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Neverwhere

Neverwhere

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Starts off well, but loses something
Review: The beginning of Gaiman's story had me hooked. I was intrigued with the idea of a mystical parallel existence, and became immediately interested in the female protagonist (Door) and her story. As soon as the story takes us into London Below, however, it became a bit choppy, losing its initial momentum.

The world of London Below is a somewhat interesting fantasy realm, where rats are intelligent and the origins of some of London's place names are revealed in a "punny" way (e.g. there really is an earl's court at Earls Court). Space itself seems to operate under different rules in London Below, making for some creative travels between the city rooftops and unimaginable depths. Within this world, a story unfolds that ranges between interesting and unbelievable, never quite engaging me completely, but never causing me to stop reading.

Many of the characters are quite interesting, Door, Croup and Vandemar, and de Carabas among them. Richard Mayhew, the male protagonist, is a bit of a disappointment though. As pointed out by other reviewers, his reactions to the extraordinary things that are happening to him are so low-key as to be unbelievable. Perhaps the author's intent was to show that a man living in the U.K. can be so beaten into conformity by society that he is incapable of reaction. But if this is the case, it makes Mayhew simply one more tongue-in-cheek aspect of Gaiman's London Below, and hardly a realistic main character.

All in all, I found Neverwhere "okay". Certainly not as well written as American Gods, which I would recommend you read instead. Either way, you might read this book to kill time, but keep your expectations in check.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nice, but not great
Review: This is the first book by Neil Gaiman I've read and frankly it was little disappointing. The biggest problem with the whole book (and I am reading American Gods right now and it is kind a like that in there as well) is the complete and utter lack of curiosity on behalf of the main character. A great deal of very curious things happend to him but he never asks why... and in the rare instances when he asks a question (no matter how important) the reader is only alerted that at some point the question has been asked and answered... but the answer is not given. I don't know why this is and after reading the book there are so many things that are left unanswered that it is frustrating.
Overall, I really didn't like the book, save for the writing style which is great. Right now, I am reading American Gods and it is a lot better (altough there is still the problem with the questions.) I guess Neil Gaiman just doesn't know a great deal of the worlds he creates so he just cannot give as enough info. I am sure that if I tell someone that they should not talk to someone they will imediatly ask me WHY. Not the case in this book. The main character will just nod and that's it. Utterly annoying.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Best of Gaiman since SANDMAN
Review: If you enjoyed Lord Morpheus' saga, NEVERWHERE is just for you. Dark, dangerous and utterly fantastic.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fast, exciting read for sci-fi and fantasy lovers
Review: This book was great! Gaiman's writing style lends itself to quick and easy reading pleasure. The story is interesting and compels you to continue reading. If you like gothic adventures then this book is for you.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: There *are* shepherds in Shepher's Bush . . .
Review: Richard Mayhew, a young Scot recently moved to London, was only doing what he thought was right when he picked up literally off the street, bruised and bloody and frightened, and took her home. But his good deed gets him sucked down into London Below, which is not a nice place. That's where people live who have fallen through the cracks of society, and some of them have been down there for centuries, moving through the sewers, living in abandoned Underground stations, doing business at the Floating Market, and generally being invisible to London Above. The girl, whose name is Door, is an Opener, like all her family -- but all of them, except Door, were killed by Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, as viciously evil a pair as you'll ever find Above or Below. Door is looking for an explanation, and maybe vengenance, with the assistance of Hunter, her bodyguard, and the thoroughly dodgy Marquis de Carabas, and with Richard (who finds he also has ceased to exist in the upper world) tagging along simply because he has no choice. Gaiman is a master of odd and very original characters and slightly off-center dialogue, and his prose is a delight to read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Hero with Yet a Another Face
Review: Of course, Neil Gaiman's first novel has been compared to "Alice in Wonderland" and his own Sandman comic series, but what this story most embodies is a Campbellian Hero's Mythic journey. This includes almost every element of Campbell's journey: a call to adventure, threshold crossing, the tests (complete with helpers), transfiguration, and return to the world. Gaiman's also touches on these themes in his later work "American Gods"(and probably better there than "Neverwhere") and I think, no one is writing mythological stories as good as Gaiman right now. Gaiman manages to write about these themes with a wry sense of humour that never detracts from the importance of the stories he tells. This novel gets 4 stars instead of 5 only because I read "American Gods" first and I'm rating them relative to each other.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Comings and goings in the shadows below our sated experience
Review: Imagine the movie "Nowhere" (directed by Gregg Araki, 1997) relocated from Huntington Beach to the platforms of the London underground. Now imagine the movie's characters and their partying concerns aged by ten years and the role of the alien taken over by a fallen angel. Keep in mind the movie's tightly framed close-ups, which force the viewer to see pulsing realities that lie just a shadow below our sated experience. Your result could be the novel "Neverwhere," which is less brash than the movie but more goth. Whether you find the movie or the novel more affecting depends on whether it's aliens or fallen angels that you avoid more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great book!
Review: Wow! This is one of the best books I've ever read! Once you start it you can't stop till you get to the end, and then you just want to read it again, and again, and again...
Imagine to your self London, and then imagine it's subway and then imagine a whole new world down there with different customs and people and even animals. And imagine one man who acidentlly gets into this world, this is what the book is about and everybody who loves fantasy should read it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Think the subway is scary?
Review: Neil Gaiman's NEVERWHERE is a thrilling look at what life might be like thriving under the streets of London. His hapless hero is stuck in a boring job, pushed around by a maneuvering girlfriend and well on his way to a do-nothing life when he makes a decision to help a homeless girl. Then, he's whooshed off into another, subterranean world.
It's a pretty nasty place, filled with ruthless criminals, dripping dirty water, sewer rats and all the rest. But it's also a world in which compassion and soul are worthy traits.
Gaiman does a lovely job of creating Dickensian characters, which further display the lackluster quality of current London life.
The ending is a tease, but still satisfying in its own way. NEVERWHERE is a wonderful prelude to Gaiman's better work, AMERICAN GODS.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Gaiman finds and claims a new rabbit hole
Review: Gaiman's Neverwhere is a new type of Wonderland adventure. Contemporary in both setting and attitude, the tale runs under the city of London, sometimes surfacing in its streets and buildings, in a most dangerous and dark way. Comparison with Alice and her adventures seems inevitable.

As with many protagonists in such stories, Richard Mayhew moves from the world he knows to one as alien as another planet, quite by accident. As Twain said, "No good deed goes unpunished." And Richard is severely punished when he loses identity and place. His only choice is to escape into the maze of this other world in hopes of finding himself and the world in which he was comfortable.

The characters are vivid and the reader either hates or loves them. With the exception of Richard. Considering what has happened to him, it is not surprising that he would let others control his actions. However, a more proactive character might strengthen our attachment to him. But he is neither hero nor anti-hero. The world Gaiman has created under the very feet of Londoners is fascinating, following its own rules of behavior and its own level of violence and revenge. There is magic there, both dark and light. A world in which we would only want to spend a short time.

Readers who enjoy this tale might also enjoy the bizarre horror novels of Chet Williamson, and of course, the Adventures in Wonderland.


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