Where to go from Neverwhere...

[stephensmat]

I loved Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

I loved the notion of 'London Below'. A world beneath the world that goes about it's business without anyone aware that it exists. IMHO, the very best fantasy/sci-fi is the kind where you can put the book down and say to yourself: Now. Can you prove is isn't really happening?

I am somewhat inspired by it, and am looking for more. The problem is that Neverwhere is such a unique book.

What I am looking for:

1) The same sort of universe. A 'World Below' that nobody knows about unless they can get there.
2) Preferably not supernatural

If anyone has any recommendations that fit these criteria, please let me know.

[Belfaborac]

The obvious one and the only one that immediately springs to my mind, is probably not what you're looking for at all: Jules Verne's A Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

Still, it's a great book if you've not read it.

[speakingtohe]

Simon R. Green Nightside Series

Helen

[caleb72]

King Rat by China Mieville always reminded me a bit of Gaiman, but Un Lun Dun by China Mieville is pretty similar (hidden London etc..) and he acknowledges Gaiman up front.

[xg4bx]

61 Nails by Mike Shevdon-


The immense Sixty-One Nails follows Niall Petersen, victim of a suspected heart attack on the London Underground, into the hidden world of the Feyre, an uncanny place of legend that lurks just beyond the surface of everyday life. The Untainted, the darkest of the Seven Courts, have made their play for power, and unless Niall can recreate the ritual of the Sixty-One Nails, their dark dominion will enslave all of the Feyre, and all of humankind too.

[Dr. Drib]

I picked up 61 Nails by Mike Shevdon when it was free, yesterday I think it was.

Just a warning, this book is STILL horribly formatted with line errors, dialogue merges, and broken paragraphs.

The publisher needs to get off his **** and get on the ball and get this thing proofread. (By the way, the publisher mentions that this is a newer proofread version. Heaven help us!)

For crying out loud, what a way to put a stain on Indy writers everywhere who are trying to give us quality products, only to be shot down by the shoddy work from some publishers.

I've read the first 10 pages of this and the writing is excellent.

Just be warned about the formatting.



Don

[carpetmojo]

Don't think I could live with that - and there are so many to read that are OK !

[Ninjalawyer]

American Gods is an obvious suggestion. It's not about a hidden city though, more of gods living in secret, but in plain sight. I enjoyed Neverwhere, but American Gods is one of my favourite books.

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

American Gods is an obvious suggestion. It's not about a hidden city though, more of gods living in secret, but in plain sight. I enjoyed Neverwhere, but American Gods is one of my favourite books.

I think my favourite is "Neverwhere" still, but my response to the initial question is: just get your hands on anything by Neil Gaiman - they are different from each other but he's a brilliant writer and I enjoy everything he has written, including books for children such as "Coraline" and "The Graveyard Book".

[Traye]

I second Un Lun Dun.

I also have Sixty One Nails in my TBR list, along with sequel; The Road To Bedlam.

[basschick]

neverwhere is an exceptional book, but i love some of his others, as well. stardust is nothing like the movie (thank goodness!) and has some of the wonder of neverwhere, and the graveyard book is quite wonderful.

btw, did you know that neverwhere is also a bbc mini series? it's a bit budget, but well worth watching if you get the chance.

[DrNefario]

Heh, the BBC series is the reason I've never read Neverwhere. I should put that right, really.

Stardust has been my favourite Gaiman novel to date.

I'd maybe suggest Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood books as being in the same tradition, but I'm not sure they're what the original poster was looking for.

[stephensmat]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

... but I'm not sure they're what the original poster was looking for.

Sorry, my fault.

What I'm looking for ideally is something similar to Neverwhere, in the sense of 'There is another world hidden in plain sight', only without the magic.

It's a long shot, I know; but I found a website about Urban Exploration, and the miles of unoccupied tunnels and pipes and all the places in huge cities that nobody knows about. I read Neverwhere after that.

Hence, the quest to find something like that.

[speakingtohe]

Perhaps the Prendergast series by Preston and Child.
There is one of the books , if I recall correctly, that refers to the tunnels and old city under NYC. There is also at least one movie and I think a book or so about the city (old city) under Seattle. Cannot remember the names though.

Helen

[arnique]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

61 Nails by Mike Shevdon

I read the first two chapters but I didn't like the writing style very much. The characters tend to repeat sentences several times, and it is jarring. Feels too much like the author is dumbing down the dialog so that not-so-clever readers can follow the plot.

HOWEVER, I am glad you recommended this book because I found a series by Ben Aaronovitch while flipping through the Amazon recommend list for 61 Nails. It starts with a book called Rivers of London, followed by Moon Over Soho and the yet-to-be-released Whispers of the Underground. I liked it a lot! The main character is a mixed-race constable for the Metropolitan Police who discovers magical murders. The writing isn't as tight and poetical as Neil Gaiman but the story is fun, exciting, and more than a little scary.

To be fair, Ben Aaronovitch is clearly heavily inspired by Neverwhere, Terry Pratchett's Watch sub series, and I think Tom Holt's Expecting Someone Taller, but I think his world-building (the hero Peter Grant looks at magic from a very scientific viewpoint) is sufficiently different and the characters (Nightingale! Molly!) mysterious enough that I want to know more about them in the next book and not TOO derivative.