• Author: Neil Gaiman
• Series: Neverwhere #1
• No. of pages: 448
• Dates read: 18.09.20 – 24.09.20
• Star Rating: 3

Plot: Under the streets of London lies a world most people could never dream of. When Richard Mayhew helps a mysterious girl he finds bleeding on the pavement, his boring life changes in an instant. Her name is Door, she’s on the run from two assassins in black suits and she comes from London Below. His act of kindness leads him to a place filled with monsters and angels, a Beast in a labyrinth and an Earl who holds Court in a Tube train. It is strangely familiar yet utterly bizarre.

This going to be quite a short review this week. As I don’t have too much to say about this book.

I have a very middle of the road feel for this novel. Some elements of it I really enjoyed and other elements of it just didn’t work for me. When I looked at giving it a start rating the pros did not out weigh the cons so I decided on an average rating for it.

Starting off with the pros.

I loved the world of London Below and I really enjoyed exploring and learning every small facet of it that we could. I thought it was so creative and imaginative. Gaiman has never failed to introduce readers to exciting never thought of before worlds and London Below was it. I loved seeing how this crazy world merged with the world we know and seeing the intersection between these worlds was so much fun.

I also really enjoyed the eccentric and diverse cast of characters they were really fun. No character was the same or a carbon copy of another. I loved meeting these characters and seeing what quirks Gaiman decided to bestow on them.

Now we must get to the cons.

Sadly, I found the pacing to be really slow. At times, it felt my brain was walking through mud it was that slow. I would get so excited to pick it up and then about 5 pages in I would want to put it down because the pace was just to snail-like.

I also wasn’t a big fan of the main character Richard. He came across bland and boring and at times irritating. Especially when every other character is super fun and full of personality, this just made it more apparent how boring Richard as a character was. And I know he is meant to be like that as he enters the world and it’s meant to contrast London Above and Below but he never got interesting. He was a very one note character for me.

The next book I will be reviewing is Peril at End House by Agatha Christie. Now, I actually know who the murderer is before I read this book so you might get a different kind of review next week.