William Morrow Neverwhere: Author's Preferred Text

I had some difficulty to get into the story but once I did, I enjoyed it. It's the first book from Neil Gaiman that I read

I enjoy Neil Gaiman's books, but I'd be lying if I said my appreciation went any deeper than that - I'll read them, but I won't actively seek them out. I'm familiar with his writing style, and while I can see its merits he rarely manages to get his hooks deeply into me. The last one was Good Omens, and I suspect more than anything that was due to the heavy Pratchett element. That's why Neverwhere came as such a surprise - it's the first Gaiman book that I really feel is worth all the praise it gets. Everything about it is dripping with beautiful menace and mystery. It's deliciously sinister, overlaying a world of darkness and danger onto a familiar, even mundane metropolitan setting. It manages to unease the reader with the execution of a story woven around something I suspect we all ask ourselves at one point or another: 'Is there more to the world than what we see?'. The best thing about Neverwhere, from my perspective, is how difficult it is to unpick where London Below begins and London Above ends. Any large, ancient city is going to be riddled with grey areas - forgotten bunkers; closed subways; buildings under other buildings; and rooms that people have simply forgotten about. It's never fully disclosed as to whether London Below is actually part of London Above, or whether it might just exist in a parallel dimension, or even just state of mind. Time, space and reality all seem malleable, and that's perhaps what makes it so frightening. From the lens of someone who can't see what the protagonist does, all he'd look like would be a crazy person wandering the forgotten places of London, screaming, shouting and fighting with invisible enemies. The frightening part is - you can see that kind of thing every day in a big city. Upon reading the book too, I was struck by how aesthetically similar it is to the browser game Fallen London - it's clear that there's a lot of inspiration that made its way from Neverwhere into the vignette based anachronisms of what used to be called Echo Bazaar. In many respects, it's almost as if Fallen London is the unofficial game adaption of the book. What makes it especially surprising to me too is that Lenny Henry of all people had a major hand in its genesis - perhaps a sign that Gaiman is best enjoyed in collaboration with others.

Gaiman has always been hit or miss for me. Some of his books I love, some I don’t care for, so I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about Neverwhere, outside of the fact that there’s something deeply satisfying about holding the illustrated version—something about thick little hardcovers is just the best feeling. Anyway, Neverwhere is a not subtle in its message: the homeless are invisible to those who want to pretend the “problem” doesn’t exist—but make it magic that has a very Tim Burton feel, because this is Gaiman, after all. When Richard sees one of those who have fallen through the cracks—a citizen of London Below—and proceeds to help her, it sets off a chain of events that plunges him into London Below and makes him just as invisible to London Above, and his old life, as the rest of the characters in this novel. In which there a lot, all of which are unique and magical and so beautifully distinct from each other. I even loved Mr Vandemar and Mr Croup who are unequivocally terrible people, but they are written in such a creative way that I couldn’t help but love them just as much as Richard and our heroine Door, with her opal-colored eyes. I loved the prose of Neverwhere, it read almost like it was meant for children when it’s so clearly not. There’s this whimsy to it, alongside Gaiman’s love of a metaphor and simile, which made the whole style just as magical as London Below. Speaking of, I loved the characters that populated this secret place. Gaiman was able to weave in a complex mystery and twists and turns into something that should have been an otherwise very straight forward plot: find out why/who is after Door and killed her family, and get Richard back to London Above. Gaimain, in this particular book anyway, is able to make you love and care for a character so, so deeply and then cut you to the core by taking them away all in one chapter. He’s also able to play with your mind about what is truly reality for Richard, and who should our main characters trust in a way that really added to the twists at the end. It was masterfully done! I will say that I read A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab before reading Neverwhere, and after reading Gaiman’s book, it’s really easy to see where Schwab got a lot of inspiration for that series: everything from the different types of Londons that only one person really seems to be able to move between, and even a certain magical coat. I’m not mad about this at all! It’s clear that Schwab idolizes Gaiman, and her writing is an homage to that without being a rip off. Its just something to keep in mind if you read this and things start sounding… familiar. All in all, this was a perfectly satisfying read—from just holding the book, to the perfect illustrations, the magical whimsy of the writing, and the cast of incredible characters that inhabit London Below. The story is dark, but with moments of tenderness and humor so I never felt bogged down to the point where I could no longer appreciate the imagery. Gaiman’s fantasy is always a reflection of reality with fantastic elements, so the ugly parts of our world are still present, but made magic so when you read you don’t necessarily feel preached to. But I can definitely understand why this style may not be for everyone—Gaiman doesn’t describe anything in a straightforward manner, instead almost tricking the reader into visualizing these delightful things. Which I loved, personally! This book was quirky and deep, fantastic and the kind of realistic urban fantasy I didn’t know I was missing until now, which is why this gets an easy 5 stars from me!

Est-il nécessaire de dire encore à quel point Neil Gaiman est un génie de la littérature ? La construction de ce Londres crée une atmosphère absolument incroyable. Le tout en est même très déroutant, j'ai reconnu des endroits qui me sont familiers dans la capitale britannique, j'ai cherché des indices dans la ville pour découvrir des passages secrets et je me suis réellement prise au jeu de ce livre. La familiarité de la ville se mêle avec allégresse avec l'étrangeté de l'histoire et donne un rendu complètement déroutant, désorientant. L'atmosphère de ce livre est typiquement ce que j'aime chez Gaiman, une réalité cabossée, presque steampunk sans le bling un peu facile qui y est parfois associé. On a est plongé dans l'idée que je me fais d'une ambiance victorienne moderne. Bref, j'ai adoré ma lecture. J'ai lu la plupart des livres de Gaiman et celui-ci reste mon préféré de tous.

It doesn't matter if you like Gaiman or not, this is a good read. It delves into the idea of where people slip through the cracks go in their spiritual adventures and what they they see and do that those who live in the mundane world miss in the rush of being, 'normal'. It tackles a lot of complex subjects, the concepts of fallen angels, why Atlantis sunk and its reality, the elasticity of time and space and how the things that disgust us are a way for us to hide from the reality that surrounds us. Moderate Spoiler Alerts It's a profound book, a sadly surreal book and one that I could read several times for the layers of meaning contained in it. Like most books with layers of meaning, it was rushed onto a screen and stripped of its complexity. Fortunately, I didn't watch it, but the author was subjected to the desecration of his work, something that I can relate to and feel for him on the subject. I also did not read the abridged or altered texts. This edition has several extras, including a brief, alternative prologue and a lost short story about the Marquis (who you will know very soon if you read the book). This is a book that stays with you and makes you ask the questions that Richard Mayhew is left with, is this all there is? Are mystical experiences nothing more than head trauma or psychotic breaks? Or is there something else out there? Something that makes relationships deeper and more real than the day to day co-worker, surface relationships, perhaps even the ones we have with our families and friends where we delve below the surface and if we did, they would call us crazy. We carefully cultivate what is, 'normal' and avert our eyes from anything that may disrupt that normal. Part out of fear of being taken out of our element of understanding, but mostly out of our own fear of falling between the cracks ourselves. As though helping someone less fortunate than ourselves is a contagion, something that those who see and engage with those who are hurt or are in pain are susceptible to. Those who don't or won't see have an immunity to falling through the cracks, their self interest keeps them safe. That's a sad other sort of not being seen and when you read this book, and if you let yourself really see and think about what is being said, about time bubbles, doors everywhere and a world folded in layers just beneath our feet... it leaves you wondering how much of it is real. Not in a 'fantastical' sort of a way, but in a way connected to physics and quantum theory. Read the book and if you lack the attention span to get through it, my sympathy to you, because you are already a 'Jessica' and you will never see past the end of your phone and get out of your ruts and you'll never see even a peep into any of the below worlds. If you want to be a reader and you want to be a writer, you need to be able to open your mind and see into those places, be a hero, a hunter, an opener of doors, be someone other than a drone or a social climber and find the magic all around us in the world.