Neverwhere

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

Prior to Neverwhere I'd not read a Neil Gaiman book, mostly because I'm a terrible person. I figured it was about time and this was a great place to start. 

Neil Gaiman is a weird dude. Also, I might be in love with him and this bizarre, anything-goes, world he created in London Below. This was so much fun to read and Neil's writing style is hilarious. 

The premise of the story is essentially, “what happens if you take an every day office worker, strip him of his entire life, and throw him into an adventure in a a magical underground fantasy world with people who talk to rats and Kings who live in subway cars?” and that is a great question to ask.

The cast of characters in this book is so well rounded, I got attached to them all very quickly. Croup and Vandemar are by far my new favourite villains of all time and Richard Mayhew is my new favourite lovable, oblivious, dork. 

The ending of the book, which I never wanted to come, leaves so many options open to future stories, and yet, it's been 20 years since it was written. Upon finishing the book, I Googled around to see if there was a sequel and, while there's not one, it does sound like he's writing another book in the same universe. Neil Gaiman doesn't write sequels.

The edition I read was the “Author's Preferred Text”, there are multiple versions of the book, but I thought I should start with this one. I can't wait to go back and listen to the radio show and watch the television series. The additional prologue and short story at the end of this edition were a delight and added a little something extra to the reading experience and universe.

I feel like I've been typing forever and haven't said a quarter of the things I want to say about this book. I'll end my review by saying that everyone should read this book at least once, and if you need me I'll be busy reading everything else this man has ever written.