Sign in with Facebook
James's Reviews > Neverwhere
Neverwhere (London Below, #1)
by
by
Picture Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Really good books right? Now imagine if someone took the first book and mad libbed characters, settings, monsters, etc, so that you were left with the exact same story except instead of travelling the galaxy with your crazy friend and the most powerful man in the universe, you were travelling in haunted British sewers with a nerd's wet dream of a Xena warrior princess rival and a Gothic princess who can unlock doors (sigh). I don't think there is much of a coincidence either because Gaiman wrote the Hitchhiker's companion in the early 80s, as well as conducted interviews with Adams while he was alive (not to mention took writing tips from him). The only saving grace for me with this book was the fact that there someone actually made a miniseries on the BBC of it that is actually so bad that it makes the book look half way decent. Between all the cliche characters, cheesy narration, and formulaic plot, its just not worth your money or a read, especially when Hitch Hiker exists already. I've said it before, stick to American Gods and The Sandman when it comes to Gaiman.
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
Neverwhere.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Started Reading
December 1, 2005
–
Finished Reading
October 23, 2007
– Shelved
October 23, 2007
– Shelved as:
fantasy
Comments Showing 1-20 of 20 (20 new)
date
newest »
newest »
I love this review. I think you should write books.
Great review, though I would NEVER recommend for kids.
Wow - I grew up listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide (radio version) and read through the 'trilogy' for the first time when I was about 14, yet when I read Neverwhere didn't note any similarities. Now that you mention it I guess I can see some small ones, like the main character 1)being a pushover and 2)traveling unwillingly into a world he's unfamiliar with and uncomfortable in. But then there are so many stories that take a main character into a new world - I usually draw closer parallels between this book and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. If you really want to compare these 2 writers, I'd suggest looking at Adams' The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul and Gaiman's American Gods. Even with the great similarities between these 2, though, I'd still say both books have their own value and deserve to be read.Anyway, in the end everyone has their own experience with each book - so sorry you didn't enjoy this one. Have you tried any of his other works?
I have no idea how can you compare those two books. They have nothing in common. If you strip everything from a book you will always end up with some pointless quest. But it is the writting that counts and neverwhere has plenty of it.
First let me say that I loved it. It's the characters that make it so amazing for me. What I really wanted to comment on however was the BBC miniseries. Did you know that the miniseries came first, then Gaiman wrote the novel? Strange but true. I myself won't watch it because I'm scared it will ruin the images I have of the book in my head already. Anyway. Interesting view on the book. Thanks.
I didn't notice any similarities to the Hitchhikers Guide, but my husband did immediately. I felt it was disconnected compared to other things I'd read of his. Like there was no emotion and that he didn't even care about the characters, so why should I? I felt like he just shat on the book and it was so awful I couldn't even finish it. Thanks so much for this for review. It was such a relief to see someone else who didn't give it 5 stars.
I don't mean to split hairs, but don't you think Adams was drawing on Tolkien when he wrote Hitchhiker? Bilbo is kind of one of the original fish out of water characters- a stumbling bumbling everyman thrown into a dangerous adventurous world that is bigger than he originally thought. And as for the miniseries think about Doctor Who- the BBC used to be known for it's low budget special effect sci-fi programming.
Petra X wrote: "I love this review. I think you should write books."Are you high?
For me it was intresting that some one picked up the similarities between Adam's works and this book, very clever, I must say. But what then? Makes the book even more interesting. There is intertextuality everywhere, and if it is not straight copying, then we shouldn't compare two books, but evaluate them as individual works. Nice review. :)
Let me say I'm no expert but I read these both in succession hitchhiker then neverwhere and really I didn't notice any similarities. What I did note was a sort of tip of the hat from Gaiman to authors such as Adams. I believe these "similarities" many pick up is just influence. But that's like saying philosophy and psychology are the same study because parts of both of them talk about the mind. Not really a fair point to make, but I can see how with this mindset the book would become a 2 star.
I don't necessarily agree with your review (I enjoyed this whimsical book quite a bit), but I have to admit, I kept seeing Martin Freeman--who played Arthur Dent in the Hollywood production of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy--as Richard Mayhew in my head. So I think you're on to something here.
started reading HitchHikers..should try it again.
James, uh uh. No. Hitchhiker's Guide and Neverwhere are apples and oranges. If one distills most books to their fundamental stories, there are only a few distinct storylines. Just as when apples and oranges are reduced to their descriptive purpose, they are similar. However, when comparing the qualities of apples and oranges beyond their very primal purpose of delivering seeds, they are qualitatively very, very different--just as these two books are. Respectfully, your review is just words cobbled together to in a pseudo-intellectual way for the singular purpose of just saying something, if nothing at all.
Neverwhere and Hitchhiker's are nowhere near to the same, hon. Neil doesn't steal storylines.
...but didn't this come out before The Hitchhiker's Guide? Just wondering. I've never read it before but I thought it came out in the 00's or something...
...sorry. i should've researched that before thinking it's just another movie made from a book. i didn't mean to offend. but I guess I'll have to read it to understand. cheerio.
I was bored to death with Hitchiker's Guide, so maybe this book will be right up my ally.
James, I couldn't get past the first 50 pages or so. I don't much care for fantasy/soft syfy. I did read all the Hitchhiker books, I found them good. I might try American Gods, though.
Thank you for writing this. I kept thinking, Hitchhiker's Guide... Hitchhiker's Guide. If this were a film, we'd call it a remake (or reboot, or something). I kept wondering if it was just me.
And after it going on and on and on with me wondering why I was persisting I finally came here before giving up.
You've saved me a lot of time, and left me feeling a bit more sane.
(also i have only just seen the voting for liking a review and didn't realize you can only vote to like, not to disagree)