Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (Mike Carey)

Speaking of Christmas gifts, last Christmas my husband picked my code name out of the company Secret Santa hat by complete coincidence¹. Somehow he found out it was me because of my wish list and went to get me Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere by Mike Carey instead of the Stardust graphic novel I wanted. No matter, it was still a great gift.

When Richard Mayhew stops one day to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk, his life is forever altered, for he finds himself propelled into an alternate reality that exists in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere.

I read the original Neverwhere a few years back and loved the premise of the story, the underground London, an alternate reality within an accepted reality. But I somehow had a hard time visualizing what exactly what was going on. With this graphic novelization by Mike Carey, it gave me a better understanding of what went down and who the characters were. Sure there were a few story changes and pacing to fit the format, as well as some liberate changes to how some of the characters should look but I took these in stride as he still took care to keep the essence of the story in.

I’ve greatly enjoyed the story as well with the visuals from this comic, and recommend it for anyone who already has read the original novel. It also is a good graphic novel by itself if you haven’t read the original yet.

Rating: ★★★★★ 4 of 5 stars [?]

1. We work in the same start-up company, in different departments [↩]