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What I'm Reading Wednesday: The Illustrated Neverwhere

Wednesday, October 4, 2017





Happy Wednesday, My Lovelies!  Today I'm reading the Illustrated Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.  I love getting happy mail, and I've had this book on order it seems like forever.

I know, I know.....I was reading another Neil Gaiman selection, the graphic adaptation of The Graveyard Book, last Wednesday.  I guess I'm proving to be a typical reader of Faerie Magazine since she tends to think of Neil Gaiman as a rockstar.  If you don't get the reference, you need to read this post.

Gamain wrote this book based on the BBC screenplay of the Neverwhere miniseries.  I enjoyed the series and have the DVD.  It's currently available on Amazon if you want to binge watch a fun urban fantasy set in London.

According to Goodreads:

Selected as one of NPR’S Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of All Time

The #1 New York Times bestselling author’s ultimate edition of his wildly successful first novel featuring his “preferred text”—and including his special Neverwhere tale, “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back”

Published in 1997, Neverwhere heralded the arrival of a major talent and became a touchstone of urban fantasy. Over the years, a number of versions were produced both in the U.S. and the U.K. Now Gaiman’s preferred edition of his classic novel reconciles these works and reinstates a number of scenes cut from the original published books.

Richard Mayhew is a young London businessman with a good heart whose life is changed forever when he stops to help a bleeding girl—an act of kindness that plunges him into a world he never dreamed existed. Slipping through the cracks of reality, Richard lands in Neverwhere—a London of shadows and darkness, monsters and saints, murderers and angels that exists entirely in a subterranean labyrinth. Neverwhere is home to Door, the mysterious girl Richard helped in the London Above. Here in Neverwhere, Door is a powerful noblewoman who has vowed to find the evil agent of her family’s slaughter and thwart the destruction of this strange underworld kingdom. If Richard is ever to return to his former life and home, he must join Lady Door’s quest to save her world—and may well die trying.


Neil Gaiman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, and is the recipient of numerous literary honors. Originally from England, he now lives in America.


My Review:

You can read my full review of Neverwhere HERE.  For this review, I want to focus on the illustrated version.  Chris Riddell is a highly honored illustrator.  I like his style: it's boldly linear, and I'm so impressed how he can set a mood or capture an emotion with very few lines.  This book isn't illustrated in the traditional sense because some illustrations appear haphazardly in the center of a page, or is crammed into a margin or corner.  This truly fits the mood of the book because London Below is an unseen, forgotten place that parallels our own.  Riddell's illustrations complement the Neverwhere story well.  I'm completely enamored with this edition.






An illustration of the character Hammersmith
Some of the illustrations are traditional, taking up an entire page...while others are:




...more like a border to a page.

However, there are many illustrations in the book.  You will not be disappointed!  


Below is a video of Neil Gaiman and illustrator Chris Riddell discussing the importance of illustrated texts and how YA books just might be a gateway for the re-emergence of the illustrated novel.







What are you reading today?  And if you're already a fan of Neverwhere, "Mind the gap!"


Until next time...

Happy reading!
Ricki Jill



6 comments

  1. Hi Ricki Jill!
    First of all, thank you so much for your kind visit to my blog.
    Imlove the idea of an illustrated book. I'll need to tell my son, an artist, about this one.
    Thank you for sharing with us. Hope you have a great day!

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  2. Ricki Jill, I admire how much you can sit down and read. I must be computer addicted, I cannot seem to find some time to read a good book.

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  3. I think I would love the illustrations but I have to say, I really didn't like the book when I read it last year. Maybe it's because the villain and I share a differently-spelled but all too similar version of the same last name. Maybe fantasy isn't my genre. But those illustrations look wonderful.

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  4. The illustrations look wonderful, and I love the idea of a partial one surrounding the text as well as the full page! This story doesn't appeal to me, I'm not much on dark fantasy and sci-fi... but I appreciate you opening my eyes to new experiences!
    Jenna

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  5. I like the illustrations.
    I just finished reading Britt Marie Was Here.
    Carla

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  6. My daughter currently has this one in her hot little hands! She's a huge Neil Gaiman fan.

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Hello!

I'm Ricki Jill. Welcome! I'm honored that you're reading my blog. I enjoy sharing my creative lifestyle @ The Bookish Dilettante. For more information about my blog, please read the Start Here page. Thank-you for stopping by, and I hope you'll consider following me via email.

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