Neverwhere
A novel by Neil Gaiman

Wow. Where to begin? Well, firstly, if you don't know Neil Gaiman, get thy ass to a bookstore or comic shop and take a wad of cash with you. Words do not exist for how good this guy is. I know, I looked them up. As someone who would like to fancy herself a writer, Gaiman is a man I love, even though he makes me feel horribly inadequate. But that's okay, Joss does it too.

I only picked this book up by chance. The chance that the bookstore I went to had decided that they only needed to have a couple dozen books in their sci-fi/fantasy section. And does it bug anyone else that those two are lumped together, when in a righteous and sane world they would each get their own shelves? Or room. I would settle for a room for each. But luckily I saw Neverwhere. And since a huge chunk of my future earnings are already committed to buying all the Sandman comics, I figured, why not? Well, that and the same person who told me I would like Sandman told me to get this book. (Hey, Mikkie!)

Neverwhere was originally a BBC series, but I never saw it, so I have nothing to compare it with, although I'm told that since the book was written after the show, it avoids those translation pitfalls that make you all cringe-y. Richard Mayhew was just a guy in London with a decent job and a bossy girlfriend. But then he made the mistake of actually helping someone and was sucked into the strange underworld of London. Remember, girls, no good deed goes unpunished. And there's running through subways and an angel called Islington and people who can talk to rats and a girl named Door who opens things and all sorts of things that can safely be called wacked out. It's not a very good summary, but I don't think I could really do the book justice by summarizing it. So just go read it for whatever's sake! Honestly, would I lie to you?

Don't answer that.

Richard has a nice Arthur Dent vibe to him and the book is funny in places without trying too hard. Also, the villains, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, are the scariest guys to waltz into my frontal lobes since David Bowie scared the crap out of me in Labyrinth as a child.

RE-READ FACTOR: Hell, yes! I went to a party after buying the book and was reading it instead of participating. Of course, you may like fajitas more than I do, so that may not necessarily be your reaction.

SEQUEL FACTOR: Possibly. The door is certainly open at the end of the story, but I hear Neil's a busy guy, so who knows?

STRONG CHICK FACTOR: Oh goody! Unlike last month, I am able to deliver up not one, but two kick ass chicks. Door is great, a fully realized character who knows how to handle herself in a crisis. But Hunter takes the cake. She is the best hunter is the whole entire world and spends the whole book kicking one ass after another. She's an inspiration to us all.

-- Alicia Thompson

Neverwhere, published by Avon Books, is currently available in paperback.

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