Neverwhere
reviewed by Kelly Joi Phelan
Richard Mayhew is just a regular guy with a warm heart. He came to London from Scotland a few years back and has found himself a nice apartment, a steady job, and even a fiancée. Life is fairly average for Richard—even monotonous—until the day he stops to help a girl collapsed and bleeding on a city sidewalk. From that point onward, Richard's life begins to change dramatically as he is forced into an entire new world flourishing beneath the streets of London.
London Below—an entire reality existing below the ground in abandoned subway stations and sewers. It's a whimsical, yet darkly brilliant world filled with immortal assassins, angels, and people that have "slipped between the cracks" of our world into this alternate one.
Author Neil Gaiman effectively creates a dark and intriguing world inhabited with an entirely unique cast of characters ranging from the angel Islington to the deliciously demented villains Croup and Vandemar. Lucky for us, we're treated to a whirlwind tour of this multi-faceted world as we're carried along by a fast-paced storyline.
Despite the satisfying plot, the real treasure of this story lies in the atmospherics and vivid imagery successfully conjured up by the graphic writing skills of Gaiman. It's also the little idiosyncrasies of this world that make it so charming: whimsical "floating markets," the mythical Beast of London, and the entirely new meaning brought to the phrase "Mind the gap" in London subway stations.
But if you buy this book for anything, buy it for the villainous pair of Croup and Vandemar. These two immortal assassins are alive with the dry, offbeat wit of a darkly twisted Monty Python, spewing out wry comments in a nonchalant fashion while simultaneously being horrifyingly creepy enough to send chills down any reader's back.
Overall, Neverwhere is thoroughly satisfying read. It's a dark, modern-day fairy tale infused with a charm and creative force seldom seen elsewhere. Never again will you be able to confidently stray towards the shadowy places of this earth. "There are worlds beneath your feet..."
You can learn more about Neverwhere and find out purchasing info at Amazon.com.
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