I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.
I didn’t want it end. And when it did? I went straight to Barnes and Noble and bought Gaiman’s American Gods. I wanted more of the rich world this author conjures–whether it’s the world below London, or an American landscape peopled by old and abandoned gods in almost-human forms.
Neverwhere is more magical fiction than it is fantasy. We spend almost as much time in the London we can find on a map and in Fodor’s travel guides as we do in the World Below London. The seam between the two is so imperceptible that one seems no more or less real than the other. Neverwhere is also a classic quest, in which the literal objects for which the main characters are searching represent larger and deeper human desires: acceptance, forgiveness, love, power, redemption, independence, understanding. This metaphor never overwhelms the story, which is peopled with characters and creatures so fresh and real that when Door falls through the portal between London and London Below, we never think twice–we just fall right along with her.
If you are a teen librarian looking for a big dose of the 40 developmental assets for Youth, you will find everything here–from empowerment to social competencies and self identity. Any one of our characters alone could not accomplish the task in front of them, but together, they–literally!–save the world. This is an excellent story, well told, in which the events seem to unfold only a word or two ahead of Gaiman’s writing, making us wonder with every page how things will turn out in the end.
Along the way, teens will find monsters, beasts, villains, love, betrayal, a fallen angel, an elfin heroine, and an unlikely hero–along with the girlfriend from British Upper Class hell. It’s worth the price of admission just to find out what really happened to the lost city of Atlantis.
Of the books I’ve read so far, Neverwhere is the best written, the least didactic, and the most surprising. Variously shelved in YA, fiction, and science fiction, it is an adult book, but more teen friendly than Gaiman’s darker and more explicit novel American Gods. But if I had a teen who liked this fairy-tale-esque adventure, I would not hestitate to recommend all Gaiman’s other work, which includes the critically acclaimed graphic novels from the Sandman series.
Gaiman does a wonderful job offering up what seems at first a modest power–being able to open doors–and makes us think about what that might really mean, and where such a power might take us–and at what personal cost.
Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!
