I started looking for his other efforts. I read Good Omens and was briefly diverted and I read the Goldfish thingie and was genuinely charmed. So I was thrilled to discover Neverwhere, his first solo novel. I found it very readable, while not what I would call original. The character of Richard Mayhew was too much like Arthur Dent from Hitchhiker's, and, like someone else here observed, the plot was a bit derivative. While reading the first chapters, I couldn't help but think of another novel dealing with alternate worlds, John Crowley's Little, Big. In Little, Big, the doors into this other world(the realm of faerie), can be opened by members of a certain family. In Neverwhere, Door's family does much the same thing, moving back and forth between the two worlds. The title of the book, Neverwhere, echoes what Crowley's characters call Faerie--"elsewhere." Architecture plays a major part in Neverwhere, though not as much it does in Little, Big, but still, in both books it's the means of traveling back and forth between the two worlds. Crowley's book is much deeper, though, much more dense. I'm not accusing Gaiman of stealing ideas--maybe he's never even heard of John Crowley. I'm just sharing with the group what this book reminded me of--in a good way. I like Little, Big, I like Neverwhere. I'm glad that Gaiman has written his first solo--maybe with a little more practice, he can put out something that can hold a candle to what he accomplished with Sandman.
Rating: 
Summary: "Neverwhere" worth the trip
Review: There's a certain kind of story that I'm a sucker for, the story of average people with average lives getting sucked into a world of magic and the supernatural. Its the subject of many bad movies on cable tv late at night, but when its done well it can't be beat for entertainment value.
Neil Gaiman has been a favorite of mine since I discovered "The Sandman" several years ago, so I jumped at this novel as soon as I saw it. The premise of this book is not terribly original, it combines elements of Tim Powers' "The Anubis Gates", Christopher Fowler's "Roofworld" and many a classic quest novel (there are repeated references to "The Wizard of Oz" among other things), but the execution is deeply satisfying.
Gaiman makes it seem so effortless, its not until you've finished the book that you realize what a great story he has pulled off. I particularly liked the concept of Earl's Court as a travelling subway car, invisible to the up-worlders going about their business on the same train.
But what really makes this novel work is the characters, the hapless hero Richard, young Door, the mysterious marquis and Hunter, and two of the most unforgettable villains you will ever meet. I cared what happened to them all. I hope Gaiman will return to this world in future novels, as Robert Holdstock did with "Mythago Wood" (also highly recommended).
Rating:
Summary: A nice counterweight to the average summer-light fare
Review: I truly enjoyed this book, both for its form and its substance. I had never heard of Gaiman, but picked up the book while browsing at a local
bookseller. (Publishers take note - its prominent placement at the store and its attractive cover caused me to pick the book up and read the first few pages. Intriqued, I purchased the book.)
The idea of a dark underworld co-existing with our own - yet generally invisible to the casual or well-heeled inhabitant of this world- works on a couple of lvels. It works as a literary device which allows us to examine the dark side of our own existence, yet without being challenged directly. It also works as a statement, albeit understated and perhaps unintended, of the real subterranean existence of many of us.
(As a native New Yorker, there is a relatively large group of people living in abandoned subway tunnels, etc. who generally pass through this life either unobserved or ignored by us mere commuters) Although, many have compared Gaiman's work to Douglas Adams. I thought a comparison could be made to Jack Finney, author of Time and Again and other novels (I believe he also did Night of the Living Dead) and stories which involved time and space. If you liked Gaiman - I think you would like Finney. Finally, after reading this book, I "surfed the net" and discovered that this had been a t.v. serial. I saw pictures of the cast. It was not what I had imagined when I read the book and created my own mental images of the characters. I wonder whether or how my impressions of the book would have changed if I had these visions implanted for me (as happened with Hitchhikers Guide).
Rating:
Summary: fantastic
Review: this book was great-a real pager turner !! i must admit i was sad when I got to the last page-but seeing that Neil kinda left it open at the end it makes you yearn for a "sequel"...this would make a great movie...if not too "glamourized" by Hollywood!!
i have never read any of his stuff before and being a Clive fan, i admit his review MADE me buy it after i read the intrigueing cover. excellent book you wouldn't be disappointed !!
Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary journey through the looking glass of London
Review: I first heard of this book via a review in USA Today. Hopping from there to the Avon Books website, I read an excerpt and was instantly hooked. And so, although I had never heard of Neil Gaiman before, I did what I haven't done in years -- I went out and bought a brand-new, full-price hardcover book. I read in in 2 sittings, then turned it over and started from page 1 again, something I've never done before. Gaiman has created an extraordinarily rich world, a tapestry of in-jokes and interesting subtext which weaves its way into the depths of the readers collective unconcious. And in Gaiman's character of Richard Mayhew, the perfect "Everyman", we are allowed to become part of that tapestry. How many of us have dreamed of places that don't exist but are, in our dreams, very real parts of places we've known all of our lives? Mayhew finds one of these places, and takes us with him on his journey through it. And when he comes out the other side, it is not only Mayhew that has changed, but also us. We are now quite sure that Neverwhere exists in every subway tunnel, dark-alley doorway and underground sewer pipe, and that street urchins and homeless people can be transformed into nobility if looked at in just the right light
Rating:
Summary: Great book, must-read for Gaiman fans.
Review: Reading this book made me hunger for more fiction from Gaiman. His characters are flawed and uncertain of themselves, his sense of dramatic unreality in the scenery is hypnotizing and even the antagonists, though evil and thoroughly despicable, are very enjoyable. Sometimes we all catch a glimpse of a shadow from the corner of our eyes and when we turn, it is gone. Makes you wonder if the story is truly fiction..
Rating:
Summary: American Version Vs. British Version
Review: Having read both of them now (and having noticed some of the comments here, some people reviewing one of the books, some people reviewing the other) I just wanted to say that the Avon (US) version of NEVERWHERE and the BBC (British) version are more or less two completely different books.
The American one is darker, better written, and moves differently. It really accentuates the city of London as a main character, while delving deeper into the minds and histories of the characters. The English one feels more like Douglas Adams, the American one feels more like Clive Barker.
So I'd give the US version a 10, and the British one an 8
Rating:
Summary: Completely mesmerizing
Review: This is the first material by Neil Gaiman I've read, a situation I must rectify immediately if this book is an true example of his work. I found the world created by Gaiman to be fascinating, horrorifying, comic, violent, bittersweet and just a little too realistic. It takes very little to believe such a fantastic world exists and Gaiman is masterful at sucking you into it completely. The characters are fascinating and all too human (even when they're not) and the entire plot line gripping. I literally couldn't put this book down and I immediately wanted to read further adventures of Mayhew and Door and their many colorful associates. This is not for sci-fi/fantasy fans only. Neverwhere takes you places you've never been, even though you've been there often. Great book! Steve Isenhowe
Rating:
Summary: Quick read, interesting, but pretty much the TV series
Review: I was able to pick up this book in London along with the video which I watched first. It's not totally an original idea; we've seen these underground societies before in Marvel's "X-Men" and TV's "Beauty & the Beast". And the everyman viewpoint we get in the character of Richard Mayhew is not so distant from that of B&TB's Catherine or TMNT's April or even SW's Luke Skywalker. What makes this combination fantasy and adventure unique in my experience is the manner in which Gaiman draws upon the names of the London Underground stations to inspire as well as create his setting. Down Street, for example, goes down; Blackfriars is inhabited by an order of dark-skinned monks. It makes the reader want to join in and speculate what might be found at Queens Park or Oxford Circus. Once we are drawn into this underground world where people from above, pockets of time, or even environmental phenonena such as the peasoup fog have fallen, we are drawn into the efforts of Richard to help the lady Door escape the two time-travelling assassins stalking her and aid her quest to discover who ordered the murder of her family and why. The characters of Richard, Door, Hunter, the Marquis de Carabas are all fully realized as are the minor characters of Old Baily, Hammersmith, and Serpentine. Even the villains of the piece seem to have a life of their own. The book sticks pretty much to the TV series, adding very little, avoiding the padding that is often found in novelizations of work designed for other media. And like the series, the novel does set up further adventures for Door and Richard with other worlds like Shepherd's Bush to explore and other characters such as Olympia, Raven, and the Baron to meet
Rating:
Summary: An alternate face of Neil Gaiman
Review: It seems that there are at least two Neil Gaimans wandering around in the world. The Gaiman who wrote the Sandman series (among other graphic novels) - a dark, philisophical, and profoundly detailed version - and the Gaiman who writes books in a manor that causes a constant ring of Douglas Adams and Oscar Wilde.
Not that this is a bad book in any way. It is entertaining, interesting, and generally great fun to read. Still, it's not the Neil Gaiman that Sandman alumni may expect; it is as if escaping to a pure text medium lifts his spirits.
The story - a average (or slightly below) man falls between the cracks to London Below and has adventures - is fun to read. The main character is easy to identify with, especially for anyone who has ever been completely out of their element. Still, the ending was far too "made for television"; I predicted it chapters ahead of time.
Not a 10, but definately worthwhile.
|
