Author: Neil Gaiman
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Pages: 370
Rating: 4/5 Stars
"But if this is all there is, then I don't want to be sane."
Neverwhere is my second Neil Gaiman novel and it did not disappoint. The novel tells the story of Richard Mayhew, an ordinary young man who stops to help an injured young girl he stumbles upon one night on the streets of London. That one act of kindness changes his life forever.
What did I enjoy about this book? Oh, just mostly everything. I'm the type of person who will never say that unicorns don't exist because it's much more interesting to be open to the possibility that they do and they just haven't let us catch them yet. The idea of a London Below, a London that exists unseen by the normal people walking the streets of London Above is so beautiful and romantically appealing to me.
I loved the vivid characters. Richard - who I always pictured as Arthur Darvill - is quite wonderful as our hapless hero who is erased from London Above as he's drawn deeper and deeper into London Below. I really appreciated the fact that despite his actions, Richard never lost sight of his desire to go home or the idea that the situation he was in was really quite insane.
The Marquis de Carabas, Islington, Hunter and Old Bailey were all wonderful drawn and distinct. The Marquis was a particular favorite of mine - I always do love a scoundrel with a heart. Door was a little bland for my taste considering she was Richard's counterpart, but I still enjoyed her.
Over and over as I read Neverwhere, I found myself wishing that it would be turned into a tv series - maybe one exists and I just don't know about it - because London Below sounds just fascinating and a place that I would love to visit every week. Gaiman's writing is so imaginative and colorful that I almost felt the cold and the dirt and the dank smell. I could watch entire episodes that focused on the political systems that exist in London Below. I'd love to know more about the Black Friars and the Night Market and what roll Door's father - Lord Portico - actually played in everything.
Basically, I'd just love to go back to London Below. But I really do like showers, so I don't know if I could live there.
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