Neverwhere is an excellent example of the ‘hidden world’ sort of urban fantasy –where someone, often from our own world stumbles upon a door or falls through the cracks and finds themselves in another world, just off the beaten track from our own. Harry Potter. Narnia.

There are a lot of amusing uses of language, particularly in taking the London Underground stops literally. Earl’s Court is literally the Court of an (the?) Earl of London Underground. Blackfriars houses the Monastery of the Black Friars. It’s a really neat way to tie the real world into something alltogether more fantastical.

After that, the characters are fascinating. Messrs Coup and Vandermar are the stereotypical odd couple assassins for hire–is that a thing?–one wordy, one bitey. Door is the mystical princess who opens doors. Hunter hunts things. Marquis de Carabas is… just odd. Honestly, the least ineteresting character is probably the protagonist Richard. He’s not much of an active protagonist. He just sort of gets dragged along for the ride. It sort of works though.

Plotwise, nothing is hugely surprising, but there are enough slight variations to keep one interested.

Overall, it’s an excellent read. I highly recommended it.