Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

I enjoy Neil Gaiman. I am never sure if I love his writing as much as I think I do, or whether I just enjoy him. I have spent countless hours watching him on Youtube. He could read the telephone directory to me, and I would be completely happy. So I picked up Neverwhere, one of the few books of his I haven't read yet.

Richard Mayhew stumbles upon Door who inadvertently leads him to the world under London. He is thrown into a life-threatening quest to do something. With two killers on their tail, will they find what they are after or will it be the end?

“Metaphors failed him, then. He had gone beyond the world of metaphor and simile into the place of things that are, and it was changing him.”

― Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere

First off, I have to say that I love Neil Giaman's sense of humour. There were places where I had to stop and chuckle about his choice of phrasing or his descriptions. They do have a negative effect though, in that I became aware of Neil Gaiman the writer, and was taken out of the story. But perhaps, had I read this without knowing who had written it, it would not have done that. On the other hand though, there is nothing wrong with having a good chuckle and appreciating a quiant way of describing something.

“To say that Richard Mayhew was not very good at heights would be perfectly accurate, but would fail to give the full picture; it would be like describing the planet Jupiter as bigger than a duck.”

― Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere

The characters were well rounded. I liked how Richard grew and changed throughout the book, going from a timid people-pleaser to some one who was much more aware of himself and knew his boundaries - knew his capabilities too. I also enjoyed the cast that he travelled with. I liked how one did not know for sure who was on the good side. As to the antagonists, Croup and Vandemar, they were creepy and scary and topped my grim bad guy list. They were not guys I would like to meet in a dark alleyway - or a well lit park in the middle of summer either.

The world Gaiman created was brilliant. I enjoyed how it tied in with the London we all know. It was clever and inspired.

I think some folks might have an issue with the pacing of this novel. It is not a speedy rush from one scene to the next, but a pleasant meandering through the underground world - if one can consider sewers to be pleasant.

I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads.

This is the 77th book I have read for the 2015 TBR Pile Reading challenge.