The Not Daily Stuntz — Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Over the last couple weeks I had time to read a few books of various genres and was fortunate to enjoy all of them. The first one was Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I have read Norse Mythology by him, but saw this on a few top 100 lists for fantasy so I dove in. Also, for all books in 2021, I am not going to review or critique them as much and really just focus on what I liked. If I did not like a book, I likely didnt finish it and I wont write about it here as time is precious and there is enough negativity out there.

Neverwhere has an interesting backstory in that it was originally a TV series and Neil wanted to add to it and change a few things and a novel was the way to do that. I have not seen the TV series, but the book is excellent. Plot summaries wont do this book justice as the details and characters really make it, but at a high level, the book is about a young man named Richard Mayhew who has a normal life in London until he stops to help an injured person. This leads to him seemingly becoming invisible to the London he knows, but a part of London Below, a fascinating world under the ground with colorful characters. This general idea of a world beneath or around or hidden in the “real world” worked well as London Below is similar enough but also very unique.

There were many positives about the book and it is shorter than most fantasy books so just read it. One of the biggest positives was the scenes and characters in the London Below. I thought that I might be at disadvantage as I am not familiar with London, the setting which plays an important role, so if you are you might enjoy it even more, but I still felt very drawn into the scenes, details, and world that Neil built. The characters in the London Below were interesting and similar to those in the normal world while being different which always kept me engaged. Richard also became a positive for me, going from being just sort of there with interesting things happening around him to being someone to root for. Finally, there is also a lot of humor in the book which I always appreciate in fantasy books. If you are creating a whole new world and characters, why not make them funny?

The only thing I will be critical about is Neverwhere is listed as 1 of 2 books in a series, but the second book doesn’t exist yet. Goodreads has it with a 2021 release date but who knows. Hopefully it comes out soon as I really enjoyed my time in the London Below and want to go back.