This is a strange and wonderful book, set in London above and below ground – and below is a fearful, magical place with links to the London we know but which isn’t altogether recognisable.
Richard Mayhew is an ordinary man, not destined to be a hero in anyway, passively drifting into an engagement with Jessica, who wants to mould and improve him. But he defies her to rescue an injured girl who turns out to be an opener of doors – literally! He loses his world and ends up following Door into her frightening and confusing world, having adventure after adventure before eventually getting back to where he started.
I enjoyed this book as I was reading it, the story races along at a great pace and the writing is excellent. But once I’d finished, I did start to think that it would have been better if it was longer, with more about the stories of how the main characters became what they were, Islington, Door and her family, Hunter and of course the fascinating Marquis de Carabas as well as many of the more peripheral characters.
allotmentinmygarden 