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The Graveyard Book
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
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Publisher's summary
The original audiobook edition of the acclaimed novel, read by the author!
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman, has sold more than one million copies and is the only novel ever to win both the Newbery Medal and the Carnegie Medal.
Nobody Owens is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place - he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their ghostly teachings - such as the ability to Fade so mere mortals cannot see him.
Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead?
Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, The Graveyard Book is the winner of the Newbery Medal, the Carnegie Medal, the Hugo Award for best novel, the Locus Award for Young Adult novel, the American Bookseller Association's "Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book", a Horn Book Honor, and Audio Book of the Year.
Critic reviews
- Hugo Award, Best Novel, 2009
- Newbery Medal winner, 2009
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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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Guillermo
- 10-12-09
Masterful Fantasy for the Jaded Heart
I just put my finger on why I find Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book and Neverwhere so enchanting. As a kid (roughly age 10 to 13) I used to love reading books like the Sword of Shanara, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Circle of Light, Elric of Melnibone, Chronicles of Amber, Grey Mouser and Fafhard, The Dragon and the George, The Compleat Enchanter, etc. They were books of a different world with with rules of magic I could believe were real. They had not only villains and heroes, children who became men, and powers discovered, but they made me feel like I could be part of battles between order and chaos, mages and warriors, gods and men, monsters and me.
Somewhere along the line in the thirty years that followed I gradually lost the desire or will to escape the rules of nature. I gradually lost my passion for fantasy and got drawn more to hard science fiction or murder mysteries or at least stories with a hard basis on reality, even if a reality poetically described.
When I hear Neil Gaiman's books, however, I am drawn all the way back, full force, into a world of all new rules. Everything becomes possible, and it all feels real.
I noticed that most of the negative reviews for this book are by people who bought it for their small children. This book is no more for small children than a Tolkien book would be. What it is, however, is for grown ups who miss the magic of childhood.
This book is magical.
270 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Lisa
- 10-01-08
This is Gaiman's best!
I devoured it like candy!! And Gaimen's narration has gotten so great. Really, really, great! I highly recommend this book for adults and those children who's parents trust them with a wee bit of violence and horror. Its a coming of age but one that beautifully and artfully acknowledges that the past,even the distant past, is a powerful force of life all around us, that those who walked before us could be closer then they seem, and they might be loving and sympathetic. I listened to the book straight through, in one sitting, I couldn't help it!
101 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Paula A Ford
- 12-13-09
Delightful!
I bought this around Halloween for me, a 50+ lady. I wanted something spooky, but not really scary and this was just what I was looking for. It was delightful and fun and I just loved the story. AAAAA++++++ Just wonderful!!
92 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Richard
- 10-09-08
Pure Fantasy
I rated this book a five but I should state that this book is targeted toward tweens or young teens. I believe there is too much murder and scary stuff for younger than that. As for older than that, this is a trip down the dark side of the rabbit hole. I enjoyed the book though and I am 68 years old. You have to suspend your disbelief no matter your age. The author is so talented and the narrator so perfect that I got a kick out of the book enjoying the fact that it is such a stretch of the imagination. I don't usually enjoy music during a reading but the playing of a variation of the Sherlock Holmes theme was perfect in this book and added to the fun. If you like fantasy then this is the book for you.
51 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Sara R.
- 05-06-09
Takes the gloom out of lugubrious
I enjoyed this book very much. It is well written, interesting and the author's use of language gives an extra kick, like an elusive spice in a soup.
To be honest I almost turned it off after the first couple of minutes, but don't want to spoil. Let us just say that the story cannot take place without this bit, just struck a tad close to home for me.
Luckily I was driving mach 80 down the interstate and couldn't fiddle with my iPod at the time. I am now delighted that fate compelled me wait a couple of minutes, otherwise I would have missed out.
The story is a good one and has a very original twist.
Insofar as it goes as an audio book, it is fantastic. This is a book that begs to be read aloud and comes alive in the most marvelous way. The reader does a splendid job.
Now, as an aside - my husband recently ran out of shaving soap. As matter of fact, the week after I finished listening to this book. He ran up to Target to get some shaving soap. He came home with a bottle of "Every Man Jack" saving soap. I actually got chills, I was scared to pieces and had to tell myself it would be silly to make him take it back.
I didn't think the book all that scary, wrong. The story weaves its way into your psyche and finds a place to live (always the mark of an exceptionally fine piece of literature).
All in all, definitely a top drawer listen!
46 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Tim
- 12-14-09
Another Superb Gaiman Book
I have come a little late to the whole Gaiman thing. I tripped over his book Neverwhere and that led me to this. It's positioned as a children's story but the funny,dark driven and enormously likable story makes it a must-hear for anybody. The fact that Gaiman is such a brilliant performer of his own work compounds the effect. Gaiman creates a wonderful completely credible alternate reality which sits just behind the cemetery fence.Although I now live in the US I was raised in London and that perhaps prejudices me towards this author who is so quintessentially Brit. If you are new to Gaiman then get this book and get Neverwhere at the same time. You will then spend many more hours than you need to sitting in your car parked on your driveway not wanting to leave the world he weaves around you. If you already know Gaimin and haven't yet enjoyed this book...what are you waiting for?
27 people found this helpful
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Overall
- J. Stokes
- 03-19-10
A fun listen for tweens and up
This book has a lot of charm; it keeps you interested through storyline and a terrific narrator. I wrote for "tweens and up" because there are a couple of violent parts that you only understand by "reading between the lines" My 13 y.o. would get it but my 8 y.o. would be lost - which is okay because if my 8 y.o. understood what was happening, he wouldn't sleep in his own bed for a month!
19 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Cora Judd
- 10-14-08
If there are any gods in heaven...
...then there will be a sequel.
The Graveyard Book is an expansion of Gaiman's own short story, The Witch's Headstone, and a super fun read. The story has Gaiman's trademark other world elements but the comparison ends there.
Bod (Nobody Owens) is an orphaned boy raised by the permanent inhabitants of an old English graveyard. His quiet, anonymous little life is actually something very different. Discovering who he is is the spark for his outrageous adventures.
I gathered (from the reviews) that this was intended for more literate teens. That won't preclude a more mature lover of a good yarn from getting carried away with Bod's darkish adventures. There's no Freddy Kruger nonsense or Stephen King hauntings here -- it's delightfully different.
Also, Gaiman reads this himself and you don't have to pay extra for that!!
19 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Danzer
- 09-17-09
Parents should listen first
This is a great book and wonderfully read (by the author?). HOWEVER... parents might want to listen to it first. The first scene is, well, to put it bluntly, the narrative of a professional murderer stabbing to death two parents and a little girl. It's pretty violent. The story really starts with the second scene, where the baby is "adopted" by ghosts in the graveyard, and if you think the scene of murder will bother your child overmuch, you can probably just skip right over it without losing much plot.
But this is a very good book, and the reader is really, really good, especially with the children's voices.
18 people found this helpful
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- J. Rhoderick
- 04-19-10
A fine children's story but not worth a Hugo
Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book is a simple story about Nobody "Bod" Owens who, after his family is murdered, takes refuge in a graveyard and is raised by ghosts. It is a milieu story designed to explore Gaiman's strange world of ghosts and ghouls and many other weird things. It will leave any young reader wide-eyed. Bod, despite being raised by ghosts, is a fairly normal kid. In fact, he is so normal that he is boring. We follow along as he explores the graveyard and gets into trouble. The story picks up when Bod uses his ghostly powers for good against a pair of school bullies. Finally, Bod goes toe to toe with the villain in a G-rated showdown that will please concerned mothers.
I have never much liked Gaiman's style. He tries too hard to be clever and he offsets this by trivially naming his main character "Nobody" or always referring to the character Jack as "the man Jack." Gaiman is absurdly creative but he struggles to control it. His creativity gushes forth feverishly into every aspect of his story which puts me off. But that is Gaiman.
It is unfair to criticize The Graveyard Book by the standards of adult fiction. This is a story aimed at younger, less discriminating audiences. The problem I have is that this book won a Hugo award and this is why I read it. This book definitely does not belong in the same category as Starship Troopers, The Forever War, or Spin. While some adults may like The Graveyard Book, I thought it was too "cute" and even annoying (Any villain worth his salt should know better than to reveal his plans in a twenty minute conversation with his victims.)
If you are a Gaiman fan or if you enjoy young adult fiction, you will like this. It is clever and fun. But if you are looking for something more substantial, as I was, look elsewhere.
13 people found this helpful
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Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack - who has already killed Bod's family…
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Perhaps a different format?
- By Karen on 11-03-10
By: Neil Gaiman
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane
- A Novel
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. He is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie - magical, comforting, wise beyond her years - promised to protect him, no matter what.
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Shadows Dissolved in Vinegar
- By Cynthia on 06-20-13
By: Neil Gaiman
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Smoke and Mirrors
- Short Fictions and Illusions
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Smoke and Mirrors, Gaiman's imagination and supreme artistry transform a mundane world into a place of terrible wonders - where an old woman can purchase the Holy Grail at a thrift store, where assassins advertise their services in the Yellow Pages under "Pest Control," and where a frightened young boy must barter for his life with a mean-spirited troll living beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks.
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almost perfect
- By Jorge I. Figueroa on 12-10-14
By: Neil Gaiman
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Neverwhere
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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.
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Truly outstamding!
- By RJT on 10-27-07
By: Neil Gaiman
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M is for Magic
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Best-selling author and master storyteller Neil Gaiman here presents a breathtaking collection of tales that will chill or amuse readers and that always embrace the unexpected.
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It's only OK
- By Hallie Murray on 08-29-12
By: Neil Gaiman
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The Graveyard Book: Full-Cast Production
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman, Derek Jacobi, Robert Madge, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack - who has already killed Bod's family…
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Unique children's story... Loved it!
- By shelley on 12-04-17
By: Neil Gaiman
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Fragile Things
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Marvelous creations, including a short story set in the world of The Matrix and others set in the worlds of gothic fiction and children's fiction, can be found in this extraordinary collection, which showcases Gaiman's storytelling brilliance as well as his entertaining (and dark) sense of humor.
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Perhaps a different format?
- By Karen on 11-03-10
By: Neil Gaiman
-
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
- A Novel
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. He is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie - magical, comforting, wise beyond her years - promised to protect him, no matter what.
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Shadows Dissolved in Vinegar
- By Cynthia on 06-20-13
By: Neil Gaiman
-
Smoke and Mirrors
- Short Fictions and Illusions
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Smoke and Mirrors, Gaiman's imagination and supreme artistry transform a mundane world into a place of terrible wonders - where an old woman can purchase the Holy Grail at a thrift store, where assassins advertise their services in the Yellow Pages under "Pest Control," and where a frightened young boy must barter for his life with a mean-spirited troll living beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks.
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almost perfect
- By Jorge I. Figueroa on 12-10-14
By: Neil Gaiman
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Neverwhere
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
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Truly outstamding!
- By RJT on 10-27-07
By: Neil Gaiman
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M is for Magic
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author and master storyteller Neil Gaiman here presents a breathtaking collection of tales that will chill or amuse readers and that always embrace the unexpected.
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It's only OK
- By Hallie Murray on 08-29-12
By: Neil Gaiman
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Stardust
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. One crisp October night, as they watch, a star falls from the sky, and Victoria promises to marry Tristran if he'll retrieve the star and bring it back for her. It is this promise that sends Tristran on the most unforgettable adventure of his life.
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This is an ADULT fairytale
- By Rebecca on 01-25-08
By: Neil Gaiman
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Trigger Warning
- Short Fictions and Disturbances
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this new anthology, Neil Gaiman pierces the veil of reality to reveal the enigmatic, shadowy world that lies beneath. Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction--stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013--as well as "Black Dog", a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.
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It Triggered Me to Stay Up Late and Listen
- By Jan on 02-10-15
By: Neil Gaiman
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Neverwhere
- A BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramatisation
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Christopher Lee, James McAvoy, Natalie Dormer, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Beneath the streets of London there is another London. A subterranean labyrinth of sewers and abandoned tube stations. A somewhere that is Neverwhere....
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Don't start here
- By Janice on 11-24-14
By: Neil Gaiman
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Coraline
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.
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Scary, but interesting for both adults and kids
- By Melise on 03-19-08
By: Neil Gaiman
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Norse Mythology
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Neil Gaiman has long been inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction. Now he turns his attention back to the source, presenting a bravura rendition of the great northern tales. In Norse Mythology, Gaiman fashions primeval stories into a novelistic arc that begins with the genesis of the legendary nine worlds; delves into the exploits of the deities, dwarves, and giants; and culminates in Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods and the rebirth of a new time and people.
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A Comedy-Tragedy of Gods Giants Dwarfs & Monsters
- By Jefferson on 02-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman
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The Neil Gaiman Reader
- Fiction
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman, George Guidall, Lenny Henry, and others
- Length: 27 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Spanning Gaiman’s career to date, The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction is a captivating collection from one of the world’s most beloved writers, chosen by those who know his work best: his devoted fans. A brilliant representation of Gaiman's groundbreaking, entrancing, endlessly imaginative fiction, this captivating volume includes excerpts from each of his five novels for adults—Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Anansi Boys, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane—and nearly fifty of his short stories.
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52 Bits of Awesome
- By Southard on 08-11-21
By: Neil Gaiman
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The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
- Length: 1 hr and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
You ask me if I can forgive myself? I can forgive myself. And so begins The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains, a haunting story of family, the otherworld, and a search for hidden treasure. This audiobook is brought to vivid life by the characters and landscape of Gaiman’s award-winning story. In this volume, the talents and vision of two great creative geniuses come together in a glorious explosion of color and shadow, memory and regret, vengeance and, ultimately, love.
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Just for the experience
- By Mel on 08-02-14
By: Neil Gaiman
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American Gods [TV Tie-In]
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 20 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life. But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow's best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday.
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Read other Neil Gaiman first
- By Robert on 04-16-11
By: Neil Gaiman