Neverwhere: A Novel
by Neil Gaiman
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Book Reviews of Neverwhere: A Novel
Book Review: Subterranean Samaritan
Summary: 5 Stars
Richard Mayhew, a quiet, rather mundane man, finds an injured young woman on a London street. She's reluctant to be helped, but he seeks to restore her to health anyway. The appearance of two mysterious men seeking her brings an immediate tension, little helped by the woman's apparent disappearance. When she re-emerges from wherever she'd hidden, it begins a string of amazing adventures. The young woman, "Door" seems to possess bizarre powers as she leads Richard into a new, wholly unanticipated realm - below the city's streets.
Although Door is on a quest that would place Richard, and herself, in grave danger, she leads him through this bizarre society. She's young, vulnerable and clearly frightened. It doesn't matter that she's from a respected family. They have all been slaughtered and Door's protectors are few. They aren't always effective, either. As a newcomer to this world, Richard is not placed to act as the fantasy hero. Gaiman paints him admirably, a terrified city man who yet manages the flash of courage and insight. More importantly, Richard Mayhew cares, and the novelty of that feeling in this environment proves strangely beneficial.
Gaiman's prose gifts, combined with a vivid imagination, have produced a sterling example of "modern" fantasy. What does lie below the congested streets of Britain's capital? Gaiman proposes a mix of ancient spirits and semi-human beings who have formed societies, alliances, meeting places and residences. There are those who communicate with the rats, a major population segment, as expected. The author creates an amazing melange of figures, including, even at these depths, an angel. Among the most important aspect of this realm is the Floating Market. Never fixed in time or place, the Market provides a location for exchanges of services as well as goods. The bustle and chaos of any large bazaar are present, as is an element of peace. When the Market is running, there is the Market Truce, protecting the innocent and malign alike. With many of Gaiman's characters bent on exterminating their fellows for a wide variety of reasons, this haven is essential.
This complex tale mixes elements of ancient legend, modern business dealings and some innovative aspects. The combination keeps the reader's attention firmly captured as you are led through a string of the unexpected. Friends betray and enemies become allies - before shifting back again. The true hero is a woman - a self-appointed guardian who expects no reward but acknowledgement of duty properly exercised. This is a fantasy land, but the telephone becomes a significant element. There is a background manipulator of events who remains enigmatic to the end. With all these aspects carefully depicted and developed, Neverwhere will remain a major work in the fantasy genre, while sustaining its unique qualities. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Book Review: What an odd tale
Summary: 3 Stars
I've been looking forward to reading this book for a while, but always found a reason not to pick it up at a bookstore. However, having been recently disappointed by a few book choices, I decided to mollify my mind with a sure thing - Neverwhere. After reading it though, I can honestly say that this was the oddest tale I have ever read. I liked parts of it, dislikes some parts, but overall I found it peculiar and difficult to evaluate objectively.
The story felt to me like an adult versions of The Harry Potter and The Golden Compass. The main difference being that Harry and Will (I'm picking male characters for comparison) were children and their colorful and frequently perilous adventures complemented their youthful and often naïve personas. Richard, on the other hand, is in his mid twenties, hence to all intents and purposes a man. This is further illustrated by the facts that he has already dealt with the pain of losing both parents and three years ago moved from a small Scottish town to London, where he rents a flat and has a steady job - all traits that can be attributed to what our society dictates is a grown man. However, after you learn more about his personality and examine his interactions with others, confusion sets in. Am I reading about an adolescent boy or a man? Why is Richard such an oblivious pushover? He is scared of everything including but not limited to heights, small spaces, his overbearing fiancé, and most especially being invisible. Interestingly enough, this is the situation he finds himself in after helping a strange young girl, Door. That small act of altruism, which is so atypical by today's norms, throws his world upside down and thrusts him headfirst into a secret world of London's underground. There he meets friends and enemies and embarks on a dangerous journey which will forever change his life.
Taken as a whole, Richard's big heart is the only redeeming quality in this otherwise unlikeable and wimpy young man. He does grow a semblance of a backbone close to the end, but throughout the story I just wanted to shake him and yell "Be A Man!" Even though Neil Gaiman's imagination is quite spectacular, I think the book lacked characterization. There is definitely something wrong when the only interesting characters in a story are the villains. Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, and to a lesser degree Marquis de Carabas, were the only vibrant individuals. The rest of the cast I found to be two-dimensional and completely boring. Consequently, the few times Richard doubted his sanity, I found myself hoping that he really is nuts and he'll soon wake up at a psychiatric hospital in a straitjacket. I enjoyed the clever use of foreshadowing and the overall mystery was well set up and executed, but the author failed to make me care for his protagonists, which is what usually draws me to Fantasy books.
Book Review: Great ideas that are not fully realized.
Summary: 3 Stars
Pros: A good story idea and lots of original, thought provoking ideas spread throughout the book.
Cons: The characters are mostly one-dimensional, the writing is mediocre, and the world is not as vivid as I would expect.
I had heard great things about Neil Gaiman and just occasionally this book seemed like it was going to live up to that reputation, but the bland characters and lifeless writing made it hard to appreciate either the great ideas or the unique world.
The idea of the dark, underground universe is a good one and throughout the book there are several other really interesting ideas, notably angels, labyrinths and markets. Parts of the book are really engaging and you begin to think that the story is going to pick up and be something great, but it never quite manages to do so.
Gaiman's writing style is generally very bland. Every now and then he will bust out with a great metaphor or a unique description, but mostly, his writing utterly fails to bring to life London Below. You can never quite visualize anything -- the sights, the smells, the sounds. One is merely left with the impression of location after location that is dark and shabby with little to differentiate between them. This, combined with the fact that he gives little background for his world means that the most interesting parts of the story are often when Richard is in the real world. There are tantalizing hints of the other London being connected with different periods of history, but even these are under-utilized.
Perhaps this would be excusable if the book had good characters, but for the most part it does not. The villains, Croup and Vandemar, are the only characters who are fully engaging and even then, this is not because of their complexity, but because their evilness is so refreshingly complete -- it extends from the truly horrific to the petty. Richard is decently characterized, but all of the other characters, particularly the female ones, are extremely one-dimensional. Gaiman seems to rely on dramatic reveals rather than slow and steady character development to give them personality, but by the end of the novel, I care so little about most of the characters that it doesn't matter what happens to them. The ending itself also felt a little cliché and predictable, as good as the story was for the rest of the book.
This book has a pretty good story and lots of really nice ideas, but it needs more attention to character development and more detailed, vivid writing. Perhaps Gaiman should stick to other forms of writing as this feels like it would have worked much better as a graphic novel or a screenplay where visual cues could give the audience a better understanding of the setting and the characters.
Book Review: Initially promising... but ultimately doesn't deliver
Summary: 3 Stars
I picked up Neverwhere after reading and enjoying Good Omens. I must say, though-after all the acclaim that Gaiman has received as a fantasy writer-that I expected a lot more.
Gaiman's London Below is an interesting and original setting for a novel. It isn't easy to create a new fantasy 'verse, and I particularly enjoyed the rules that governed London Below's interactions with London Above. Or the few rules that Gaiman bothered to explain to us, that is. It is ambitious. That's about as much as I can say for this novel.
The characterizations were nonexistent. Door doesn't even rise to the level of a cliche-that would require at least the shadow of a personality. She never manages to become more than just a few bland words in typeface. She had no voice. Instead she was so generic that I could never imagine what she might say next, yet was never actually surprised at anything she said or did. I still have no idea who she is or who Gaiman intended her to be as a character. I can only imagine that Gaiman meant her to come off as somewhat sympathetic, what with her tragic past and all, but she is so completely lacking in the human element that I was more irritated with her than anything for taking up so much hyper-generic screen time. And another character, Hunter, is a bland and stereotyped as her name. The protagonist himself is only marginally more realistic. I felt when reading this novel that I had no one to connect to, and I never began to care for the characters or their quest.
Gaiman's biggest failing is that he tried to do too much and spread himself too thin. In this case, less really would have been more. It would have been better if he had focused his energies on one or two well fleshed out protagonists, rather than create a menagerie of extraneous cardboard cut-outs. The same can be said of the world he created-it would have made for a more compelling novel if he had shown us perhaps a little less of London Below and focused instead on fleshing out that bit as much as possible. Instead the glimpses he shows us never really scratch the surface of his deep underground world. We are shown a market, or a bridge, or a train and then whisked away again to some other aspect of the underground without ever getting any understanding of the inner workings, or the culture, or the significance of that we've just seen.
All in all, I found this novel to be lacking and ultimately forgettable. I guess you can say that one of the positive sides of it is that it leaves a lot up to the readers' imagination, and a lot of readers seem to not mind or even enjoy that aspect of the novel. Still, in my opinion Neil Gaiman's vagueness hinders his attempt to build a believable fantasy world, or an adventure the reader can be drawn in to.
Book Review: A darkly compelling novel, inextricably linked to mythology
Summary: 5 Stars
Neil Gaiman writes another novel inextricably linked to mythology, where everyday-man, Richard Mayhew, is sent into a the fantastical and dark underworld of London, against his will. The only way back is to accompany Door, Hunter and the Marquis of Carabas on a strange and dangerous quest.
Richard, or Dick, is an everyman. He lives his life pulled along by an ambitious and dominating girlfriend, his life simply twisting and turning on the wind of fates. And so fate delivers him Door, a girl he finds sprawled on the pavement hurt and damaged. Instead of following his girlfriend he picks her up and cares for her. And that seals his fate. She is the daughter of Lord Portico of the London Beneath, and while he helps her to return, he finds he has become one of the London Beneath himself. Someone who people never notice, or just can't see. And if they do they forget about them immediately.
Now he has to find Door again and regain his place in London above, to do that he accompanies Door on her own quest to find out who killed her family and avenge them. Door is equipped with a singular skill, that is she can make any lock or door open for her. Whoever killed her family is now apparently trying to kill her. She needs help and the Marquis of Carabas is the only man who can help her. Mysterious and strange, the Marquis can only help her so much. He trades and lives on his wits - and he arranges that she should be protected by the best of the best, Hunter. Certainly following them are the utterly terrifying figures of Mr vandemar and Mr Croup.
Throughout the book the links with fairytales (Dick Whittington and the Marquis of Carabas etc) are interspersed with mythology (the mythology of 'Hunter'), with London history and present. Londoners I think will especially appreciate the history of the Underground in here and Christianity - the crucifixion and Angels.
There is black and bleak humour throughout, Mr Vandemar, Mr Croup and the Marquis of Carabas getting the best of them all. And while at times the story seems to have gaping holes in it, everything is carefully filled in at the end making it obvious that these are essential elements in the plot.
I found this an extremely clever novel and a page-turning read. Since I read his book Coraline, I have been absolutely hooked on Gaiman as an author. My top read of his works is American Gods, but I think this book comes a close second. It is full of allusion and allegory and it makes me want to re-read it again and again to pick up those clever little points. A novel you can really sit down and discuss with someone as well. I would recommend it for reading groups.