3.5 stars. This is about Neverwhere, I promise. Bear with me.

I first read Good Omens 10 years ago, a little after I had first discovered Discworld and was hungrily devouring everything with Terry Pratchett's name on it. I must confess that every time I've read it since then, I wonder the same thing: what did Neil Gaiman actually contribute to Good Omens? It's just so Pratchett-y, it didn't seem like there was room in there for Neil Gaiman too, and it was so different from the couple of Neil Gaiman books I eventually read.

And then I recently read The Graveyard Book, which made me want to read more Neil Gaiman, and Neverwhere was available at the library, so I read it too. And it's wonderful and fantastic and enchanting and funny, and I have more to say about that in a minute. Critically, given that Good Omens is one of my very favorite books and I want to know it deeply and thoroughly, Neverwhere made Gaiman's role in Good Omens abundantly clear, in a way that the other Gaiman books I've read did not. And this Pratchett fan girl is rather tickled to discover that Good Omens is just as Gaiman-y as it is Pratchett-y.

And now, my thoughts about Neverwhere on its own, not in the context of some other unrelated book:

It's a really fun read. I loved the ragtag team. I loved that the (under)World's Best Bodyguard was a woman. I loved the con artist who intentionally took his name right out of Puss and Boots. I loved the quirks of London Below--extra tube stations (much to the displaced upworlder's disbelief), a raucous night market that sets up shop in Harrod's, the widespread adoration of the very clever rats. I loved the run-in between the displaced upworlder and his confused fiancée in the halls of the British museum. I loved that the complexity of London Below made the displaced upworlder's decision whether to stay below or return above an interesting one, not just an inevitable plot point. There were a hundred small moments that made me want to keep reading and made this a wonderfully immersive reading experience.

Neil Gaiman is great with pronouns. (Yes, that's what I said.) Angels are "its", not hes or shes. The best bodyguard is a woman, so it makes sense for people in the underworld to refer to abstract hypothetical warriors as "she," a habit picked up by the displaced upworlder, who surely never thought about warriors as women before he got to London Below.

A few things stuck out to me as drawbacks. First, how old is Door supposed to be? She is described as a child, but then there's a scene when Richard, who's probably around 30, contemplates kissing her, and wildly age-inappropriate sexual attraction would be incredibly out of character. Second, I got a little annoyed with how frequently Door's "odd colored eyes" and "elfin" appearance get mentioned. I get it. She's small and unusual looking. Moving on. Third, when Richard gets back to London Above, he discovers his life has drastically improved I. His absence--promotion, penthouse apartment, etc--but why? There's no evidence that London Below can affect events in London Above, and in reality a long unannounced absence would not be viewed kindly. A small detraction from the realism of London Above, which matters as it is supposed to contrast markedly with London Below..

Slightly more problematic: I didn't find the villains particularly menacing, just goofy. And the quest doesn't feel important or interesting--it's an excuse to show off the characters and get them into interesting scrapes. The quest itself doesn't really matter much.

I wavered between giving this 3 and 4 stars. Overall, I enjoyed reading this a lot! But I think my appreciation for it is disproportionate to the actual quality of the book--it's pretty good, but not great, and Gaiman can do better. 3.5 it is.