by Neil Gaiman
ages: adult
First sentence: “The night before he went to London, Richard Mayhew was not enjoying himself.”
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Being a Neil Gaiman fan has been sneaking up on me for the past two or so years. I’ve been slowly working my way through his books and have yet to be really disappointed in one. (Okay, I wasn’t terribly thrilled with American Gods, but it did have a good concept.) But, this one put me over the top. Neil Gaiman is a brilliant storyteller, a master juggler, someone who can grab you and hold your attention, entertaining you the whole time.

Richard Mayhew has a boring, normal, everyday London life. He goes to work, he does his job, he goes home. He’s got a fiance, someone who’s upwardly mobile; someone beautiful, slightly intimidating and predictable. Then, one night, he finds a girl wounded on the sidewalk, and, in the simple act of helping her, his life changes. After she — the Lady Door — leaves, he finds that he no longer exists in his life. And he discovers a whole other London, one of class and fiefdoms, of weirdness and magic, and of violence and heroism. He falls in with Door, becomes one of her companions on her quest to find out who murdered her family. And, in the process, finds out what is really real in his life.

I loved this one. It had me from the first sentence, and I couldn’t put it down. (Yes, it was one of those “let my kids watch too much TV because I have to finish this book” books.) The thing that really stood out to me, though, was how masterfully Gaiman juggled plots and characters. It’s like he had all these balls in the air, and he would, oh-so-calmly pick up another one and throw it in the mix without even blinking an eye. New characters, plot twists, descriptions of the underworld: it all came at exactly the right moment and made perfect sense. He would flit back and forth between plot lines and it never felt jarring or awkward. He gave details of the characters, helped us understand not only their inner workings, but also sympathize with and enjoy their interactions with each other. (Okay, one tiny quibble: he kept describing Hunter as “caramel colored” and after a while it did bother me. I felt like saying, “Yes. I know she is. Give it up already.”) It was funny, it was touching, it had the absolutely perfect ending. He led me on a storytelling journey and kept me positively breathless the whole time.

Masterful. Absolutely masterful.