ocean at the end of the lane

by Neil Gaiman

It's a good book. Heck, it's a brilliant book. 

But is it as good as any of his really fantastic, absolutely great books? Um. 

One way to say this is - It's not fair to compare. 

This Gaiman isn't the same Gaiman who wrote Sandman, clearly. Sandman is one the most amazing things to ever even have been imagined; to then go on and write it and get it illustrated and all that is not something a regular human being could have achieved. 

It would be stupid and laughable  to even think to compare anything to Neverwhere. Period.

Let's also not compare it to American Gods. That book is a terrific and insanely intelligent critique of the internet-age, capitalism, globalization, mythology; and all this is done with that beautifully Gaiman-esque quality of magic and beauty. For the same reasons, not even to Anansi Boys. 

Shall we compare it to something he did that I could think of as similar, may be? Coraline? Coraline literally gave me nightmares. For three nights. To this day, I can't look at that book and not feel something physically turn my stomach. So I suppose not even Coraline, then.

So the bottomline is, don't compare it to anything else he's written. 

But does he inspire magic, wit, wonder? Yes. Does he make you want to turn every page thinking, "thisissolovelythisissolovely." Oh. Yeah. 

Should that be enough?

I guess.