The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman - ★★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman

GENRE: Dark Fantasy.

PUBLICATION DATE: June 18, 2013

RATING: 4.25 stars.

I am a very visual reader. Whatever I read translates itself into crystal-clear pictures in my vivid imagination. (That's why I can't read horror. Rather than getting an adrenaline rush, I end up scaring myself! 🙈)

This habit of mine gets tested when I read fantasy. To picture dragons and unicorns and horrifying creatures and alien beings and scary ghouls and strange Gods does challenge the limits of the imagination. Yet I inevitably succeed in my endeavour and relish these out-of-the-world images even more.

For the first time ever though, my imagination has failed me. And all this is courtesy one man: a man whose creativity never ceases to amaze me. From the door leading into the unknown in Coraline to the graveyard full of varied types of ghosts in The Graveyard Book, this man can go where no other author can take you. The book that caused my imagination to struggle is his masterful "The Ocean at the End of the Lane".

To say that I loved the book would be an understatement. It starts off almost as a drama (in fact, I was wondering why Neil Gaiman was writing such a mundane story!) But a few pages down, you get glimpses of the absurd and the weird. You trudge on, not really sure of what you are reading, when suddenly the book explodes into the unknown and you are caught unawares! You get sucked in the vortex of the whirlpool he creates, with cats growing from the ground to a curtain-like creature spreading out in the sky, from shadow-shaped scavengers to an alien humanoid that makes you freeze with her sheer malice. Most of what is described is so fantastical that I had to reread the description 2-3 times to be able to visualise the scene. Even after you reach the end, you are left unsure with many questions about what exactly happened, and yet, you realise that it is the ending that makes the book even more mesmerising.

This book is a must-read for all lovers of fantasy. And even to those who want to test the genre! (This would even be a great book for 10 years plus kids, my daughter loved it!)