This is the first book by Neil Gaiman that I have read and I hope to read more of his work!
I enjoyed this book immensely. It was a brilliant page-turner with a marvelously constructed world filled with interesting characters and locales. The latter were developed as plays on the literal meaning of the various London place names such as Earl's Court--which has a real Earl who holds a bizarre court on an underground train carriage.
The characters were unforgettable. Richard, the Warrior,
seemed anything but a warrior and the Lady Door--for me anyway--was more reminiscent of an anime heroine than the traditional fantasy princess. Even the villains were remarkable in their {sometimes horrible} quirkiness. The plot had a wonderful whimsical quality with its unexpected twists, turns, and red herrings.
I loved this book!
BTW I've been told that Gaiman wrote a fabulous episode, "The Doctor's Wife", for series 6 of
Dr Who {I've not seen it yet--but I'll make a point of it now}.