Neverwhere.
Neil Gaiman.

It’s hard to review this as a whole book, because it’s hard to think of anything but the ending. Heartbreaking, and beautiful — probably because it strikes terribly close to the bone for sci-fi and fantasy lovers. Hidden in the darkest corner of our soul, what Richard is given is our heart’s desire, what we want more than anything else in the world. But for us, unlike Richard, it is impossible. There is no doorway in the wall. That’s the heartbreaking part. The beauty is that he does, and through him we get a brief, vicarious flash of the wonder and relief of… well, of going home.

I also enjoyed the gritty reality of the world, the mud and the odors — one can almost feel the suction of the gook they’re wading through. Richard’s mental diary entries are very amusing, and my favorite quote comes at the end of one:

I am so far out of my depth that… Metaphors failed him, then. He had gone beyond the world of metaphor and simile into the place of things that are, and it was changing him.

Next favorite quote is a line of Mr. Croup’s: "Can’t make an omelette without killing a few people." Because, of course, that’s what they’re saying, with that euphemism. Croup just bypasses the metaphor and says it right out. Love that.