My initial thought after finishing this: Beautiful.
When
I first started reading I wasn't entirely sure if this book would sit
well with me. It is the first Neil Gaiman book I've pre-ordered. The
first adult fiction book he's published after I fell in love with his
words (which was sometime before the Graveyard book came out, which I
got for Christmas in a really pretty edition from my aunt who is magical
at gifs. Or psychic. Or she just talks to my mother.) for real. After I
somehow learned that Gaiman is a writer who writes books. Weird, I have
Coraline sitting on a shelf and it's been sitting there for years, and
I've read Sandman and you know been generally aware of Gaiman since I
was a kid, but it wasn't until 07/08 I really got into him and read most
of his fiction. So I was worried I was going to be let down because
I've built him up. I wasn't.
This was and wasn't Gaiman as I've
know him. The book started off like books do, uncertainly, teaching the
reader it's language and I was puzzled for a while, but by page 50 I was
so drawn into the story that there was no putting it down until the
final page. I read every single word. If books are boring, or parts seem
to not be relevant to the overall plot I often read, but don't register
much of what's going on. That didn't happen. Gaiman writes beautifully,
sometimes his descriptions and observations make me go "this is truth"
or feel like I'm having a eureka moment, which is a wonderful thing, or
just making the words seem very real. (*coughpage112cough*) I'm
expecting to see a lot of quotes from this floating about the web, in
pretty fonts and on pretty pictures.
It was beautiful, and scary
and I wish it was longer and not. I also want to tip my hat for his
naming skills. Ursula Monkton! Sounds villainy to me.
Not to
mention the beautiful name and the cover of my edition. Well, the book
underneath the dust jacket as well as the dust jacket (do you even call
them that?).
Yes, there are flaws, yes there were parts where I
wished someone had edited the language differently, but for the most
part I wouldn't change a thing. I think this is a lovely little book and
I cried at the end. There's a magic to it, and while the universe is
intangible it isn't annoyingly so, not to me anyway (I know others will
disagree). This is not my favoirte Gaiman novel (tie between American Gods, Coraline and The Graveyard book!), but I loved it.
Again: Beautiful, I wish I could say something better, but that's all I can come up with.
Best wishes,
Kiwie
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