Number 28 - How the Marqis Got his Coat Back - Neil Gaiman

My latest cheat read.  Once again by Neil Gaiman, and once again a link in with one of his other books - in this case Neverwhere. I think I've read Neverwhere but I'm not entirely sure. It's well over a decade ago if I have. I know the concept is a fantastic landscape and magical characters living beneath and paralleling the real London.

I don't recall any detail from Neverwhere if I have actually read it, but that makes no difference to this book. The Marquis is a real gem of a character and it's virtually impossible not to warm to him very quickly. He's lost his favourite coat  and he sets off on a quest to find it across assorted dangerous territories beneath London. 

That's pretty much it for the plot. In lesser hands this would just be slighhtly over five dozen pages of silliness. To be honest, that is a fair description on this book, but it's so much more than that.  It's inspired silliness.  It has the feel of the best fairy tales you read as a child, but with an adult edge (not a darker edge in this case, but certainly an adult feel to the proceedings).

The assorted characters we meet along the way are by turns threatening and hilariously funny. What seems like a throwaway gag near the beginning becomes a genius solution to later problems.  This is a stunningly clever little book.

It's a very short book, so this is a very short review.

I picked the book up for a gobsmackingly expensive £!.99 in Waterstones the other day and it was worth every penny and more. Read and enjoy.

The ultimate accolade you can pay to a book.  I wanted it to be longer.