Neil Gaiman is utterly brilliant and this book is wonderful
922378
This book was just wonderful! So, okay, I knew all the stories already. I started reading Norse mythology almost as soon as I got a library card.  And then I got into comics and saw Marvel's take on the Norse. So there wasn't really any suspense.  It was as if all these things had happened recently, or been imagined recently, and a really good bard was telling the story of gods tonight. It felt almost as if the bits that were missing (and there are always bits missing when telling old Norse tales) weren't so much lost as not yet added to this bard's itinerary.
1650623
I loved this book! Neil Gaiman has yet to disappoint me. His storytelling is unique and blends seamlessly from reality to the fantastic. My only contention would be is that I believe this book would have made a better short story than a novel (which was its originally intended to be) because I feel the story wouldn't have lost much, if any, of it's charm and detail had it been left as a shortened version. Other than that, it's a great peek into the places where the mystical and spiritual meet the mundane. I consider it a worthy purchase and am glad to own so many of this wonderful author's books.
3758492
Neil Gaiman is an absolute genius. I know, I know....those familiar with his work have heard this time and time again. Yet, if you are on the fence about starting this series, do yourself a favor and just give it a try. With some fun DC Comics cameos, this volume has a little for everyone. This is a really fresh story arc and is beautiful in both content and visual graphics. Gaiman's genius really shows up during the middle of this volume. I don't consider myself histrionic but my jaw dropped twice while reading this. Wow
2705345
What a wonderful book. Pure magic in every sense from Mr. Gaiman and something I'm recommending to fantasy fans and rookies alike.
243858
"Every couple of months, Crowley would pick out a plant that was growing too slowly, or succumbing to leaf-wilt or browning, or just didn't look quite as good as the others, and he would carry it around to all the other plants. 'Say goodbye to your friend,' he'd say to them. 'He just couldn't cut it. . . '

Then he would leave the flat with the offending plant, and return an hour or so later with a large, empty flower pot, which he would leave somewhere conspicuously around the flat.

The plants were the most luxurious, verdant, and beautiful in London. Also the most terrified."

This book is exactly what you would expect from Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett writing a parody fanfic of the Book of Revelation. It is hilarious throughout, and the musings on human nature and morality spread throughout, though said in jest, can be quite thought provoking. The random tangents that the authors go on while telling the story would themselves be worthy of a separate book, and it is, overall, one of the most quotable books I have ever read (along with, appropriately, a few written by Chesterton).

I highly recommend it to any fan of fantasy, or to any fan of either of the two authors involved.
425678
This is my favorite book by Gaiman, and the conceit is fabulous.  All the ancient deities brought to the Americas have been or are being made irrelevant by people's rush into materialism.  As the gods try to stage a come-back, Gaiman superbly creates scenarios in which we see how they wield their powers today. His description os the gods whom time has completely forgotten is heart-wrenching. I would have liked the book to have been more tightly edited, but nonetheless I am a frequent re-reader.
3732117
Wow! This book took me a long time to read. Although, we did move into a new house and my book was in some box for at least a week, maybe longer...

I have been wracking my brain for the words to describe this book and to adequately describe its beauty and profundity (especially for those of you who have read the book); unfortunately I am just going to have to write my thoughts either way...

This book was my introduction to Neil Gaiman. I have to say that the writing style was absolutely exquisite. This is probably the first book that I could describe what was happening without having to think about it when asked what part I was at. Gaiman has a way of drawing the reader into his world and not letting go until he is ready.

The book begins with the main character, Shadow, in prison for a crime that is described, piece by piece, throughout the entire book. Shadow is up for parole and released a few days early due to a tragedy that I found to be quite predictable.

On the way home, Shadow meets Mr. Wednesday, who presents Shadow with an offer of employment. At first, Shadow refuses, but ends up conceding to the proposal. The contract between employer and employee is sealed with three glasses of mead and a bar fight.

Shadow, through his link with Mr. Wednesday, finds himself in a plethora of situations he could never have anticipated; some of which being dangerous. The myriad of people Shadow is introduced to are vibrant, wacky, familiar, and strange all at the same time. He also finds himself face to face with a person from his past whom he never thought he would see again.

Gaiman's concept of the existence of Gods is both unique and thought provoking. Interspersed throughout the story of Shadow and his many adventures with Mr. Wednesday are the details of how each God came to exist in America. These stories are both ancient and beautiful in their magnificence.

The book is a question of faith. An idea that beliefs can shape realities. Worship and obsession have the ability to immortalize. In the end, we all have to face our pasts, witness our beginnings, and welcome our endings. We have to decide where to draw our lines and when to take a stance, no matter how powerful the opposition. It is ourselves we answer to, the power of our beliefs give and take energy and ability from those some people hide from in fear of retribution. Our Gods and our lives are our own making.

To describe the book too thoroughly would rob the reader of the pleasure that is reading Gaiman's work. So I must leave my review here, though I highly recommend this book be added to the top of the reading list of those of you who have not read it...
701317
Neverwhere is the kind of novel you read purely for fun.  It's all story, every last bit of it intriguing and likeable.  It walks an amazingly fine line between being completely ludicrous and surprisingly poignant and scary.  Its characters are all colorful and Gaiman's deft hand with mythology and literature again impresses.  Every step of Richard Mayhew's journey into the underground labrynth of London is more fantastical than the step before it, and some of the ways in which Gaiman skirts traditional storytelling conventions are ingenious.  Highly recommended.  Four and a half stars, really.
3012877
There is something about Neil Gaiman's almost lyrical writing voice that sucks me in to whatever story he is telling, keeps me enthralled and tethered to whatever world he manages to create and causes me to care for his characters no matter their flaws and the often neglectful and horrible things they do to each other and the consequences they bring.

One thing in particular that I like about this book, one that makes it different from some of his more grand-scale fantasies, is the intimacy he brings to this story. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is more like some of his short stories, tinged with childhood nostalgia while mindful of the adult realities outside of his younger characters' understanding. Further, the events inside occur in an even more self-contained space than those in the Graveyard Book in which I think a reader can find a few similarities in theme.

The main protagonist is, when we first meet him, a man forced by circumstances we do not fully fathom, to remember the sometimes tragic, sometimes magical and, this being Gaiman, of course, frightening events he experienced when he was a small boy. While I mentioned the Graveyard Book above, in some ways, the boy and the story remind me of those found in The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, the graphic novel Mr. Gaiman did with his frequent collaborator, Dave McKean.  However, rather than a doll and a somewhat dubious yet mysterious old "professor" being the key that unlocks the main character's memory and brings dark and adult understanding to events that took place when he was a child, Gaiman gives us a sweet and gentle yet even more mysterious old mother and a duck pond.

To say too much more about what happens next would spoil the fun, however, one thing I will tell you is that Gaiman gives us four of the most interesting female characters he's ever created in the three members of the Hempstock family, a grandmother, a housewife, and an 11-year-old girl and a beautiful au pair who is definitely more than she seems. Needless to say arcane and malignant forces have been set free and our main character has placed himself in the center of events through his own naive actions.

The book, while definitely a light meal, gives you a lot to chew on nonetheless. And one thing I can say about Gaiman's work that I say about few others is, and I certainly felt this way after finishing this book, is that I had less an urge to read more and more an urge to write. This, I believe, is one of Gaiman's true gifts. His sense of story is so strong, his voice, so lyrical and, his style so deceptively simple, that when you finish one of his tales, he makes you believe that there may well be a story locked away inside of you and that it wants to come out if only you could find the key that unlocks it.
1836969
This Book is indescribably incredible and utterly brilliant, I particularly loved its indepth description of Hoffman and his intriguing efforts to fool the Mormons. What an absolute triumph, being a University English Professor at Harvard, I can tell you that this is the book of the decade, perfectly written, and deftly balanced, I have already told my students to read the book at once, and I advise you all to do the same - READ THE POET AND THE MURDERER, it's brilliantly amazingly incredible, with lushings and lushings of coolness heaped on top of its general spectacularity and brilliantness! I loved it and so should the whole world, I just can't wait until it becomes a oscar winning film - with Anthony Hopkins as Hoffman, or maybe Russel Crowe, I'm not sure, but anyway, who cares about that, the BOOK is just SO GOOD, I think about it and just get dizzy, I've already read it about five times, so many times in fact that I have learnt the first two hundred pages off by heart, oh it's SO GOOD, honestly, I really like this book - because it's amazing and great and stylish and colouful and supercalfragerlousiexpialadociously whizbangboingingly brilliant. If books were deities, well this just might be ZEUS - THE KING OF BOOKS!
This book will change your perceptions on how the world revolves! This Book is WHAT you have been looking for all your life! I recommend it unreservedly! That being said, I really love this book, more than I love MY OWN CHILDREN!
THE POET AND THE MURDERER...READ IT...NOW!
1053237
I borrowed this book from the library just because it was Neil Gaiman & I love everything Neil Gaiman. It's so wonderful! Full of realistic & fantastic wishes & prayers for any girl. I found myself nodding in agreement & smiling & feeling happy. The art is just perfect. I love how they're of different girls, you'll definitely find one that resembles how you think of yourself or your daughter or someone you know. My personal favorite is the girl "growing like a weed in the sun". I had to buy it for my sister who just had a baby girl. I just wish I had more girls to give it to. I soooo <3 Neil Gaiman & this book!
323875
I can't say enough good things about this book. I'm so happy it's finally been reprinted, and in such a grand format.  The tag team of Gaiman & McKean has brought us much over the years, from Violent Cases to their various children's books to the multitude of covers they've worked together on.

This book holds a special place in my heart because it was one of a few books lent to me in the late nineties that got me back into comics.  It's incredibly moving.  (I could also add that the adapted play by the both of them is also FANTASTIC)

The story delves into the fragile nature of life, the sad happening of coming across the bitter knowledge of your own last days, due to your own body turning against you. The man is a creator, a story teller, and he deals with the information by writing his last great story, even just in his own mind. Maybe as a way to keep the story from being robbed of it's own life.

I won't go into the deeper elements of the story as some of the other reviews have explained them well but it changed the way I viewed how a story could be told in this format.

It's really something else, a work of art.  It stands to all the invigorating stories that have been told since and then some.
4589620
Neil Gaiman is a favorite author of mine and I admire Terry Pratchett work so I bought a copy of Good Omens with decent expectations. The phenomenal writing and quirky characters had me laughing out loud at the authors' satirical take on the apocalypse.

In Good Omens, Gaiman and Pratchett brilliantly combine their own unique writing talents to take shots at good, evil, Armageddon, and the anti-Christ. The story starts off with a reluctant anti-Christ child who is switched at birth and raised as a normal boy, thanks to a bumbling satanic nun who misplaces the boy at birth. The remainder of the tale centers on Armageddon and the people who try to stop it...the Hell's Angels as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse had me rolling on the floor. The protagonists, Crowley and Aziraphale, are now two of my favorite fictional characters.

This engaging story was full of excellent character development, zany humor and wit. Good Omens also raises questions about religion, philosophy, and humanity. Fans of either Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett will love this book, they are masterful storytellers and I heartily recommend it to anyone with a dark sense of humor.
3758280
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett... doesn't get much better than that!
4460655
Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors of all time.  He writes brilliantly dark, insanely clever stories about alterna-worlds people with complicated anti-heroes and long-suffering regular people.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Graveyard-Book/dp/0060530944/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Graveyard Book</a>&nbsp;is a prime example of his storytelling.  Categorized as a children's book, it is still entirely Gaimanesque - it opens with a brutal, violent murder of (nearly) an entire family and the subsequent stalking by said murderer of the infant he left alive quite by accident.  It is part graphic-novel, part bedtime story (if one enjoys going to bed but never actually falling asleep, that is), and pure genius.  Gaiman's words paint violent pictures that stick with you long after you finish reading them; the contrasting moments of touching care and concern are equally evocative and just as sticky.  I guarantee you will never again walk through a graveyard quite the same way after reading it - and not in a bad way...
2435702
Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors and this book does not disappoint. His use of characters and descriptions are perfect. I have read this book at least 10 times.
958774
This is a wonderful book. I imagine that people who are born in English-speaking countries read this book in their childhood, but I only just read it, because I heard Neil Gaiman talking about it, and other English authors mentioning it, so I got curious. And I'm glad I did read it, for it's one of the loveliest books I've ever read. It reminds me of Tolkien, specially the way he describes plants and nature in general.