On the home stretch! Fewer than 10 more books to complete my 52-book challenge! A book a week for the entire year!
And I'm proud to include Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" on that list.
Gaiman is known for dark and compelling fantasy; I've read "American Gods" by him, and found it wonderfully disquieting and haunting. "Neverwhere" is much the same, in which our narrator stumbles on an entire world beneath our own, full of hidden passages, magic, impossible twists in time and space, and dark monsters and wondrous beings, sometimes in the very same person.
In "Neverwhere", our protagonist, Richard, inadvertently stumbles into this "other world" when he stops to help an injured girl in the street. The book is one of Gaiman's first, and the roughness does show a bit, but it's still astounding.
One of the signs of a good novel, I believe, is that there are many threads left unanswered. Not in the story, but little side passages that beckon for more explanation. In "Neverwhere," for example, one merchant hawks dreams for sale, calling out to passers-by.
What do these purchased dreams do? We never know, and it's not a part of the story. But now I want to know more, and I'm left wondering!
That's the sign of a good, compelling story.
Time to read: 2.5 hours, while sitting in Durango, CO.
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