A review by embersbookventures
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was really interesting - it’s my first Neil Gaiman read.  I thoroughly enjoyed Good Omens, of course - but a rather different reading experience, as it was co-authored by Terry Pratchett.  

Neil is an inarguably talented author - his prose, storytelling style, pacing, plots, character development, etc. are all fantastic.  This book was dark and gritty and real in a way that I think made it better, even if it was harder to read because of it.  

I typically don’t stray into the horror genre because I am an HSP, and my sensitivity to disturbing content makes it hard for me to look past that and enjoy the deeper meanings and content therein.  
For fellow sensitive readers, I would say …don’t read it before going to sleep.  But otherwise, if you can stomach some violence and disturbing ideas, it is a very well crafted and thought-provoking tale that has a lot to say about a lot of these that we ought to talk more about.  

While people don’t literally fall through the cracks in our world, they may as well do, frankly, for all the mind that we more fortunate folks pay to them.  The houseless, the sick, those living in poverty, hungry, etc. - our society casts so many away, wishing them to be unseen as Neil portrays them in this book.  
This book challenged me to try take the time to see people, and not look away just because I feel guilty that I have enough to eat and a warm place to sleep.  

I loved Door, the Marquis de Carabas, and Richard…so many complex characters that have a very real, flawed nature to them, which makes them leap off the page all the more.  

Neil is brilliant, this book definitely makes me look forward to continuing on with more of Neil’s works in the future.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Self harm, Murder, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse and Child death

what happens to Anesthesia and her description of what happened to her before ending up in the Underground was upsetting to me, but it’s a brief mention which is why I listed it as minor. The animal cruelty and death are listed as graphic simply because of how often they are mentioned in passing and it’s very disturbing. London Underground is kind of a cutthroat place so…y’know, violence.

the torture aspect of the book was quite difficult to read at times, especially where de Carabas is crucified (literally). He ends up okay (miraculously) though. Other torture is mentioned by Croup and Vandemear throughout.

The self-harm/suicidal thoughts bit is from a situation that Richard goes through in his mind - a test of sorts. There are some things said to him during that bit that could be triggering to some folks. The murder, body horror, blood, and injury detail are pretty self-explanatory - we do get a couple chapters from the villain’s POV….thats where a lot of this comes from.