Neverwhere
Encyclopedia
Neverwhere is an urban fantasy
television series by Neil Gaiman
that first aired in 1996
on BBC Two
. The series is set in "London Below", a magical realm coexisting with the more familiar London
, referred to as "London Above". It was devised by Neil Gaiman
and Lenny Henry
, and directed by Dewi Humphreys. Gaiman later adapted
the series into book form
. The series & novel were partially inspired by Gene Wolfe
's novel Free Live Free
living in London, encounters an injured girl named Door on the street one night. Despite his fiancée
's protests he decides to help her, but that unfortunately also means that he suddenly ceases to exist for regular people and becomes real only to the denizens of 'London Below', whose inhabitants are generally invisible and non-existent to the people of 'London Above'. He loses his house, his job and nearly his mind as he travels London Below in an attempt to make sense out of it all, find a way back, and help Door survive as she is hunted down by hired assassins.
In London Below the various familiar names of London all take on a new significance: for example Knightsbridge
becomes "Night's Bridge", a stone bridge whose darkness takes its toll in human life; The Angel, Islington
is an actual angel
. London Below is a parallel world in and beneath the sewers. Its inhabitants are the homeless, but also people from other times, such as Roman legion
aries and medieval monks, as well as fictional and fantastical characters.
from September 12, 1996. There are six half-hour episodes:
" the footage to make it look like it had been shot on film. For this reason, the programme had been lit and shot in a manner appropriate to a film-based production. However, the decision to apply the filmisation process was later reversed.
In addition to what some considered the old-fashioned appearance of un-filmised video, the lighting set up with film in mind appeared garish and unsubtle on the more clinical medium. Gaiman himself commented that the loss of quality resulting from multi-generational VHS
copies actually improved the appearance in this respect.
as a two-disc set on September 9, 2005 in conjunction with A&E Network
. Despite the DVDs often being advertised as region 1
, some of the actual discs, however, are region zero. The BBC have released the series on DVD on 23 April 2007. The opening theme tune on the original BBC2 transmission was the same as the music over the closing credits. The opening theme on the Region 2 DVD version is a series of abstract sounds, while the closing music remains intact. The music for the series was made by Brian Eno
.
of the television series that was first released in 1996
, during the television show's transmission. This was accompanied by a spoken word release on CD and Cassette. The text was later re-written for the US market (Gaiman's publisher insisting that many of the references of London were too obscure for US tastes) and a third version is now available which combines elements of both earlier versions of the novel.
limited series
began in June 2005
, written by Mike Carey (who had worked on Lucifer
, a spin-off from Gaiman's The Sandman), with art by Glenn Fabry
.
The comic is an adaptation inspired by the novelization, rather than the original TV series. Thus the characters and settings do not generally resemble those seen in the series. The series was published by DC Comics
's Vertigo imprint
. The collected volume
was also published by Vertigo, in February 2007
(ISBN 1-4012-1007-4).
.
In 2008, another stage adaptation was created and performed by the Actors Gymnasium in Evanston, IL.http://www.actorsgymnasium.com/
In 2010, Lifeline Theatre in Chicago, IL performed an adaptation The seven week run proved so successful that it was extended another four weeks. The play was viewed by Neil Gaiman and the producer of the original BBC series, Lenny Henry, during the extension.http://blog.lifelinetheatre.com/?p=353
by The Weinstein Company
. They are still looking for a director. IMDB lists the movie as "In-Development"
Neil Gaiman has said a sequel to the book titled The Seven Sisters is a possibility. In Neil Gaiman's short story collection Fragile Things
, when commenting on his novella The Monarch of the Glen, a novella
that follows up on Gaiman's novel American Gods
, he comments that a novella-length story in the world of Neverwhere, How The Marquis Got His Coat Back, remains half-written.
Urban fantasy
Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods...
television series by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
that first aired in 1996
1996 in television
The year 1996 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1996.For the American TV schedule, see: 1996-97 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. The series is set in "London Below", a magical realm coexisting with the more familiar London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, referred to as "London Above". It was devised by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
and Lenny Henry
Lenny Henry
Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
, and directed by Dewi Humphreys. Gaiman later adapted
Novelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
the series into book form
Neverwhere (novel)
Neverwhere is the companion novelization by Neil Gaiman of the television serial Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman and Lenny Henry. The plot and characters are exactly the same as in the series, with the exception that the novel form allowed Gaiman to expand and elaborate on certain elements of the story...
. The series & novel were partially inspired by Gene Wolfe
Gene Wolfe
Gene Wolfe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying into the religion. He is a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the...
's novel Free Live Free
Plot
Richard Mayhew, a ScotScottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
living in London, encounters an injured girl named Door on the street one night. Despite his fiancée
Engagement
An engagement or betrothal is a promise to marry, and also the period of time between proposal and marriage which may be lengthy or trivial. During this period, a couple is said to be betrothed, affianced, engaged to be married, or simply engaged...
's protests he decides to help her, but that unfortunately also means that he suddenly ceases to exist for regular people and becomes real only to the denizens of 'London Below', whose inhabitants are generally invisible and non-existent to the people of 'London Above'. He loses his house, his job and nearly his mind as he travels London Below in an attempt to make sense out of it all, find a way back, and help Door survive as she is hunted down by hired assassins.
In London Below the various familiar names of London all take on a new significance: for example Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
becomes "Night's Bridge", a stone bridge whose darkness takes its toll in human life; The Angel, Islington
The Angel, Islington
Angel is a district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
is an actual angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
. London Below is a parallel world in and beneath the sewers. Its inhabitants are the homeless, but also people from other times, such as Roman legion
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
aries and medieval monks, as well as fictional and fantastical characters.
Characters
- Richard Mayhew - a young businessman, who discovers the world of London Below one day after helping the injured Door recover in his flat. He was played in the series by Gary BakewellGary BakewellGary Bakewell is a British television actor who is best known for his roles as Paul McCartney in the film Backbeat and the lead character Richard Mayhew, in Neil Gaiman's BBC television series Neverwhere....
. - Door – A young woman from London Below, the daughter of a noble family who were all murdered shortly before the beginning of the story. She possesses her family’s innate ability to “open” things (and not just doors). She was played in the series by Laura FraserLaura FraserLaura Fraser is a Scottish actress.-Early life:Fraser is the daughter of Rose, a college lecturer and nurse, and Alister Fraser, a scriptwriter who also worked in business. She attended Hillhead High School and is a former member of the Scottish Youth Theatre...
. - The Marquis de Carabas – The Marquis is arrogant, cunning and very self-confident. Though very much the trickster, he is a loyal friend of Door and her family. This character was inspired by Puss in BootsPuss in Boots'Puss' is a character in the fairy tale "The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots" by Charles Perrault. The tale was published in 1697 in his Histoires ou Contes du temps passé...
. Gaiman stated this as the starting point for the character, and imagining "Who would own a cat like this?" The Marquis was played in the TV series by Paterson JosephPaterson Joseph-Career:Born in London. Attended Cardinal Hinsley R.C High School in North West London. Joseph first trained at the Studio '68 of Theatre Arts, London – 1983–85 with Robert Henderson, then at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art . In recent years he has had a high number of roles in...
. - Mr. Croup – The talkative half of the pair of assassins, the Messrs. He is short, fat, and speaks in a pompous and verbose manner. Like his partner, Mr. Vandemar, he seems to be able to simply move from one place to another very quickly despite his ungainly appearance. He is the brains of the pair and seems be the one calling the shots, and he apparently has a taste (literally) for fine chinaPorcelainPorcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
. Much of the imagery used to describe him is that of a foxFoxFox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
. He is played in the series by Hywel BennettHywel BennettHywel Thomas Bennett is a Welsh film and television actor. Bennett is best known for his recurring title role as James Shelley in the television sitcom Shelley from 1979 to 1984 and its sequel The Return of Shelley from 1988 to 1992....
. - Mr. Vandemar – Dull-witted, tall, and gangly, Vandemar is Croup’s polar opposite. He does not speak much, and when he does, his statements are often laconic and blunt. He is quite brutish and seems to enjoy nothing more than killing and destroying things (even practising his golf swing with live toads). He also has a tendency to eat live animals. The descriptive imagery likens him to a houndHoundA hound is a type of dog that assists hunters by tracking or chasing the animal being hunted. It can be contrasted with the gun dog, which assists hunters by identifying the location of prey, and with the retriever, which recovers shot quarry...
or a wolfGray WolfThe gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
, and he even howls at one point when catching up with his mark. He is played in the series by Clive RussellClive RussellClive Russell is a British actor.Clive was born in Reeth, England and brought up in Fife, Scotland.He is a familiar face on British television and has appeared in numerous television series including Boys From the Black Stuff ,Hope And Glory, Neverwhere, Great Expectations, The Mists of Avalon,...
. - Old Bailey – An old friend of the Marquis, he keeps the company of pigeons on the rooftops and wears clothing made of feathers. He became indebted to the Marquis long ago, and so is charged with keeping a portion of his life safe for him. He is played in the series by Trevor PeacockTrevor PeacockTrevor Peacock is an English stage and television character actor. He was born in Tottenham, London, the son of Alexandria and Victor Edward Peacock.-Television and Film Career:...
. - Hunter – A warrior of London Below; her feats are legendary. It is her lifelong obsession to slay the great Beast of London. The imagery used to describe her likens her to a lionessLionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
. She is played in the series by Tanya Moodie. - The Angel Islington - An actual angelAngelAngels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
dwelling in the sewers of London Below. It is its duty to watch over London Below, though (or maybe because) it failed at its previous task: guarding the city of AtlantisAtlantisAtlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
. He is played in the series by Peter CapaldiPeter CapaldiPeter Dougan Capaldi is an Academy Award and BAFTA award winning Scottish actor and film director. In 1995, his short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film...
. - Lamia & The Velvets - Vampire-like seductresses, dressed in dark velvet, who "suck the warmth" from their victims. Lamia is played by Tamsin GreigTamsin GreigTamsin Greig is an English actress principally known for two Channel 4 television comedy parts: Fran Katzenjammer in Black Books and Dr. Caroline Todd in Green Wing...
.
Episodes
Neverwhere was first broadcast on BBC TwoBBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
from September 12, 1996. There are six half-hour episodes:
- Door
- Knightsbridge
- Earl's Court to Islington
- Blackfriars
- Down Street
- As Above, So Below
Primary cast
- Gary BakewellGary BakewellGary Bakewell is a British television actor who is best known for his roles as Paul McCartney in the film Backbeat and the lead character Richard Mayhew, in Neil Gaiman's BBC television series Neverwhere....
- Richard Mayhew - Laura FraserLaura FraserLaura Fraser is a Scottish actress.-Early life:Fraser is the daughter of Rose, a college lecturer and nurse, and Alister Fraser, a scriptwriter who also worked in business. She attended Hillhead High School and is a former member of the Scottish Youth Theatre...
- Door - Paterson JosephPaterson Joseph-Career:Born in London. Attended Cardinal Hinsley R.C High School in North West London. Joseph first trained at the Studio '68 of Theatre Arts, London – 1983–85 with Robert Henderson, then at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art . In recent years he has had a high number of roles in...
- The Marquis de CarabasMarquis de Carabas-Fictional characters:* A fictional nobleman in the fairy tale Puss in Boots* A character in the BBC TV series and later novel Neverwhere* A character in the webcomic No Rest for the Wicked... - Hywel BennettHywel BennettHywel Thomas Bennett is a Welsh film and television actor. Bennett is best known for his recurring title role as James Shelley in the television sitcom Shelley from 1979 to 1984 and its sequel The Return of Shelley from 1988 to 1992....
- Mr. Croup - Clive RussellClive RussellClive Russell is a British actor.Clive was born in Reeth, England and brought up in Fife, Scotland.He is a familiar face on British television and has appeared in numerous television series including Boys From the Black Stuff ,Hope And Glory, Neverwhere, Great Expectations, The Mists of Avalon,...
- Mr. Vandemar - Trevor PeacockTrevor PeacockTrevor Peacock is an English stage and television character actor. He was born in Tottenham, London, the son of Alexandria and Victor Edward Peacock.-Television and Film Career:...
- Old Bailey - Tanya Moodie - Hunter
- Peter CapaldiPeter CapaldiPeter Dougan Capaldi is an Academy Award and BAFTA award winning Scottish actor and film director. In 1995, his short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film...
- The Angel Islington
Origins
The idea for the story came from a conversation between Gaiman and Henry about a possible television series. Henry suggested a story with tribes of homeless people in London. Gaiman was initially reluctant to commit, as he feared that making the homeless appear "cool" might cause more young people to attempt to emulate the characters, but decided that the effect could be avoided by making the story more removed from reality.Visual problems
Neverwhere received some criticism for its visual appearance. One major problem lay in the original plan to shoot on video (for budgetary reasons), and then later "filmiseFilmizing
Filmizing is a process that makes video productions seem to have been shot on film. The term is generic and informal. The process is usually electronic, although filmizing can sometimes occur as an un-intentional by-product of some optical techniques, such as telerecording.-Differences between...
" the footage to make it look like it had been shot on film. For this reason, the programme had been lit and shot in a manner appropriate to a film-based production. However, the decision to apply the filmisation process was later reversed.
In addition to what some considered the old-fashioned appearance of un-filmised video, the lighting set up with film in mind appeared garish and unsubtle on the more clinical medium. Gaiman himself commented that the loss of quality resulting from multi-generational VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
copies actually improved the appearance in this respect.
DVD releases
The six episodes were released in the US and Canada to DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
as a two-disc set on September 9, 2005 in conjunction with A&E Network
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
. Despite the DVDs often being advertised as region 1
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
, some of the actual discs, however, are region zero. The BBC have released the series on DVD on 23 April 2007. The opening theme tune on the original BBC2 transmission was the same as the music over the closing credits. The opening theme on the Region 2 DVD version is a series of abstract sounds, while the closing music remains intact. The music for the series was made by Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
.
Novelization
Neil Gaiman wrote a novelizationNovelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
of the television series that was first released in 1996
1996 in literature
The year 1996 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is removed from an advanced placement English reading list in Lindale, Texas because it "conflicted with the values of the community."* In the United Kingdom, the first...
, during the television show's transmission. This was accompanied by a spoken word release on CD and Cassette. The text was later re-written for the US market (Gaiman's publisher insisting that many of the references of London were too obscure for US tastes) and a third version is now available which combines elements of both earlier versions of the novel.
Comic book
A nine-issue comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
began in June 2005
2005 in comics
- January :* January 3: Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit, dies at age 87.-April:*April 13:**DC Comics announces the discontinuation of its Humanoids and 2000 A.D. titles....
, written by Mike Carey (who had worked on Lucifer
Lucifer (DC Comics)
Lucifer is a DC Comics character that starred in an eponymous comic book published under the Vertigo imprint, whose entire run was written by Mike Carey...
, a spin-off from Gaiman's The Sandman), with art by Glenn Fabry
Glenn Fabry
Glenn Fabry is an Eisner Award-winning British comics artist known for his detailed, realistic work in both ink and painted colour.-Biography:...
.
The comic is an adaptation inspired by the novelization, rather than the original TV series. Thus the characters and settings do not generally resemble those seen in the series. The series was published by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
's Vertigo imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
. The collected volume
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
was also published by Vertigo, in February 2007
2007 in comics
-January:*January 10: Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator released.*January 24: The Boys is canceled with issue #6.-February:*February 2: Newsarama reports that The Boys has been picked up by Dynamite Entertainment....
(ISBN 1-4012-1007-4).
Stage
In 2006, a stage adaptation of the novel, developed by writer and actress Eve Butler and director Sasha Travis, was produced by the Savannah Actor's Theatre in Savannah, GeorgiaSavannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
.
In 2008, another stage adaptation was created and performed by the Actors Gymnasium in Evanston, IL.http://www.actorsgymnasium.com/
In 2010, Lifeline Theatre in Chicago, IL performed an adaptation The seven week run proved so successful that it was extended another four weeks. The play was viewed by Neil Gaiman and the producer of the original BBC series, Lenny Henry, during the extension.http://blog.lifelinetheatre.com/?p=353
Film
A script has been written for a movie version and was optionedOption (films)
In the film industry, an option is a contractual agreement between a potential film producer, such as a movie studio, a production company or an individual, and a writer or third party who holds ownership of a screenplay...
by The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...
. They are still looking for a director. IMDB lists the movie as "In-Development"
Sequels
Rumours of both the feature film adaptation and a sequel to the original story have been circulating since the original release.Neil Gaiman has said a sequel to the book titled The Seven Sisters is a possibility. In Neil Gaiman's short story collection Fragile Things
Fragile Things
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders is a collection of short stories and poetry by English author, Neil Gaiman. It was published in the US and UK in 2006 by HarperCollins and Headline Review....
, when commenting on his novella The Monarch of the Glen, a novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
that follows up on Gaiman's novel American Gods
American Gods
American Gods is a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel by Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on a mysterious and taciturn protagonist, Shadow. It is Gaiman's fourth prose novel, being preceded by Good Omens ,...
, he comments that a novella-length story in the world of Neverwhere, How The Marquis Got His Coat Back, remains half-written.
See also
- Midnight NationMidnight NationMidnight Nation is a religious-themed twelve-issue American comic book limited series, created by J. Michael Straczynski and published from 2000 to 2002 by Top Cow Productions under their now defunct Joe's Comics imprint...
, a graphic novel in which the protagonist takes a similar journey. - King RatKing Rat (1998 novel)King Rat is the debut novel by China Miéville. Unlike his Bas-Lag novels, it is not a New Weird story but an Urban Fantasy, set in London during the late 1990's. It follows the life of Saul Garamond after the death of his father and his meeting with King Rat...
, a 1998 novel by China MievilleChina MiévilleChina Tom Miéville is an award-winning English fantasy fiction writer. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" , and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird. He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist Workers Party...
with a similar theme of a second city beneath London. - Un Lun DunUn Lun DunUn Lun Dun is a young adult fantasy novel by China Miéville, released in 2007. The title is derived from 'UnLondon,' the name of the alternate realm where the book is set. It also contains illustrations by Miéville. It was first released as a hardback in the United Kingdom in January 2007 by...
, a 2007 novel, also by China Mieville, which focuses on an alternate-world version of London that can be reached by certain individuals. Mieville mentions Neverwhere as an inspiration in the novel's acknowledgements. - Mind the Gap: A Novel of the Hidden Cities, a 2008 novel by Tim LebbonTim LebbonTim Lebbon is a horror and dark fantasy writer, and a judge at the 2005 World Fantasy Convention.-Life and career:Lebbon was born in London. His short story "Reconstructing Amy" won the Bram Stoker Award for Short Fiction in 2001 and his novel Dusk won the 2007 August Derleth Award from the...
and Christopher GoldenChristopher GoldenChristopher Golden is an American author of horror, fantasy, and suspense novels for adults, teens, and young readers.Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. He is a graduate of Tufts University...
, also involves an underground, unseen version of London, and a protagonist on the run from powerful assassins. - Nightside (book series)Nightside (book series)Nightside is a series of fantasy novels by author Simon R. Green.After Just Another Judgement Day, Green has only three more books planned, which will bring an end to the series.-Setting:...
, by Simon R. Green, also involves an underground, dark and unseen version of London where the main character is hunted.