I’m writing in another forum and together with other Gaiman’s fans we nicely discuss about which is the masterpiece between Neverwhere and American Gods.

My preference goes to Neverwhere for different reasons. The surreal story and the dreamlike atmosphere are so well described to appear real and they are closer to my sensitivity. The characters are perfectly outlined, Richard is not the classical hero but a person you can meet every day and his friends, and even his foes, look familiar behind the allegories their represent.
I like American Gods too, but the story is more chaotic, with too many side-stories and references, and the characters are too many to be deeply described.

In short, this is my opinion. Which is the novel, between these two, you prefer and why?

If a discussion like this already exists, please remove this post and reroute me to the proper one, thanks.

I go back and forth. I love them both but in the end, I think American Gods is a better novel, but I like reading Neverwhere more. I love the whole underground setting, and it seems to be different from a lot of Neil's stuff in that it sets up its own myths. American Gods seems to be better written to me (though to be honest, it's been a while since I read either book). It also seems like Neil streamlined a lot of the themes he'd been playing with for a long time and tailored them perfectly to that novel.

American Gods changed the way I read books.

As craft, American Gods is the winner, hands down. You can quibble if you like, but from setting to metaphor, it's just more together than Neverwhere.

As mythology, Neverwhere takes down American Gods pretty hard. The whole postmodern take on ancient gods thing is so done, and so done by Gaiman himself, that there wasn't the same sense of "here's a brand new thing" as I got from Neverwhere. Yes, Neverwhere is yet another story about a world that lives side by side with our own where things are far more dramatic and adventurous, but it manages more than a few twists on the old tales.

And I have to disagree with the assertion that the characters in Neverwhere are better developed. Each and every one is a cipher, a few character traits away from being a Tarot card. That's not a bad thing, mind you, just a thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Dweller in Darkness:
And I have to disagree with the assertion that the characters in Neverwhere are better developed. Each and every one is a cipher, a few character traits away from being a Tarot card.

Maybe the fact that, as you said, they are ciphers, I prefer to call them allegories , makes them more intriguing to my eyes.

Ok, probably they are not so developed maybe because Gaiman knows that those, who grew up reading the classic fairy tales, can recognize them behind the layers of dirt. Yet, he enriched his characters with new symbols and made them more adult. Lady Door is a sort of fairy tale "princess" saved by the brave knight, but she is also real a door, a door towards another world, another reality, another way to see things.

In American Gods the gods are exactly gods still struggling to be worshipped even in the modern times, at least this is the way I see them.

To avoid misunderstanding, I loved American Gods with all its complexity and references

quote:

Originally posted by Dweller in Darkness:
And I have to disagree with the assertion that the characters in Neverwhere are better developed. Each and every one is a cipher, a few character traits away from being a Tarot card. That's not a bad thing, mind you, just a thing.

Lol! I couldn't have said it any better. The characters in Neverwhere seem like classic archetypes to me. Richard is the typical hero on the hero's quest. The Marquis De Carabas is the perfect wild card. The Lady Door is the call to adventure. That's not a knock, they were done brilliantly (and with some nice touches like Titania pointed out about Door), but pretty much archetypes.

The characters in American Gods all seemed much more rounded. I know there are archetypes and stuff in that book too, but Shadow, Wednesday, Laura, Sam, and all the gods who were being forgotten and were dying out...they resonated a lot more with me for some reason. And I love the characters from Neverwhere.

I do agree with American Gods being a better crafted novel. But I'll most likely read Neverwhere again before I reread American Gods.

quote:

Originally posted by The Scoundrel:
I do agree with American Gods being a better crafted novel. But I'll most likely read Neverwhere again before I reread American Gods.

This statement sounds interesting to me.
So, if I’m right, you (and maybe Dwellers too?) are saying that from a “technical” point of view American Gods is better, it is The Novel.
But if you have to follow your "feelings" you prefer Neverwhere.
So my question is: doesn't this make Nevewhere a better book compared to American Gods?

Not necessarily. Not if you're talking about craft, at least. For example, (key word, EXAMPLE) I *might* say Schinlder's List is the best movie Stephen Spielberg ever made. But I'll probably rewatch one of the Indiana Jones movies (or all of them) before I watch Schindler's List again. Know what I mean?

Both American Gods and Neverwhere are great. But Neverwhere's just more fun for me.

Neverwhere - definitely. They are both great, well better than great actually but I think American Gods is a little too real for me. It could be because it's set in the US which to me is more familar than London.

I'm a huge fan of Neverwhere - the book and the miniseries they're both the best I've read and seen in years and years!

i love american gods... i still can't drive by one of those side of the road tourist stops without thinking about that book... plus the book itself was special i got it signed when he was at the world trade center Borders book store..a few months before 9/11 it was my first and last time there