~~WARNING: SPOILERS~~
The book’s genre is fantasy/adventure and the story focuses on two main characters, Richard Mayhew and Door. It begins with the prologue, which tells of Richard as he is getting ready to leave for London on a business trip when he meets a mysterious woman who warns him of his future; then in the first chapter, it is three years later and he is unhappy with his job and tricks himself into believing he is in love with a woman when he knows for a fact he is really not. While out with this woman, he finds a girl, Door, bleeding on the street and stops to help her. Strangely enough, his fiancée had not seen her at all until Richard specifically pointed her out. He takes her home to care for her, and finds that she is not at all like any other person he knows. After he helps her, he finds that people cease to recognize him or even the fact that he existed: while he is still in the room, his apartment is shown to hopefuls looking for a place to rent; his coworkers do not recognize or even know him; even his bank card is rejected at the ATM. Figuring that it is somehow Door's fault, he resolves to find her and demand she fix it. While searching, he finds that there is an entire world underneath the London everyone knows, called "London Below", where they all see him; unlike his old friends in London Above. There are people there who are homeless, people from another time, and characters you would find only in fantasy novels. It just so happens that he gets sucked into Door's adventure of trying to help find out who had killed her family and is still trying to kill her while attempting to get his old, albeit boring, life back.
I really enjoyed Neverwhere. Gaiman finds a way of bringing humor into his style of writing and yet not crossing the line into using it at inappropriate times in the plot. For example, early on he is comparing two characters and mentions four ways to tell them apart, which are not subtle differences, and then adds the line "Also, they look nothing alike". The book is a rarity because it was written based on the BBC mini-series of the same plot and name. I normally find books written after their screened counterparts to be sort of dry because it is so restricted; however, the ideas portrayed are quite fantastical. After realizing the identity of the author and recognizing other works under his name, I was no longer surprised that Neverwhere is such a great read. Gaiman seems to carry on his theme from Coraline and Stardust of bringing fantasy to reality and showing people all of his sides. After all, Coraline was more of an adolescent's fantasy/adventure, Stardust was much more of fantasy/romance/adventure for adolescents and adults, and Neverwhere is a fantasy/adventure for adults. Gaiman is not a highly known author; at least, though his works are well known his name does not always get mentioned. But between his mini-series, novels, and comics, and the ability to transform works into all types of different genres, his works reveal that they can appeal to nearly everyone. But as an adult and someone not into the whole "romance" as the basis of the novel, I view Neverwhere as something truly artistic.
Wyrm's Recommendation: 8/10
