Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

I love books. I read books and I work with books and authors. Sometimes a book comes along that I find hard to put down...NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman (normally a graphic novel writer) is one of those, and I finished it in possibly a record time for me. Neverwhere could be described as a cross between CS Lewis and James Herbert. Set in a place called 'London below' (which, strangely enough, is below London) it is about a world where the homeless, disposessed and very different people live - it also covers many different eras and places all at the same time, almost like trans-dimensional malarkey. Normal people do not know about it, nor can they see it ...

The recipe for a Neil Gaiman novel seems to be take a quart of mundane, everday life, add a sprinkling of magic and leave it in a very, very, very dark place for a long long time. Gaiman, who is perhaps best known for his comic/graphic novels such as The Sandman, has more recently ventured into the realms of all-print novels - to great effect. Neverwhere is the story of a mundane, everyday Scot called Richard Mayhew, who lives a mundane, everyday life in London - going to work, becoming engaged to his fairly terrifying girlfriend Jess and generally mooching around. That is until the night he decides to be a good Samaritan... He sees a ...

Neverwhere is a kind of fun and fantastic adventure through a London we've never seen. It's the London Below, where those who've slipped through the cracks end up, and one man's (he from the "normal" world) journey as he winds up in this world. And despite all the enjoyment with the characters and the wonderful story that takes us everywhere, it's Gaiman's own enjoyment which comes through the pages. One impression I get as a read this book was Neil Gaiman every now and again sitting back while at his computer and laughing at some small element of story or wording or character that came out and how fun it was. Example - while walking ...