Quick Book Reviews Blog

Back in 1997 a certain author by the name of Neil Gaiman burst onto the literary scene and asserted himself as a talent to be reckoned with, publishing his first novel, Neverwhere . It rapidly became a major landmark (so to speak) in the genres of urban and young adult fantasy, to the point where numerous versions of it were produced over the years.

Old fairy tale classics have been alive for so many years for a reason: the basic stories have stood the test of time and resonate with us as much as they did for the folks of the time. However, hearing them over and over again throughout the years does dull them a bit, stripping their inviting charm and replacing it with pure old boredom.

Some works of literature are rather easy to classify, containing all the expected criteria of a certain genre and lying within the guidelines set for it. On the other hand, there are those that blur the lines and by virtue of their sprawling content are not only hard, but sometimes impossible to classify.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman tells a rather unusual story surrounding a boy named Nobody Owens(also known as Bod). As you can guess, Nobody is his adopted name; as a young toddler, he was spared the fate the rest of his family suffered at the hands of an indomitable assassin, and somehow found himself living in a graveyard, protected by an assortment of spirits and ghosts from different periods in time.

Neil Gaiman has a habit of bringing us fantastic and surrealistic stories with a colorful cast of characters, and his rather famous collection of stories, Smoke and Mirrors , may be considered as part of the pinnacle of his craft. In this collection of some thirty stories and poems, we are introduced to a strange world which on the surface seems like ours, but underneath it is very different and in some cases even unsettling.

The Rapture is about to come to Earth, and everything is set in position, with the Antichrist being confided into the caring hands of Crowley and Aziraphale, a demon and an angel respectively. However, what the forces of Heaven and Hell do not suspect is that across the eons, the demons and angels have gotten to know each other pretty well, and what’s more, they have come to care for the humans more than for their bosses.