Loved the author as narrator of the book! Great story! First read in 2012.

Neil

This was a book with many good moments. The plot was riveting, there were scenes that were just so well-written that they gave me shivers, and the overall imagery of the novel was just beautiful. If I could paint some moments from this novel, I would, because they were just that well-described and beautiful.
Overall though, the book sort of fell flat for me. The characters were boring- Richard as perhaps the most dry Average White Guy author stand-in I've ever read (which is really saying something), who has sexual tension with literally every single woman he meets (including those described as being young and childlike, yuck), who is bad at literally EVERYTHING he attempts and still ends up more powerful and respected than most of the characters in the novel at the end, whose goal is so uncompelling that I found myself begging for the point of view to switch back to the villains and side characters who at least had a tiny amount of interestingness. Gaiman must describe the eyes of every female character using a flower or gemstone, except for the token Ambiguously Brown Exotic Woman, who must be described as "caramel" every time she is brought up, no exceptions. No characters other than Richard really had any agency, nobody's character arc was truly completed except Richard's, overall the entire world seemed to revolve around the whiny, flat main character. This came at the expense of learning more about the world of London Below, which was crafted so well, and it led to my complete lack of empathy when characters were captured, tortured, or killed off.
The book was so concerned about making sure I KNEW that Richard was a coward who only wanted to go home and didn't like being in danger, that it forgot to give me a reason to care about anyone else.
I had high hopes for this book, but I just couldn't do it. 2.5 stars.

I read this after American Gods and can't wait to start the sandman series next! A dreamlike look into a world we've all been to on some level or another. A whimsically serious journey to come to the reality of growing past your biological age. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Very typical Gaiman, in all the best ways! It's whimsical without being childish, a good balance of serious and comical, and as usual a variety of characters from totally relatable to mystifyingly foreign.

Audiobook note: Neil reads this himself and is WONDERFUL. Because of his narration, I think I enjoyed it more than I would have if I'd read it with my eyes!

What an excellent specimen for falling in love with London! Not once from when I started this book hav I stopped thinking about it and about London Below.

Super random but fun style, great vibes

This book gave me a weird sense of Deja vu the whole time I was reading it. I've had it on my to-read list for a long time, so when my book club decided to read it, I was quite happy. But I feel like I've read it before. Perhaps that's why I only gave it three stars. I thought it was interesting, but I would have liked to know more about London Below. For example, Roman soldiers are mentioned and then we never hear about them again. Although there is quite a bit of world building, I would've liked more. All in all, a good book, but not my favorite. I still can't decide if I have read it once before or not, but that could contribute to how much I liked the book.

I don't know if I didn't love this book because it took me almost 9 months to finish it and even had to restart it, or if it took me 9 months etc. because I didn't love it in the first place. At any rate I did not like it as much as American Gods and its sequel. I listened to the audio version, narrated by the author, and his portrayal of the hero was great, especially if you are fond of Shrek. My rating is really 3.5. There was a good amount of humor, as you would expect from Gaiman. He excels at the creation of fantasy worlds that intermingle with the world we experience and allow the elevation of an every day kind of guy to a hero.