The genius of fantasy...
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Neverwhere is a dark, atmospheric and extremely well written example of the genius of fantasy... it can by blowing our minds with strange new realms and worlds weave in poignant reflections and observations of our world, whether you acknowledge these undercurrents or simply enjoy the magic and escape it's what we connect to. Gaiman explores the issue of homelessness by taking a bemused office worker named Richard Mayhew out of the comfort of daily London life, this character is the epitome of the individual who lives a structured and normal life, proposing to his girlfriend because it's the appropriate next step and just screaming out for something different with his troll figures that he puts on his desk because he thinks it makes him look more interesting. He is plunged into the complex and fascinating world of London below, comprised of people no longer part of the staple of society, people who are homeless by choice and others who have been discarded by the world, and oh my the characters created are very good, the rat people, the caring but pessimistic monks, who can handle a fight. I'll agree with some of the other reviewers and say there are touches of predictability to the story but it's like a fairy tale quest in structure and I love that about it.
After helping an injured girl named Lady Door who's been orphaned and is being chased by the villainess Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar who killed her family Richard becomes one of the many faceless people who occupy the alleys and dark places of London. By helping Door discover the reason for her family's death he hopes to get back to London above, what they discover is a powerful huntress, a mad Earl, a kindly Old Bailey, a viscous beast, an witty Marquis, an irate angel and the destruction of the hope of equality to a society that works by what you can scrounge not what you earn, occupied by people who do what they want. But that's this fantasy worlds charm and its got plenty of charm. Richards's voice is engaging, funny and observes the parade of bizarreness and detailed oddities with a detached sort of uncaring, who cares if it's real when he just wants to go home? This is a very good book and definitely worth buying and keeping and reading over and over.
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Fantastic in all possible senses of the word
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For those of you confused by the addendum: The Author's Preferred Text, Gaiman explains in the preface that this book started life as an idea, then a television script and went through several revisions before this version. Here he has edited and pulled together everything to come up with something he's most happy with. I can't say I've read any other version, but I would say that this one is excellent, so he's obviously on to something there.
The story centres around the hopelessly ineffective nice guy Richard Mayhew. He has an ordinary life and an ordinary job and a demanding girlfriend. One night he saves the life of what he thinks is a homeless girl. It turns out that she is the Lady Door, and is a prime mover and shaker in a London which lives underneath the vanilla version and which is full of danger and magic and adventure.
Once Richard has bumped into this world he begins to fade from the regular world and is forced, whether he likes it or not, to help Door locate the mysterious Angel Islington and escape the menacing clutches of Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar, two of the most repulsively entertaining villains I've ever come across.
This is really a book where London is the star. It's a wonderful critique of and hymn to a city with more personality and brio than most people. It's inventive and full of surprises. It's funny and horrible. It keeps you turning the pages, desperate to find out what happens and then sad when you reach the end. I'd pay Gaiman to write a sequel, it's that good.
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Can't Stop Re-Reading...
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I have owned Neverwhere for a while now and I can't stop reading and re-reading this tome.
The writing is beautiful, the atmosphere astounding, and the general overall feeling that one gets when reading it is that of the fantastical.
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delicious dark modern fairytale
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I read this on my daily commute and kept half expecting to see the characters appear on the tube platform. Gamian has created an immaginary world under the streets of London and populated it with a bunch of fascinating and in the case of Croup and Vandemar scary characters.
Of course the plot is predictable - this is afterall a quest - but Gamiam weaves his tale with such skill that it doesn't matter - indeed it is part of the strength of the book.
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Fantasic
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Great book, keeps you interested all the way through and to think it was written after the series is also great! Neil Gaiman is one of the best authors out there.
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