Reviews with content warning for Gore - Neverwhere

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Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

38 reviews

thestorydoer's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? No

4.25

Neil Gaiman creates another fantastically unique world which one can dive into, a perfect escapism book.

Almost everything about this book is excellent. The world is perfectly introduced, perfectly written, and perfectly executed. In the introduction, Neil Gaiman said this book was to create the Alice in Wonderland feeling for adults which he delivers on with startling precision. The intricacies of the world are all built upon the simple concept; it was the world for those who fell through the cracks of society. With this simple concept, Andy Gaiman created a beautifully unique world with oddball characters but charming nonetheless.

The dialogue is fantastic and each sentence does not feel wasted. The descriptions are vivid and visceral. The book doesn't shy away from the dark and gory when the story requires it. It's almost a perfect book.

However, I personally feel the book has one fundamental flaw, and a slightly less fundamental gripe. The flaw: Characters deaths comes too quickly and end to soon. Unfortunately, characters death scenes often play out very quickly. Either the character dies to quickly with plenty build up, or the death is slow but often blindsided the reader. While there is plenty of reminiscing, I just feel it could've been better executed.

The gripe: the story is quite cliche. While I often don't find this an issue with most stories, this book set up a world with so much potential, it was a shame to see it play out like a thriller movie. A good story with plenty of drama, but laced with the feeling that you've read this before. Wouldn't be an issue if it didn't have so much potential.

That being said, these flaws are easy to look past due to everything else being executed perfectly. 4.25/5, would recommend to many.

Content Warnings

byrdies's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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

4.0

I would consider myself a fan of Neil Gaiman's writing, and Neverwhere has a lot of the charm and soul to it. The protagonist is Richard Mayhew, a boring Londoner in an unsatisfying relationship working a comfortable job that doesn't challenge him. Richard's life is interrupted quite abruptly when Door, a filthy and very injured teenage girl, appears in front of him and asks for help. When Richard accepts, he finds himself on a whirlwind adventure in London Below, an alternate invisible London populated by those who have slipped through the cracks of every day life. It's a place where the worst and the best of humanity are brought within reach through a pliable relationship with reality, and that made it easy to immerse myself in the story. Most of the ensemble cast felt two dimensional to me, but that doesn't mean the characters were boring nor that they didn't successfully fill the narrative role Neil Gaiman cast them in. I find myself revisiting this book when I need something adventurous with a strong emotional through line that I can read in 1-2 sittings.

Content Warnings