• Neverwhere

  • By: Neil Gaiman
  • Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
  • Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (41,333 ratings)

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Neverwhere  By  cover art

Neverwhere

By: Neil Gaiman
Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
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Publisher's summary

National Best Seller

Selected as one of NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of All Time

The number one New York Times best-selling author's wildly successful first novel featuring his new Neverwhere tale, "How the Marquis Got His Coat Back".

Richard Mayhew is a young man with a good heart and an ordinary life, which is changed forever when he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. His small act of kindness propels him into a world he never dreamed existed. There are people who fall through the cracks, and Richard has become one of them. And he must learn to survive in this city of shadows and darkness, monsters and saints, murderers and angels, if he is ever to return to the London that he knew.

"A fantastic story that is both the stuff of dreams and nightmares" (San Diego Union-Tribune), Neil Gaiman's first solo novel has become a touchstone of urban fantasy and a perennial favorite of readers and listeners everywhere.

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©1996, 1997, 2014 Neil Gaiman (P)2007, 2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Gaiman's gift for mixing the absurd with the frightful gives this novel the feeling of a bedtime story with adult sophistication. Readers will find themselves as unable to escape this tale as the characters themselves." ( Library Journal)
"Delightful…inventively horrific."( USA Today)
"[Gaiman] is, simply put, a treasure house of story, and we are lucky to have him in any media." (Stephen King)

Featured Article: The Best Neil Gaiman Listens of All Time


"I make things up and write them down"—that’s how Neil Gaiman has humbly described his work. And he must be pretty good at it too, because many, many people count themselves as fans. He’s written novels, short fiction, nonfiction, comic books, books for children, graphic novels, films, and audio dramas in genres from mythic fantasy to horror. With so many Neil Gaiman works to get through, here's what you won’t want to miss in audio.

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What listeners say about Neverwhere

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    26,803
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Meandering into a dirty, ugly, world

Yes! An author, narrating his own work, with a very cool accent! And, a good start, with a protagonist who is unhappy and needs a change in his life! But then, all of the changes are BAD! They are awful! I kept waiting for something good to happen, and nothing did! The London underground is dirty, and nasty, and filled with awful, dirty, nasty people! The best thing that happened to the hero was that he didn't die! I was very disappointed. I had, based upon the other reviews, expected to like this book; and I was hoping it would improve as the plot developed. It didn't and this is one I am "returning" for a refund. Sorry Neil Gaiman.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not for the Literal-Minded

I was fooled by the rave reviews and by how much I enjoyed reading Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. I thought, "Maybe fantasy-type literature CAN be good--if you find a wonderful writer . . . and I think Gaiman might be wonderful." Silly me. After three or four agonizing hours, I admit I gave it up. Fantasy-type literature, I gather, is wonderful for some people, but for those of us who just like the real world, or the realistic world of classic fiction, man, we need to remember the many painful lessons we've learned about throwing away hard-won credits on fantastical worlds created just parrallel to or floating about and beyond terra firma. I can't explain even to myself why (my type?) of person can absolutely love The Graveyard Book, or say, Harry Potter, but find this adult fantasy reading to be boring beyond words. My criticism is highly subjective, but will perhaps save some other like-minded peruser from making the same mistake as I keep making. Never again: from now on it's history, nonfiction, and Great Authors writing Great earth-bound fictional literature.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

ok. kind of lost my interest after a bit.

struggled to finish. I was hoping for something to happen to wake the story back up, but never really took off for me. Nice storyline, but. ...eh

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Male Rite of Passage

In a classical sense, this book is a male rite of passage novel. It opens with Richard Mayhew being almost totally self absorbed with his life, a theme that continues almost until the end of the book. But Richard's "passage" which one could call his ordeal, begins when he bends down to save the Lady Door Portico who lives in London Below. This is when Richard's London Above disappears and he begins to see that the world is more than the sum of his own life. In this novel, Richard grows by doing for others via a quest that is about saving the life of Door, and some of her mystical friends. The ultimate objective of Door's is to continue her father's work of uniting the Londons, to which many of the evil characters in London Below are opposed. Richard does, indeed, become an unlikely hero, although the reader never fully likes him. The reader simply wants to. He is annoying. And yet Gaiman does this on purpose. As a man, or a woman, stretches and grows beyond what they believe is their capability, it isn't with gusto, enthusiasm, and full confidence. It is much more like Mayhew - with tentativeness and maybe not even with willingness. The human condition is such that adversity is what makes us stronger and wiser - maybe even by accident. And it enhances our world view. This is Richard's rite of passage and Gaiman handles it very well. Read by the author, the book does move somewhat slowly, but you can't help but want to finish it.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Ah Gaiman

If you like a great voice reading you fairy tales this is the guy. Yes, it does remind you a little of Rowling with it's subway stations - but he not only did it first, but it's different. I'm never sad to relisten to a Gaiman tale. Don't miss his others. In fact, not to hear Anansi Boys or frankly, any is a mistake.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Could not get into this book

I like Gaiman’s shorter reads, but this... I ended up giving up on this title after hours of listening, much to my regret. The narration is great, but the meandering story and annoying characters made it impossible to get through. Some other reviews state the ending is just ok, so I’d rather not invest 6 more hours to see if they’re right.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Potential wasted.

What would have made Neverwhere better?

Guide lines or rules of any kind for how the fantasy parts of this world work. This book has no framework so it feels like things are just made up as you go along. The main character gives many reasonable questions and is frustrated by how few answers he gets, perfectly mirroring the listener.

What could Neil Gaiman have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Hired someone else to narrate, and cut or explained more than half the characters. Some show up for no other apparent reason than to world build, but then don't build anything. If just a bit more time had been spent ironing out the details, I would have enjoyed the title.

What didn’t you like about Neil Gaiman’s performance?

Ran into this a bit on another title of his, he's just really not cut out to be a narrator. He has no sense of timing of the lines and can often go very slow for no real reason. I will grant him, he couldn't ask for a better voice, as he is pleasant on the ears, but otherwise, he really shouldn't narrate.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Neverwhere?

Not a single one. The book is plagued by a lack of world building content, and cutting anything could make in incomprehensible.

Any additional comments?

Just disappointing really, though I will grant it was his first published title. Details, they're important. And avoid Marry Sue characters! I'm looking at you Hunter.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Wonderfully fantastical setting

Richard Mayhew has a life that most men would envy: He???s got a good job, a nice apartment in London, and he???s about to be married to a beautiful wealthy woman. But when he stops to help a girl (named Door) in the street, Richard soon finds that he???s slipped through the cracks into Neverwhere: a magical and frightening underground London that people like Richard never knew existed. How could he have known that his Random Act of Kindness would ruin everything? And, most importantly, how can he get his old life back?

Neil Gaiman rarely fails to amuse me with his creative concepts, quirky humor, and over-the-top villains, and Neverwhere, the novelization of his BBC television program of the same name, has all that. What it doesn???t have is a tight and gripping plot or exciting and well-developed heroes. Richard is an average guy who???s mostly along for the ride and Door and her monster-hunter bodyguard (named Hunter) aren???t too stimulating either. The best characters are the caricatured villains, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, ancient assassins who enjoy killing famous world leaders and biting the heads off kittens. This is totally and purposely overdone, and humorous because of it.

What makes Neverwhere worth reading is, without doubt, its wonderfully fantastical setting: an alternate London Underground. After visiting Neverwhere, you???ll never look at a London Tube Station map the same way again. Ever wonder how Earl???s Court Station got its name? Well, obviously, because a medieval lord holds court there. Who are the Blackfriars? And what about Islington at Angel Station? You???ll meet them all and discover what they???re up to in Neverwhere. I am not familiar with Underground London, but Neil Gaiman made me want to don a headlamp and begin exploring its closed off tunnels and tracks (???Mind the Gap!???). He could have done more with this setting, so I hope that someday he???ll write another novel in this world (a sequel has been rumored for years).

The other aspect of Neverwhere that I think is really well done is Richard???s confusion about what is real. Is he really in another world below London, or is he just going mad? It???s estimated that ??? to ?? of the homeless are schizophrenic and Gaiman captured their delusional behaviors so well, explaining them in the context of Neverwhere.

???Neil Himself??? narrated the audio version I listened to. He???s a good reader and his voice is always pleasant, but I think it???s a little too light and upbeat for some of the darker scenes in Neverwhere. Still, it???s nice to hear the author???s interpretation of his own work.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A girl called Door

I loved this story. I had just finished The graveyard book and decided to listen to another Neil Gaiman book. This was a perfect choice. The story is much more mature than the graveyard book, yet it maintains the 'fantasical' feel. The characters are interesting and so well detailed you would be able to identify them in a line up. Gaiman is so talented that his fantasy world feels timeless and makes you want to visit London below. Although i would bring a packed lunch.

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WHO RATED THIS BOOK?

I THOUGHT I WAS DOWNLOADING A FANTASTIC BOOK BY READING THE REVIEWS. IT WAS SO BORING, I FAST FORWARDED THROUGH MOST OF IT JUST TO GET TO THE END TO FIND OUT WHAT FINALLY HAPPENS. MY FRIEND TOLD ME THE SAME THING ABOUT THIS DOWNLOAD.

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