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When I first joined Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, I started seeing Neil Gaiman's name pop up everywhere. At first I was a little puzzled that I was not familiar with such a popular author who had obviously been around for a while. But when I thought about it, it isn't that odd since I have spent many years avoiding the Fantasy genre. Occasionally I would dip a toe in, but I was most often quickly stung by the tentacles of the ostentatious, cheesy Fantasy out there which always sent me running back to the other side of Reading Land to the safety of my mountains of Historical Fiction and Mystery. I was surprised to find that I had seen (and liked) at least three movies based on Gaiman's books. Thus heartened, I decided to give his work a try.

And now I thoroughly understand why he is so popular! He has a unique flare and style. The world he built is unique enough to stand out, but not different enough to be bizarre or off-putting. It was a fun and adventurous journey. And I loved Gaiman's little bits of dry wit that were sprinkled throughout the book. I will choose subtle sarcasm over in-your-face, trying too hard humor any day.

The main character, Richard Mayhew, was a delightful underdog. Gaiman managed to make Richard endearingly awkward and naive without being bumbling or stupid.

The one thing that bugged me about this book was the character of Mr. Vandemar. He was described in the beginning as this scary, wolfish character; but as the book progressed, I felt that he became more and more of a stereotypical big, dumb thug. And compared to the colorful characters surrounding him, he felt so flat. But this is a minor complaint really, and did not really take away from my enjoyment of the book.

Finally, I would like to mention that the Audiobook version of the story read by the author was simply amazing! Sometimes it really is best to have a creator of characters be the one to give them voice as well, and Neil Gaiman is certainly on of those cases. I absolutely loved listening to him read this book and I can't wait to hear more from him!

This review fulfills the "Funny Book" category of the Popsugar reading challenge.