Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere

By Neil Gaiman

  • Release Date: 2009-03-17
  • Genre: Fantasy
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 1,228 Ratings

Description

“Neil Gaiman is undoubtedly one of the modern masters of fantasy writing....For those who have not read Neverwhere, the new edition is the one to read, and is a fitting introduction to Gaiman’s adult fiction....American readers can experience this spellbinding, magical world the way that Neil Gaiman wanted us to all along.”  —Huffington Post

The #1 New York Times bestselling author’s ultimate edition of his wildly successful first novel featuring his “preferred text”—and including his special Neverwhere tale, “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back”.

Published in 1997, Neil Gaiman’s darkly hypnotic first novel, Neverwhere, heralded the arrival of a major talent and became a touchstone of urban fantasy.

It is the story of Richard Mayhew, a young London businessman with a good heart and an ordinary life, which is changed forever when he discovers a girl bleeding on the sidewalk. He stops to help her—an act of kindness that plunges him into a world he never dreamed existed. Slipping through the cracks of reality, Richard lands in Neverwhere—a London of shadows and darkness, monsters and saints, murderers and angels that exists entirely in a subterranean labyrinth. Neverwhere is home to Door, the mysterious girl Richard helped in the London Above. Here in Neverwhere, Door is a powerful noblewoman who has vowed to find the evil agent of her family’s slaughter and thwart the destruction of this strange underworld kingdom. If Richard is ever to return to his former life and home, he must join Lady Door’s quest to save her world—and may well die trying.

Reviews

  • Great book

    5
    By Spguess
    Too short. Quickest I’ve ever read a book before.
  • Neverwhere

    5
    By Firesnuff
    Good story, I liked it
  • Great book

    5
    By LMcdonny
    First Gaiman book I read and it made me want to read all of his works and I’ve loved all the ones I picked up.
  • 3.5 stars, but not 4 or higher

    3
    By Joerum62
    Neverwhere is an intriguing fantasy of a parallel world, London Below, beneath the real place that is dank, dirty and dangerous, filled with an amalgamation of odd characters and bizarre settings. Richard Mayhew, a young London businessman, inadvertently intersects with this world and thus falls out of London Above. The book follows his quest like journey to help the woman who got him here, Door, so he can return to his world. The book is engaging with fantastic illustrations. Yet, the two main characters were too wooden for me to really care what happened to them. And much of the story is a pastiche of overused tropes. Definitely an enjoyable read, just not as well done as some of Gaiman’s other work.
  • Xxd

    5
    By sbgkln
    Ddk
  • Wonderful Story

    5
    By Gravity Storm
    Loved this book. A nice mix of fantasy and modern day told by a masterful story teller.
  • Good

    4
    By Exponentialist
    Good book, not great. A little predictable and formulaic.
  • I will forever remember this book.

    5
    By SeanieMurph
    It’s magical and unexpectedly unique. I’ll continue to tell everyone about this book. I’m not usually a fan of magic or fantasy novels but decided to try this out after someone recommended it to me. It’s so deserving of a limited series and you’ll see why. It will never be enough...
  • Rt ft my dying gfgrrdhdctxtrertxve e I usedr

    3
    By rattyrgtd
    Rd is area but wbut t I have come tsfrt to check r t
  • Fresh Life Breathed into an Old Concept

    4
    By ferret_bard
    This Review was first published on Kurt's Frontier. Synopsis: If you live in London, there is place so close you could reach out and touch it, yet could walk for a thousand miles and never reach. Under London, there is a place most of the citizenry of the city could never dream of. A place of monsters, saints, creatures of legend, and people who have fallen between the cracks. Richard Mayhew finds out more than he ever wanted to know about London. A simple act of kindness pulls him out of his everyday existence. He is now following a girl named Door and the Marquis de Carabas on a quest of discovery and revenge. A strange destiny awaits him. A battle against murderers and monsters. Review: What if there were a world that existed alongside our own. Suppose that a simple act could send a person in our world careening into the other. Richard Mayhew worked in a London office. He planned to marry a girl named Jessica. He could best be described as a doormat. Then he helps a girl from the other world. This simple act takes him into a world of magic and darkness but makes him a stranger to his own world. Neil Gaiman takes the reader into the magical world under London and somewhat out of phase. Richard finds that he no longer exists in his own world. To have any chance of getting back, he has to help Door on a quest of her own. Door is the oldest daughter of Lord Portico. She is the last survivor of her family, and she wants to find out who ordered them killed. The concept, while not entirely new, has had fresh life breathed into it. The imagery has a dark nature, but the pace is relatively modest. The story was quite enjoyable.