This will catch me up on my reviews of books read so far this year. Now maybe I can get back to actually reading.
Title: Neverwhere
Author: Neil Gaiman
Publication Date: 1996
Pages: 370
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
Count for Year: 24
Like probably many others out there, I had read Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s novel, Good Omens, which I absolutely loved. (My mother thought it might be an evil book and took it from a book sale to make sure no one else was corrupted by it. Luckily, I “saved” it from her.) My wife has read several of Gaiman’s books, including American Gods and Anansi Boys, both of which she loved, but this was my first book by Gaiman by himself.
Back in the days when we had cable or satellite (we still have TV, just rent what we want from Netflix), I remember a mini-series with the same title being shown on BBC America. Both my wife and I at the time thought it looked too weird to watch. Now reading the book, I regret having not given the mini-series (which I believe from what I’m reading came first) a chance.
“It starts with doors,” an old woman at the beginning of the novel tells Richard Mayhew, a London accountant after she gives him an umbrella with a map of the London Underground on it. From that lead-in, Gaiman creates a world beneath the streets of London that can’t be found on that particular map, at least as it exists today. This world is inhabited by rats and mice who speak, men who have lived hundreds of years and angels who have lived thousands of years. And, oh, Mayhew suddenly finds himself non-existent, or at least to the people above.
I don’t know if it just was the fact that I had read a ho-hum of a book right before I read this one or what, but it was like this book was a revelation to me. I felt like this is how fantasies are to be written, each page pulling you deeper and deeper into the fantasy until you don’t know how you’re going to get out, but you don’t care, because you don’t want to leave. For that reason, my…
Final analysis: 10/10, this was pure magic to me, from beginning to end. I won’t often give a 10 out of 10 to a book, but this one, I felt deserved it.
Others’ review of this book:
- Sarah @ Puss Reboots
- Katrina @ Katrina’s Reads
- raidergirl3 @ an adventure in reading
- eyeris @ Eye On Everything
- Bart @ Bart’s Bookshelf
- Stephanie @ Stephanie’s Confessions of a Book-a-holic
- Trish @ Trish’s Reading Nook
If you’ve reviewed this book, drop me an e-mail at justareadingfool [at] gmail [dot] com and I’ll link to your review too.
![WG Spock[5]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3199/3287415141_51d509b1af_m.jpg)
6 Comments
May 16, 2008 at 10:58 am
Wow. Dude. I’ve only read Good Omens as well, but I have American Gods coming in the mail. This kind of pumps me up for that.
May 25, 2008 at 12:25 am
[...] Stardust by Neil Gaiman since I already read Neverwhere. [...]
May 29, 2008 at 6:16 pm
[...] alone (I had read Good Omens, which he wrote with Terry Pratchett, of course) until I had read Neverwhere. My wife had read Anansi Boys and American Gods, and loved them both. With Neverwhere, I fell in [...]
July 19, 2008 at 12:02 am
This book was my first Neil Gaiman read too. I’ve since been an avid follower of his works, in all their formats, (movies, graphic novels). He actually wrote this book as a correction to the horrible BBC mini-series, I’m glad you ended up not watching the series. =) I would highly recommend American Gods next, or if you want a lighter read, Anansi Boys. Stardust is one of his more “girly” books.
October 20, 2008 at 5:23 pm
[...] Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman 10/10 [...]
December 14, 2008 at 12:55 pm
[...] I’ve read more Gaiman, with American Gods being my third book by him. The other two are Neverwhere, which was one of my favorites so far this year, and Stardust, which wasn’t as good as the [...]