Neverwhere book review

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Published by Headline on September 16, 2013
Pages: 373
Goodreads

Under the streets of London there's a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.
Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: neverwhere.

I have read a few of Neil Gaiman’s books and they have always been a whimsical journey that never really quite make sense. I think there is something wonderful about his writing and Neverwhere was no different. I will say that although I loved the world and the different characters I did think the plot of this was a little lacking and almost felt like an afterthought. I wished there was more of a structure and more of a strong direction rather than the little bits and pieces we got, I think I struggled with how disjointed the different parts of the plot were. I would have loved this book even more if there was more of a coherent plot that was a little more exciting.

Neverwhere has quite a few characters and all of them are unique and interesting. The two main characters are Door and Richard with a Marquis and Hunter as supporting features. I think the characters are some of the most interesting I have read about in a while, but I think there was a lot of potential that wasn’t looked at and there were bits that felt a little brushed over. I would have loved to learn more about each of their backstories and more about them each as separate individuals, especially Hunter and Door. I also think the villains in this book were fantastically done, they were the perfect balance of gruesome but sophisticated. There was definitely a line and it was perfectly played all the way through, they kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen by the end.

The best bit of Neverwhere for me was the world-building, I loved how the magic system was set out and the different worlds that are hidden under London. I really enjoyed the different aspects that were explored when they were making their journey through the different parts of the sewers and world. I think my favourite part was the Floating Market and all the different stalls, and basically, Richard’s reaction to everything made my life. I thought it was probably the most realistic thing I had ever read about, for once there was a hero who wasn’t overjoyed at the prospect of danger.

The worst bit of Neverwhere for me was definitely the lack of coherency, I knew going into the story that Gaiman had a tendency to write stories that didn’t necessarily make a lot of sense. This book was different, it was almost as though there were a lot of small separate stories attempted to be squished into one. I just thought there could have been a little bit more of connection and exploration throughout the book.

I definitely would recommend this book, purely for the world-building. I have also heard that there may be a sequel coming so I’m hoping that the issues I had with this book might be resolved in that one!

Have you read this one? What did you think? Let me know!