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A review by jessielzimmer
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Still Great, Though the Shine Has Softened
I remembering loving this book when I first read it sometime in the mid-2000s. When I couldn't get into American Gods I went for Neverwhere instead, as it was shorter and had a concept I liked better. Neil Gaiman brings a gritty, fantastical world to life like no one else, and he's an excellent narrator for the audiobook. It's a great novel with characters I want to know more about like Door, Carabas, and Anesthesia, with some truly wonderful imagery. I love the concept of Door's powers, her whole family, and I wanted more time with them.
But, perhaps because I'm no longer in my early 20s and now pushing 40, some of the shine has worn off. The world doesn't have quite as much depth as I remember, and Richard himself feels like one of the weaker elements of the novel. He fights to go home for the entire book, only to change his mind and reverse course within the last two chapters. And while I do still like the machinations of Islington, I find myself wanting more. More background, more build up. Less of Richard's whining and more details about Door, Islington, the Markets. Everything!
On a note about the audiobook, Neil Gaiman is an excellent narrator. He easily differentiates characters with an array of voices that don't repeat (something The Last Wish, my previous audiobook, failed at). His voice is beautiful to listen to, and he's better than many professional narrators I've tried to listen to. I will, however, state that I hated the audio effects in the dream sequences and phone calls. You'll know what I mean when you get there. The dream effect was especially heavy-handed, making it difficult to get through. It really is enough to invoke a dream sequence with voice, and no fancy effects in post.
My other complaint would be toward Gaiman's pacing. Mind you, his voice is lovely, but there are times when he's too calm, too measured. I remember the story having a lot more tension, and I wonder if that boils to my inner narrator compared to Gaiman's narration. There were times he would say a line followed by "he shouted" and I was left staring at the air. He screamed? Are you sure? Because nothing about that delivery read as screaming, and it negativity altered the pacing.
One thing I noticed recently, is that audiobooks tend to make crutch words and phrases stand out more. Despite her brief appearance Lamia's "foxglove colored eyes" were mentioned at least a dozen times. So much so that it's second place in "phrases Jessie hates the most", only second to "Lilac and Gooseberries" from The Last Wish. It also seemed he couldn't resist applying some type of "caramel" descriptor to Hunter. Caramel skin, caramel eyes, caramel smile? Cool, she's brown, we get it. Once or twice is fine, but after half a dozen times I start looking for the editor.
I know, it sounds like I hated the book. I didn't, not at all. It's still a wonderful read, but as someone who is no longer newly arrived to urban fantasy, I can see the weak spots in a book I still love. I hope to reread it again later this year in paperback, to see if I can possibly recapture some of the lost tension that way.
Lastly, why wasn't How the Maquis Got His Coat Back its own chapter? It struck me as silly, and a touch annoying, to make the final chapter twice as long as it actually was. It also would've been nicer to pause, enjoy the ending of Neverwhere, and come back later to the short story.
I remembering loving this book when I first read it sometime in the mid-2000s. When I couldn't get into American Gods I went for Neverwhere instead, as it was shorter and had a concept I liked better. Neil Gaiman brings a gritty, fantastical world to life like no one else, and he's an excellent narrator for the audiobook. It's a great novel with characters I want to know more about like Door, Carabas, and Anesthesia, with some truly wonderful imagery. I love the concept of Door's powers, her whole family, and I wanted more time with them.
But, perhaps because I'm no longer in my early 20s and now pushing 40, some of the shine has worn off. The world doesn't have quite as much depth as I remember, and Richard himself feels like one of the weaker elements of the novel. He fights to go home for the entire book, only to change his mind and reverse course within the last two chapters. And while I do still like the machinations of Islington, I find myself wanting more. More background, more build up. Less of Richard's whining and more details about Door, Islington, the Markets. Everything!
On a note about the audiobook, Neil Gaiman is an excellent narrator. He easily differentiates characters with an array of voices that don't repeat (something The Last Wish, my previous audiobook, failed at). His voice is beautiful to listen to, and he's better than many professional narrators I've tried to listen to. I will, however, state that I hated the audio effects in the dream sequences and phone calls. You'll know what I mean when you get there. The dream effect was especially heavy-handed, making it difficult to get through. It really is enough to invoke a dream sequence with voice, and no fancy effects in post.
My other complaint would be toward Gaiman's pacing. Mind you, his voice is lovely, but there are times when he's too calm, too measured. I remember the story having a lot more tension, and I wonder if that boils to my inner narrator compared to Gaiman's narration. There were times he would say a line followed by "he shouted" and I was left staring at the air. He screamed? Are you sure? Because nothing about that delivery read as screaming, and it negativity altered the pacing.
One thing I noticed recently, is that audiobooks tend to make crutch words and phrases stand out more. Despite her brief appearance Lamia's "foxglove colored eyes" were mentioned at least a dozen times. So much so that it's second place in "phrases Jessie hates the most", only second to "Lilac and Gooseberries" from The Last Wish. It also seemed he couldn't resist applying some type of "caramel" descriptor to Hunter. Caramel skin, caramel eyes, caramel smile? Cool, she's brown, we get it. Once or twice is fine, but after half a dozen times I start looking for the editor.
I know, it sounds like I hated the book. I didn't, not at all. It's still a wonderful read, but as someone who is no longer newly arrived to urban fantasy, I can see the weak spots in a book I still love. I hope to reread it again later this year in paperback, to see if I can possibly recapture some of the lost tension that way.
Lastly, why wasn't How the Maquis Got His Coat Back its own chapter? It struck me as silly, and a touch annoying, to make the final chapter twice as long as it actually was. It also would've been nicer to pause, enjoy the ending of Neverwhere, and come back later to the short story.