Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

30 reviews

ratthegnome's review

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Gore

quarkie's review

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Having heard so much about Neil Gaiman, I'll admit that this book was a bit underwhelming. I had to start it three separate times before I actually finished it. I understand that it was his first novel and so he's probably grown as a writer and a human since then.

What I liked: I loved the writing style. It's funny, punny, and manages to be light-hearted about very serious topics. The idea of a London made up of people who fell through the cracks is interesting, and I do think he achieves his stated (in the forward) goal of writing an "Alice in Wonderland" or "Narnia" for adults. He includes so many details in his writing that help build the world, and they all end up mattering in the end. His world is compelling because it is both so unfamiliar and so familiar at the same time, and there is just enough description to easily transport you there, but not so much to bore you.

What I didn't like: While the characters are well-defined and stay true to their characterization throughout the plot, I didn't find them that interesting and I couldn't bring myself to like them. The main character is a white man who starts out as a walking doormat, and through his trials becomes less of a doormat but something of an asshole. The supporting characters, who are the only female and non-white characters, are the ones who are actually driving the plot and end up saving the day, but they are written as side characters, and this story is clearly not about them. There is nothing about their happily-ever-after, and they are not the ones who get to live on in infamy for their heroic deeds (though maybe that's because they've already achieved that previously?). The villains are largely evil-for-the-sake-of-evil, and don't have any other driving force.

The main takeaways of this story felt pretty trite. If you go through struggle you can change, ordinary people can be the hero with the help of their friends, the real world is not what it seems and maybe not what it's cracked up to be, etc. I'm not sure I took away anything particularly deep.

Overall, it was an unoriginal read that was still somewhat enjoyable, but I'm happy to be done.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Animal death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Animal cruelty, and Death

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Classism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Trafficking and Adult/minor relationship

breamfish1138's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book is kind of like Paddington in that it's an unapologetic love letter to London and its landmarks and history. And there's also a lot of murder, urban decay, esoteric folklore, mild cosmic horror and rats. So yeah, just like Paddington. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Excrement, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child death, Grief, Death, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Torture, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, and Murder

Minor: Sexual assault, Vomit, and Genocide

vorpaldormouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

mreequalsmc2's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Murder

Moderate: Vomit, Dementia, Blood, Suicide, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Classism, Cursing, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

kcmg710's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Body horror, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Torture, Grief, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Cursing

galexy_brain's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This felt like a pretty bog-standard hero's journey sort of book, though the action was great (I felt myself grimacing and cringing often). I wish Richard was a more compelling main character. The backdrop of a creepy London underworld was pretty cool. I've only been to London once so the references to city locations I'm familiar with were neat, though I'm sure it would have been cooler if I had been well-acquainted with the city. However, I found it hard to visualize London Below. I don't know if I missed something, but half the time it felt like they were

walking through subway systems and sewers and marshes, and other times it was described as having buildings, almost reflecting London Above?

idk maybe I'm inattentive. My only other qualm with this book is when

Richard, who seems as if he is in his mid-twenties, wants to kiss Door, who is described by Richard as appearing to be a teenager. Then they never bring this up again??? The final inconsistency that didn't bother me but caught my attention was that the Sewer People are introduced as not speaking English in Neverwhere, but in the short story prologue from this edition ("How the Marquis Got his Coat Back" or whatever), he had a full-on conversation with them.

Anyway, if you like gritty grimy creepy spooky hero stories this book may be for you.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Gore

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Child death, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcohol, Pedophilia, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Grief, and Abandonment

chronicacademia's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Racism, Torture, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, and Classism

allishortell's review

adventurous funny mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Violence

Minor: Vomit

kiwij96's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The premise for this book really gripped me, but it didn't hold out as a story for me personally. I loved the way that the chapters were written like scenes in an episode of a tv show. The chapters were a manageable length for the most part (barring like 2 or 3 long ones). The story was a captivating tale of a secret and historical world under London for those who fall through the cracks in the London Above. However, at times I found the writing a little clunky and infodump-y, and in places there were too many commas. I still don't completely understand what happened in the book. There was a mystery that they tried to uncover, but then it came to a halt and I just didn't understand what happened. It just ended weird for me, felt a little rushed and unfinished in my opinion.

Flushed Away vibes for sure.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, Torture, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence