Neverwhere: A Novel
by Neil Gaiman
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Book Reviews of Neverwhere: A Novel
Book Review: A Magical Journey
Summary: 5 Stars
Richard Mayhew was a young man in London. He had a rather ordinary life.....a job in securities, a fiancee that dragged him to lots of galleries, a rather plain little flat. Everything was remarkably ordinary. Until the night he found the girl lying on a sidewalk....bleeding. He was supposed to be having dinner with his fiance's boss, but the good Samaritan in him took over. He couldn't just leave this young girl. So against Jessica's wishes, he picked up the girl and took her home with him. And so began his troubles.....
The girl's name was Door, and she was an "Opener". She could open anything that was locked, open doors to anywhere, and travel to different places through them. And she was being hunted by a pair of assassins. Door's family was murdered and she was on the run, trying to not only stay alive, but find out why her family was killed. But because Richard helped her, his life was turned upside-down. He ceased to exist in London. People looked by him and didn't see him. His job was gone, his apartment rented to other people. He had become part of London Below....the part of London where people who have "fallen through the cracks" go. A magical place that is filled with murderers, beasts, hunters, and angels. A place where your friend can be your enemy and a favor owed is priceless. A place where people talk to rats and the darkness is deadly. And Richard has to navigate through the Underground to help Door in the hopes that he can get his old life back.
What more can I say than I loved this book!! Neil Gaiman is truly a master at what he does. And that is weaving a story. I don't seem to be able to write about him without gushing! Each page I read brought me one step closer to this magical world. The cast of characters was long, but truly unique. Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar were a couple of the scariest assassins ever to grace the pages of any novel. The Marquis de Carabas was arrogant and cunning....a shyster that traded favors, mostly to his own benefit. He was an enigma through most of the story and it was hard to see which team he was really playing for. The Angel Islington was beautiful and scary. And Richard. Richard grew up in this story and learned that he could do mighty things....for an ordinary kind of guy.
If you haven't read Neverwhere, I highly recommend it. It's funny, scary, fantastical and just an all-around exceptional read! It will probably go down as one of my favorite books!!
Book Review: Creative but lacking follow through
Summary: 4 Stars
Neil Gaiman presents one of those interesting worlds he says are in every person. Neverwhere is a charming novel with excellent prose and beautifully crafted characters. The protaginist's life is unremarkable until he rescues an injured homeless girl. The action thrusts him into a world apart from his own while somehow existing right along side it. People who have fallen through the cracks of society exist in a much more magical and barbaric world and Richard is suddenly one of them.
His co-workers don't recognize him. His fiance had forgotten him, but has the vague sensation she's met him before, somewhere. Richard goes with the girl on a quest that would leave any fantasy fan turning the pages frantically and yet still wanting to linger over each remarkable detail. The girl, Door, had a variety of evil creatures on her heels and interesting allies keeping her alive. Richard wants his life back.
The book was a quick read for me, because it wasn't something I was able to put down unless I had something pressing to do, but it does have its shortcomings. Gaimain has a vivid imagination that's brought down by a lack of follow through. He doesn't bother giving his world the solid rules that make other fantasy universes so fascinating. You're not really sure what Door is or why she had the powers she does. Not all people in Gaiman's underground world have her gift and it seems to be limited to her family, but then how do they marry out or in? The different societies in the world are barely touched upon and the details are vague, inconsistant, and sometimes conflicting with other information Richard has come across.
The book is good, worth reading, and probably worth owning, but Gaiman's flaws as a writer - leaving dangling strings and forgetting proper character motivation for some of his darker characters - seem perpetual. I'm not sure his books can ever completely satisfy simply because he doesn't deliver quite as far as he should. There's empty space in fantasy so that the reader can participate and make up their own details, but then there's empty space where the author has just failed to do his job. I'm no the sort who needs an ending with a ribbon tied around it, perfectly wrapped, but I do expect mor ethan what Gaiman offers.
Book Review: A fantastic tale in and about London below.
Summary: 4 Stars
This novel is a fictional story that combines fantasy and current days London to one compelling adventure that is both very interesting to read and at the same time provokes some thinking about life and whether that is all that it has to offer. This combination of fantasy and current world is somewhat similar to what can be found in Gaiman's other bestseller, "American Gods".
Without giving away to much from the storyline (as I advice reading this book without knowing what to expect), I can say that the main character, our hero, Richard Mayhew had an ordinary life in London until one decision he makes, a pure altruistic action that most people would pass on, exposes him to a new world that exist below London. Without being asked and against his will he is sucked into an adventure in which he learns about the invisible world below, and about himself.
I can divide my reading experience to two: the first and last thirds of the book were amazing. The ideas were new, the story had a great rhythm and I enjoyed it very much. Somewhere in the middle I did get a feeling that we're walking a kind of a classical storyline that can be found in many fantasy books in which one encounter leads to another in a somewhat purposeless way.
What I was really missing (again for the middle part of the book) are some connections to London above. I would want to observe and learn more about how the world co-exist, and I feel that this idea should have been explored some more. In addition, there are some events that leaves many open questions behind and I feel that some explanations would be interesting (even though I must add that in contrast to unanswered questions in an epic or trilogy, in this case these do not damage the enjoyment to much). Basically, I think that these two points hint to the fact that the world is not developed enough, or maybe just not described enough. A squeal is indeed in place here.
To sum up I can easily recommend this book to anyone, I enjoyed it more than "American Gods", and will surely grab the next one from Neil Gaiman. For really hardcore fantasy readers who likes complete worlds like the one you can find in the classics, do read, but come with an open mind.
Book Review: You know these people...
Summary: 3 Stars
Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere accomplishes two great things: a fantasy world that though you only get 369 pages to enjoy, stretches beyond your wildest imagination without borders. It's a universe that Gaiman could write VOLUMES about and barely scratch the surface. Every twist and turn makes you think twice about things you've always taken at face value ("Mind the Gap!"). In this world, names of streets, locations or events are literally what they are. Down Street goes... well, down. "Mind the Gap" is an order to, well, Mind the Gap - or else!
The downside with this infinite universe however is that it makes it very hard I imagine for an author to weave cohesion into a story. Gaiman seems to find himself creatively identifying new streets, locations, etc with every word, and rarely is able to peice it all together giving each of those glimpses some sort of unity. Toward the end of the book I found myself no longer savoring the details or trying to imagine what they must look like, and instead skim-reading to get to the action, which is unfortunate because it's so good!
The second thing Gaiman does here is create characters that you just don't want to stop following. Whether a main character that you get to watch grow and develop, or a small side character that appears for just a few pages, you're entranced and wanting to know more about them.
The downside is, like with the worldy descriptions you might sometimes wonder why he introduced that character and if their appearance meant something symbolic that you just can't get your head around. I found myself analyzing certain characters, that I could vividly picture thanks to Gaiman's detailed descriptions, wondering - what does this really mean? Who are they?! Where will they show up next? When they said that to that other character, what did it infer? Typically characters just happen in a novel and are somewhat face-value, but Gaiman has created an atmosphere with this book that makes your mind run on full steam and because of that, I think the reader might become side-lined and fall down rabbit holes of their own.
Book Review: I don't normally draft negative reviews, but...
Summary: 1 Stars
After two weeks I cannot stop thinking about how disappointed I was with "Neverwhere".
I am honestly mystified by how this book is so highly reviewed and popular.
I can understand two audiences enjoying this book: people who live in or around London, or children of the age 12 and under. If you live in London, of course it would probably be neat to read about a sort of Twilight Zone version of the various places in the city you've seen or traveled through. Charming, I suppose. If you're a child, then just about any fiction could be a magical journey, no matter how badly the plot is developed or how flimsy the characters are.
However, if you are an adult who has read any mainstream fantasy fiction authors, I strongly recommend you avoid this book. The characters have no depth, the parallel London universe has no real consistency or apparent framework or bounds to its magic. Characters will suddenly posses the power or ability to accomplish something, and then after that plot device is used, the power or ability is never explained or addressed again. Personally, and I think many other avid sci-fi & fantasy fans will agree, a fictional universe is much more satisfying when there seems to be some logic or rules that define how the magic works, and what is possible and what is not. This author does nothing to define the scope of his universe.
I never saw the original TV series so perhaps I don't have a bias that some of the more generous reviewers here have. I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I regret buying it.
I don't know exactly how I would classify this Gaiman book: fantasy adventure or parallel worlds or dark fantasy. I am not sure because the novel is just so marginal in each resepect. However, if you enjoy fantasy adventure, I recommend: Sara Douglass, R A Salvatore, Raymond E Feist, Patrick Rothfuss, Elizabeth Haydon.
If you like dark fantasy, or more gritty, grown up fantasy, I recommend: George R R Martin, Jacqueline Carey, Joe Abercrombie.
If you like any of the above authors' work, you probably will be disappointed with Gaiman's Neverwhere.