Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

   1996; 370 pages.  New Author? : No, but it’s been a while.  Genres : Urban Fantasy; British Contemporary Literature; Paranormal Fiction.  Overall Rating: 8*/10.

 

    Richard Mayhew has a good life.  He’s got a decent job and a girlfriend, Jessica, whom he loves very much, even if she is working very hard on changing him into a better man.

 

    Richard Mayhew is an honorable guy.  When he comes across a girl crumpled and bleeding on the sidewalk, he knows to do the right thing: take her to his apartment and tend to her wounds as best he can.

 

    Richard Mayhew is a bit naïve.  His girlfriend Jessica is not amused by his act of chivalry and lets him know it in no uncertain terms.  And that’s just the beginning of Richard’s troubles.  He’s about to lose Jessica, lose his job, and lose his apartment.  Amazingly, he's also about to lose the very city he lives in—London, England.

 

    All because he took pity on the injured girl named Door.  Hmm.  I wonder why they call her that?  Probably it’s short for “Doreen”.

 

    What other explanation could there be?

 

What’s To Like...

    Neverwhere was published in 1996 and was Neil Gaiman’s first “solo” novel, coming six years after he co-authored Good Omens with Terry Pratchett.  Both of these novels are fantasy tales, but where Good Omens is steeped in comedy (what else would you expect from the pen of Terry Pratchett?), Neverwhere is a darker work of Urban Fantasy.

 

    The story is set entirely in the two London.  The first half of the book focuses almost exclusively on worldbuilding, which is a Neil Gaiman forte.  Richard and the reader explore “London Below”, aka "The Underside”, meeting all sorts of strange characters and otherworldly species, while getting entangled in all sorts of dangerous plotlines.

 

    The main storyline finally gets underway in the second half of the book, and the major story threads include: a.) finding an angel named Islington; b.) acquiring some sort of “key” and bringing it to Islington; c.) helping Door figure out who killed her family, and why; d.) assisting Hunter in her quest to kill “the Beast of London”; and e.) somehow getting Richard back to “London Above” (aka “The Upside”) and back in good graces with Jessica.

 

    Gaiman’s attention to the details of London Below is masterful, to the point of almost overshadowing the action.  Among the things Richard and the reader encounter are The Floating Market, Earl’s Court, The Great Beast of London, Black Friars, The Velvets, The Golden, The Sewer Folk, and the Rat-Speakers.  I chuckled at “Blaise’s Reel” (be careful what you wish for!), and got a greater respect for the admonition “Mind The Gap!”

 

    The ending is spread out over the last 50 pages or so.  It’s a bit predictable, but I nevertheless found it to be fun.  Most of the plotlines get tied up nicely, and the last chapter serves as both an Epilogue and a teaser for a sequel which, ANAICT, was never written.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Vol-au-vents (n., plural) : small, round pastries filled with a savory mixture, typically of meat or fish, in a richly flavored sauce.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 11,364 ratings and 3,607 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.17*/5, based on 490,956 ratings and 26,644 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Young man,” he said, “understand this: there are two Londons.  There’s London Above —that’s where you lived—and then there’s London Below—the Underside—inhabited by the people who fell through the cracks in the world.  Now you’re one of them.  Good night.”  (pg. 127)

 

    “We were looking for you,” said Richard.

    “And now you’ve found me,” croaked the marquis, drily.

    “We were expecting to see you at the market.”

    “Yes.  Well.  Some people thought I was dead.  I was forced to keep a low profile.”

    “Why . . . why did some people think you were dead?”

    The marquis looked at Richard with eyes that had seen too much and gone too far.  “Because they killed me,” he said.  (pg. 295)

 

“’Nice’ in a bodyguard,” lectured the marquis, “is about as useful as the ability to regurgitate whole lobsters.”  (pg. 118)

    As with any Neil Gaiman novel, trying to find things to grouse about in Neverwhere is a challenge.

 

    The cussing is light – just nine instances in the first 30% - which once again reinforces my maxim of “the more skilled the author, the less cusswords are needed for effect."

 

    Spending half the book on worldbuilding is probably not to everyone’s literary tastes, and that includes mine.  But if anyone can pull it off, it’s Neil Gaiman.  That’s all the quibbles I can come up with.

 

    I enjoyed Neverwhere but I wouldn’t call it Neil Gaiman’s best effort.  That’s reserved for American Gods (2001), Anansi Boys (2005), and The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013).  It isn’t that Neverwhere is bad, it’s that those other three books are just so good.  Want a second opinion?  Wikipedia notes that China Miéville, one of my favorite present-day novelists, cites Neverwhere as one of the major influences for his stellar book, Un Lun Dun.

 

    8 Stars.  Neil Gaiman is currently involved in a major Graphic Novel series titled Sandman.  To date, there are nine books in the series.  I have the first one on my Kindle, and Santa brought me Books 2 and 3 for Christmas last week.  I think I'll begin reading them very soon.