Customer Reviews
The genius of fantasy... - By: Jessica, 14 Jul 2008 
Neverwhere is a dark, atmospheric & extremely well written example of the genius of fantasy... it can by blowing our minds with strange new realms & worlds weave in poignant reflections & observations of our world, whether you acknowledge these undercurrents or simply enjoy the magic & 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 & normal life, proposing to his girlfriend because it's the appropriate next step & 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 & fascinating world of London below, comprised of people no longer part of the staple of society, people who are homeless by choice & others who have been discarded by the world, & 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 & say there are touches of predictability to the story but it's like a fairy tale quest in structure & I love that about it.
After helping an injured girl named Lady Door who's been orphaned & is being chased by the villainess Mr Croup & Mr Vandemar who killed her family Richard becomes one of the many faceless people who occupy the allleys & 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 & 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 & its got plenty of charm. Richards's voice is engaging, funny & observes the parade of bizarreness & 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 & definitely worth buying & keeping & reading over & over.
Fantastic in all possible senses of the word - By: Mrs. K. A. Wheatley, 22 Apr 2008 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 & went through several revisions before this version. Here he has edited & 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 & an ordinary job & 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, & is a prime mover & shaker in a London which lives underneath the vanilla version & which is full of danger & magic & adventure.
Once Richard has bumped into this world he begins to fade from the regular world & is forced, whether he likes it or not, to help Door locate the mysterious Angel Islington & escape the menacing clutches of Mr Croup & Mr Vandemar, two of the most repulsively entertaining villains I've ever come across.
This is reallly a book where London is the star. It's a wonderful critique of & hymn to a city with more personality & brio than most people. It's inventive & full of surprises. It's funny & horrible. It keeps you turning the pages, desperate to find out what happens & then sad when you reach the end. I'd pay Gaiman to write a sequel, it's that good.
Can't Stop Re-Reading... - By: Angela West, 06 Apr 2008 I have owned Neverwhere for a while now & I can't stop reading & re-reading this tome.
The writing is beautiful, the atmosphere astounding, & the general overalll feeling that one gets when reading it is that of the fantastical.
delicious dark modern fairytale - By: Lendrick, 13 Mar 2008 
I read this on my daily commute & kept half expecting to see the characters appear on the tube platform. Gamian has created an immaginary world under the streets of London & populated it with a bunch of fascinating & in the case of Croup & Vandemar scary characters.
Of course the plot is predictable - this is afteralll 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.
Fantasic - By: Adam, 08 Mar 2008 Great book, keeps you interested alll the way through & to think it was written after the series is also great! Neil Gaiman is one of the best authors out there.
