Neverwhere [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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This story is a really great tale of magic but for a mature audience. I completely identified with the hero's frustrations with regular life, and the snide comments about our society ring true.
For those just looking for a fun read this is no less of a treasure, think of this book as Alice In Wonderland if it had been written by Stephen King with Douglas Adams type humor.

I have loved this book for so long now. I would almost beg for a sequel. The characters perhaps the best developed of any Gaiman has done keep this story fresh even years after the publication. I recommend the story highly. A true orginal.

**Spoiler Alert!** If you plan on reading the book, do not continue reading this review. ... Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Richard Mayhew is just your everyday Average Joe who moved to London to procure a number-crunching job. He meets a girl and becomes engaged. Life seems to be great. However, Richard is an absent-minded person. He forgets his keys, loses track of time, etc... On the way to dinner with his fiancee (with a reservation he forgot to confirm), where he was supposed to impress her boss, Richard stops by a rag girl who is exhausted, frightened and hurt. Jessica (who is most definitely a woman who prefers her way or the highway) demands he leave her for someone else to take care of. And when he picks up the girl to take her home, Jessica (her name isn't Jess) threatens to end their engagement. Richard disregards her statement and takes the girl home to mend. Little did he know how bad life was about to get.

"Door" can open doorways without keys, can open doors where there are none. It was her ability that helped her escape her would-be assassins, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, and brought her to London Above. But Richard doesn't understand her meaning. No worries, reluctantly, he soon will. Her would-be assasssins manage to track her down, but Richard manages to get rid of them. With her face now plastered on Missing posters throughout the neighborhood, Door sends Richard for help and he brings back the Marquis de Carabas. As she leaves, she apologizes. Little does Richard know how deep that apology actually goes. For Richard's life, as he knows it, is now over. Jessica broke their engagement and refuses to see or talk to him. When he arrives at work, his possessions are removed from his desk. His flat is leased to another couple - while he's in the tub! Richard is gone. It's as if he never existed. He can be seen, but is immediately forgotten. Throwing some of his belongings into a duffle bag, he sets off to find Door, wanting answers, wanting his life back. There's only one way he figures he can find her. Start with the very place she'd sent him before for help.

And help he gets - from unlikely characters. For under London lies London Below, filled with shady characters, talking animals, tunnels, sewers, hidden passageways and a mysterious market that's never held in the same place twice. A market that provides, but people barter, and not with money. Money means nothing in London Below. For Richard, this isn't reality. He wants to go home.

Door is on her own quest. She wants to find her family's muderer. She wants to know why. And only the Angel Islington can help. But after finally finding him, she is sent on a quest to retrieve a certain key, and when she returns, he will tell her all she needs to know. Richard, reluctantly, is along for the ride, for afterwards, the promise is he'll be sent home and his life will be as it was.

But Door was warned; they have a traitor in their mists. The Hunter is hired to bodyguard her from the assassins who are after her. Richard deals with more than he bargained for. And just when they think they have the story right, how wrong they were.

An enjoyable read, it was an adventure. Places where people have no business being. Strange and shady characters, some you enjoy, some you dispise. A solid mystery that leaves you asking questions until you finally get the answers you seek. For me, it was missing just that little "oomph", that little "spark" to make the story completely believable. While I could picture a different world of London Below, I couldn't really picture some of the characters and what they did. I enjoyed the banter with Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar. And I felt, at heart, how Richard came to care for Door. Definitely an entertaining story to read.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Needs a 3.5 rating... 3 is too low, 4 is too high.
This book is a good read from a good author. It started very strong, but then seemed to lose steam a little bit. Read more

Published 13 months ago by killerwhaletank

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put this book down!
This is one of the best books that I have read in a long time. I first read "The Graveyard Book" and enjoyed it so much that I wanted to read another one of Neil Gaiman's books... Read more

Published 16 months ago by New Mommy

5.0 out of 5 stars All Aboard For London Below
With "Neverwhere", Neil Gaiman draws the reader into a wondrous and at the same time, terrifying alternate reality beneath the streets of modern London. Read more

Published 17 months ago by John M. Macphail

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating view of an unseen world!
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

But instead of talking scarecrows, munchkins and cities shimmering in green, Gaiman takes us on a well versed trip to a place that... Read more

Published 22 months ago by Ronald W. Maron

5.0 out of 5 stars Explore London Below
I first read this book a few years ago. I asked a friend, a manager of a bookstore, what her favourite books or authors were to expand upon my reading list. Read more

Published on May 5 2010 by Steven R. McEvoy

5.0 out of 5 stars very, very good
What to write? With 400+ reviews of this title I'm sure I have nothing new to add, but felt I needed to give my 5-star rating to this most enjoyable (in a most twisted way! Read more

Published on April 12 2010 by B. A. Scharf

5.0 out of 5 stars worth your while
Like so many protagonists before him, Neverwhere's Richard Mayhew tumbles down the rabbit hole into a bizarre realm, where the ordinary is extraordinary and the bizarre is... Read more

Published on Mar 29 2010 by Justin Mcintyre

1.0 out of 5 stars Not much more to say
What those who left ratings of 1 or 2 have said pretty much covers it. All I can contribute now are my feelings: The book started out badly and too unbelievably. Read more

Published on April 5 2009 by C. Edwards

1.0 out of 5 stars What was that???
Having been disappointed by many bestsellers in the past I read the first chapter before buying this one. Actually, I couldn't even get past the 1st paragraph... Read more

Published on April 1 2009 by Myrdek

4.0 out of 5 stars Dreamlike
Fun read for the middle of the night when you wake up and can't quite return to dreamland. Not a great read, but I did enjoy the fantasy.

Published on May 20 2008 by Steve Z. McCauley

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