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A review by manjala
Neverwhere Illustrated Edition by Neil Gaiman
3.0
While reading this, I discovered yet again how picky I am when it comes to Urban Fantasy books, and how difficult it is to get the whimsical/magical realism vibes right. For me, this did neither well enough for me to absolutely love the book, while having fun with Neil Gaiman's usual British humour and character archetypes. In the end, it just turns out I don't love Urban Fantasy that much to begin with, I think. That said, if any of you liked this book, I can recommend the book " Un Lun Dun " by China Miéville (which also happens to be about a fantasy version of London).
What I did appreciate, is how the story handled the topic of people "falling through the cracks" (as the novel itself names it). I think that, were you to read in between the lines of the not-so-obviously-a-metaphor scenes, you would really appreciate how topics of homelessness and losing your control on life were handled. The worldbuilding didn't feel particularly solid to me, but that also has to do with the pace at which we went through certain places.
I feel like most of the characters or challenges were only there to help advance the plot, or to help Richard in his personal development. Looking back at the story, I feel like everything revolved around him looking at his life from a new perspective in the end. While reading the plot felt a bit directionless and messy.
I'm especially sad I couldn't get attached to the main characters, because I know I probably would have, had I known more about them or had more emotional connection to them.
For now, I think I will give Neil Gaiman books a break, and check in again after a while to see if he really isn't for me.
What I did appreciate, is how the story handled the topic of people "falling through the cracks" (as the novel itself names it). I think that, were you to read in between the lines of the not-so-obviously-a-metaphor scenes, you would really appreciate how topics of homelessness and losing your control on life were handled. The worldbuilding didn't feel particularly solid to me, but that also has to do with the pace at which we went through certain places.
I feel like most of the characters or challenges were only there to help advance the plot, or to help Richard in his personal development. Looking back at the story, I feel like everything revolved around him looking at his life from a new perspective in the end. While reading the plot felt a bit directionless and messy.
I'm especially sad I couldn't get attached to the main characters, because I know I probably would have, had I known more about them or had more emotional connection to them.
For now, I think I will give Neil Gaiman books a break, and check in again after a while to see if he really isn't for me.