Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Neverwhere

NEVERWHERE: Neil Gaiman: Avon Books: 1997: Fantasy: 337 pages

Richard Mayhew is just a regular guy with a corporate job and a bossy fiancé until one day while on his way to dinner with Jess or Jessica as his fiancé prefers to called, he notices a vagabond young girl laying on the street covered in blood. Richard can’t just leave her there so he takes her back to his apartment. There, the Lady Door recovers quickly and soon leaves Richard. What Richard doesn’t know is that by helping Door, he has plunged himself into her world, the world of London Below. Now Richard no longer exists in London Above.

Richard manages to track down Lady Door to try to find out how to get his life back but soon finds himself enmeshed in helping Door discover who murdered her family and is trying to kill her. Along the way they enlist the help of the Marquis de Carabas, a trickster who agrees to help people in exchange for a favor at a later date, and Hunter, a mysterious lady who hunts very lethal game.

As with everything I have read by Neil Gaiman, I am reminded what an excellent story teller he is. This book has great characters and the world of London Below is so imaginative, like when you learn why they really tell you to “mind the gap” on the subway.

AJ

1 comment:

Lisa Brennan said...

Yes, yes. Gaiman is simply a genius who works masterpieces that'll blow our minds away.