Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

There is London Above and there is London Below, the London we all know and the London of those who have slipped through the cracks. "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman is the story of Richard Mayhew a man who, when he saves a girl he finds bleeding on the pavement, enters a world that he never should have known existed. Through a series of fantastical quests and journeys through his familiar London and the tunnels below it that make up a city unto themselves, Richard and Door, the woman he saved, find answers and more questions.

This book was wonderful to read, which comes as no surprise because Neil Gaiman, as far as I have read, exclusively writes stories that are wonderful to read. Something I particularly loved about this book is that the character that would be the obvious protagonist isn't the main protagonist. This story predominantly follows Richard Mayhew, a very regular man, instead of Door, a woman who can make doorways wherever she wants to wherever she wants. But the story is never boring and by the end it is clear that Richard deserves his place in the spotlight. It was a quick read, the story drew me in in such a way that it was hard to put the book down. This was of course helped by the beautiful illustrations by Chris Riddell. Look at them! They're beautiful!

Something that I love that Neil Gaiman does is he republishes his books with pieces that he was made to remove during the original publication. When he wasn't as well known as he is today, his publishers were worried that no one would want to read his longer manuscripts, so he cut them down in order to get published. But he kept those cut out pieces and releases his "Author Preferred Text"s now that he's so big that no one in their right mind would say no to him. It's lovely and it makes me very happy.

I definitely recommend this book. It's beautiful and lovely and super fun to read. This is the kind of book that you could read chunks of over a number of weeks or sit down and read in a single sitting and you're going to get the same wonder out of it. The story goes in directions no one in their right mind would guess at, but become clear if you're paying close enough attention. The illustrated edition is particularly lovely, and I'm glad it's the copy I bought, but I'm sure the regular edition is just as magical.

XO, Ellen