Neverwhere

By Neil Gaiman

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Average Rating: (See all 5 reviews) Format: Paperback, 400 pages Published In: United States, March 1999 Other Editions: Paperback, USA $25.99 View Quantity Available: 2 24 hour shipping Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart -- and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed -- a dark subculture flourishing in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city -- a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known... From The Publisher: Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart -- and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed -- a dark subculture flourish in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city -- a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known...Richard Mayhew is a young businessman with a good heart and a dull job. When he stops one day to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk, his life is forever altered, for he finds himself propelled into an alternate reality that exists in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations below the city. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere. Publisher: Avon Books ISBN: 0380789019 EAN: 9780380789016 Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.52 x 2.64 centimeters (0.20 kg)

This is my first Gaiman novel and I can't say I'll be rushing out to read more. I found the conceptual devices and the setting of London Above and Below intriguing, but the tone of the book veered from self-consicous parody to earnest magic realism, for no clear reason. I could never quite work out whether the characters were meant to be interpreted as two-dimensional caricatures because that was how the main protaganist saw them, or whether it was a weakness of the writing. Having said that, I have found myself pondering scenes in the novel since reading it, so that's a good sign. Probably perfect for a long flight, where you want to slip quickly and easily into another world, without having to do too much mental work to get there, but you want something with a bit more depth than the latest door-stopper spy novel.

After watching Star Dust, I decided to investigate this author, and bought ' Neverwhere'. Unfortunately, I think it was an odd book, not one I would recommend to anyone. There wasn't enough depth to explain the underworld and it was frustrating to follow the lead character as he blundered his way around, never asking questions, nor acting like a normal person!

Neil Gaiman's grasp of creating strange worlds within worlds is alluring and the characters in this book are very interesting. However, I didn't click with it as much as American Gods. At times I wondered where it was going and others I simply lost interest in the fate of the main character, distracted as I was by stronger supporting characters. Scintillating, romantic and imaginative, Neverwhere is strongly recommended for all Gaiman fans, genre fans and curious readers.

I highly recommend this book, it's definitely my all time favourite, lots of little twists and turns, if you like Gaiman there's no doubt you will love this book!

WOW! I really really enjoyed this one! Coraline was excellent, but it is still a children's book after all. Neverwhere was a great book for the older audience and I was sucked in right from the start. I loved the concepts of London above and London below and Neil Gaiman does an amazing job describing a familiar city but creating such an original vision of it. At times, I was reminded of The Magic Faraway Tree - okay, I know, a totally weird connection, but Richard experiencing London below reminded me of the kids exploring the various lands, albeit in a much more sinister setting. I was waiting for Richard to explode with some kind of super power, I mean, there is a reason why he could see Door, right? Although he didn't blossom like I thought he would, I enjoyed reading about his journey and his encounters with the various characters. This is a fantastic book and now I can't wait till I get my hands on the other novels written by Neil Gaiman!

I loved this book! The main character Richard, a man with a big heart stops to help a girl bleeding in the street and is sucked into the 'underworld' of London. Ripe with social commentary and a visual landscape that was both captivating and intriguing, this is a novel not to be missed. I especially enjoyed the tongue in cheek way of writing Gaiman indulges in...