Title: Neverwhere

Author: Neil Gaiman

Publisher: William Morrow 2003

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 503

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Neil Gaiman; ebook; 52 Books -- W13; Book Bingo -- 4 from TBR

Richard Mayhew is a young man with a good heart and an ordinarylife, 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.

The book takes the reader down a dark path (literally) and through the twisting corridors of the London Below. I loved following Richard Mayhew, an average ordinary guy, along his journey. I loved his ordinary-ness. He's like so many people: living day to day, working at an average job, going through the motions. Until that is he helps a young women on the sidewalk. From there, Gaiman pulls the reader through a familiar but not quite right world. The side characters we encounter liven up the dark world under. The Marquis reminds me of the Cheshire Cat. Door is a great damsel-not-so-in-distress. Old Bailey shines as a helpful guide. Vandemer and Croup are certainly villainous. This book was amazing. A must read and a another great twisted adventure from Gaiman.