Neil Gaiman: Neverwhere CD (AudiobookFormat, 2007, HarperAudio)
Audio CD
English language
Published Nov. 1, 2007 by HarperAudio.
"Richard Mayhew is an ordinary young man with an ordinary life and a good heart. His world is changed forever when he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. This small kindness propels him into a dark world he never dreamed existed. He must learn to survive in London Below, in a world of perpetual shadows and darkness, filled with monsters and saints, murderers and angels. He must survive if he is ever to return to the London that he knew."
Gaiman is a fantasy writing god. I loved his work with Terry Pratchett on Good Omens, and liked Neverwhere just as much. Door, Richard, Hunter, de Carabas, they were all such wonderful characters, and the idea of London Below was just awesome. Now to go find and read even more Gaiman.
Throughly fun and definitely recommended!
All in all, the characters were a little to thin -- it would have been nice to delve deeper into the world Gaiman created. Our protagonist, Richard Mayhew, starts of as essentially a mirror of Arthur Dent circa Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide series, but unlike Arthur, Richard evolves to accept and even understand the world he is presented with. I enjoyed his development, even if it didn't dive too deeply. The rest of Gaiman's characters are basically there as a backdrop and to advance the story along. It's been awhile since I read a story that was intended as a single work (lately it has been series of various length). I actually wished there was more -- it was a fascinating world.
There is apparently a BBC mini-series based on this and just added it to my Netflix queue. Hopefully the production and acting isn't β¦
Throughly fun and definitely recommended!
All in all, the characters were a little to thin -- it would have been nice to delve deeper into the world Gaiman created. Our protagonist, Richard Mayhew, starts of as essentially a mirror of Arthur Dent circa Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide series, but unlike Arthur, Richard evolves to accept and even understand the world he is presented with. I enjoyed his development, even if it didn't dive too deeply. The rest of Gaiman's characters are basically there as a backdrop and to advance the story along. It's been awhile since I read a story that was intended as a single work (lately it has been series of various length). I actually wished there was more -- it was a fascinating world.
There is apparently a BBC mini-series based on this and just added it to my Netflix queue. Hopefully the production and acting isn't too bad.
I'm afraid I was disappointed in this one too. Maybe because my expectations were too high to begin with. People have been raving about Neil Gaiman to me for quite some time and I guess that led me to expect more. This was an ok book, quite interesting in parts, but as a whole really not my thing. )t could so easily have been, but unfortunately, there was too much that just didn't sit right with me. Well, we live and learn. I should probably make up my own mind and not listen too much to friends when it comes to choosing books to read.
Neil Gaiman does a fantastic job of blending reality and fantasy in a way that makes readers wonder just what goes on in the periphery of the world. Neverwhere immerses the reader in a fantastical world situated tightly within our own.
This had a fantastic casting (hello, James McAvoy!) and was really fun to listen to, but also really confusing. Unlike the regular audiobook, there was no filler between the dialogue, so I felt like I was missing out on a lot of the world-building (and I've read the original book at least twice). I'm guessing this is something you get used to when listening to full-cast audio, but I'm not convinced I like it. I would have to know the book forwards and backwards before I could really enjoy it. However, if you are really familiar with "Neverwhere," I highly highly recommend listening to this.
Of all the brilliant books Gaiman has written, this is still the best in my opinion. The world, as well as the characters inhabiting it, is fascinatingly detailed; his writing warm and razor-sharp; the story develops fast but at an even, relaxed pace.
