Having heard so much about Neil Gaiman, I'll admit that this book was a bit underwhelming. I had to start it three separate times before I actually finished it. I understand that it was his first novel and so he's probably grown as a writer and a human since then.

What I liked: I loved the writing style. It's funny, punny, and manages to be light-hearted about very serious topics. The idea of a London made up of people who fell through the cracks is interesting, and I do think he achieves his stated (in the forward) goal of writing an "Alice in Wonderland" or "Narnia" for adults. He includes so many details in his writing that help build the world, and they all end up mattering in the end. His world is compelling because it is both so unfamiliar and so familiar at the same time, and there is just enough description to easily transport you there, but not so much to bore you.

What I didn't like: While the characters are well-defined and stay true to their characterization throughout the plot, I didn't find them that interesting and I couldn't bring myself to like them. The main character is a white man who starts out as a walking doormat, and through his trials becomes less of a doormat but something of an asshole. The supporting characters, who are the only female and non-white characters, are the ones who are actually driving the plot and end up saving the day, but they are written as side characters, and this story is clearly not about them. There is nothing about their happily-ever-after, and they are not the ones who get to live on in infamy for their heroic deeds (though maybe that's because they've already achieved that previously?). The villains are largely evil-for-the-sake-of-evil, and don't have any other driving force.

The main takeaways of this story felt pretty trite. If you go through struggle you can change, ordinary people can be the hero with the help of their friends, the real world is not what it seems and maybe not what it's cracked up to be, etc. I'm not sure I took away anything particularly deep.

Overall, it was an unoriginal read that was still somewhat enjoyable, but I'm happy to be done.

I would consider myself a fan of Neil Gaiman's writing, and Neverwhere has a lot of the charm and soul to it. The protagonist is Richard Mayhew, a boring Londoner in an unsatisfying relationship working a comfortable job that doesn't challenge him. Richard's life is interrupted quite abruptly when Door, a filthy and very injured teenage girl, appears in front of him and asks for help. When Richard accepts, he finds himself on a whirlwind adventure in London Below, an alternate invisible London populated by those who have slipped through the cracks of every day life. It's a place where the worst and the best of humanity are brought within reach through a pliable relationship with reality, and that made it easy to immerse myself in the story. Most of the ensemble cast felt two dimensional to me, but that doesn't mean the characters were boring nor that they didn't successfully fill the narrative role Neil Gaiman cast them in. I find myself revisiting this book when I need something adventurous with a strong emotional through line that I can read in 1-2 sittings. 

I love Gaiman's prose in general, and I laughed quite a bit reading this -- guy's got a wry, dark sense of humor that really jives with me. That said, this is a 5 stars with an incredible amount of reservations. There's a scene about half way through the book --

Richard's ordeal

-- the metaphor is very well done, and the audio format, especially with the version where Gaiman is reading the book, brings it a kind of immediacy that is...very...emotionally hard to listen to, honestly.

The troll being dangled in front of him, knocked onto the tracks, while Richard pathetically scrambles after it all along -- how sometimes, just surviving in this world is a heroic undertaking and not trivial in the least

-- so much thematically to sink your teeth into here. I've got to adore this book just on the merits of this scene alone; it's incredibly powerful. That said, it's also very triggering re: suicidal ideation, making you doubt your reality, etc. -- especially so if you've ever experienced any kind of housing insecurity. I suggest approaching with caution if that's something you aren't in a good place for.
I'm also really iffy on how the women in this book are written. This is mostly a general vibe I get, but one specific thing that bothered me was that it's a little...troubling how we're given the impression early on Door is like, 14 or 15 or something, but we get occasional incongruous, weird moments where she's sexualized. I get that this is mostly done by bad guys or people with dementia, and I get we're supposed to find it weird. Still. I just get a weird vibe overall, that's all. Not enough fully formed thoughts on this to talk about it; just leaving a note.