book data
63 ratings,
3.49
average rating, 32 reviews
(more data...)
edit
published
May 20th 2008
by Spectra
binding
Paperback, 400 pages
characters
setting
The United Kingdom
isbn
0553384694
(isbn13: 9780553384697)
description
You never know when you'll find yourself falling through one of the cracks in the world...
Two of today's brightest stars of dark fantasy c...more
Two of today's brightest stars of dark fantasy c...more
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 Books A Year: Alycia's books 2009 | 129 | 327 | 1 day ago, 01:35PM |
friend reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 125)
All ratings
|
5 stars (11)
|
4 stars (18)
|
3 stars (26)
|
2 stars (7)
|
1 star (1)
|
avg 3.49
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone who liked Neverwhere but thought the writing was too good
I've been really looking forward to reading this book. It's a collaboration between two authors that I admire, Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon. Also, Mind the Gap has been touted as the next Neverwhere which is high praise indeed- praise that in the end is totally misplaced. Frankly, this book isn't really any good, let alone the next Neverwhere .
The story takes place in the undergrounds of London where a secret society of people and ghosts live. After the death of her mother...more
The story takes place in the undergrounds of London where a secret society of people and ghosts live. After the death of her mother...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 2009
This was a much better book that the previous Christopher Golden book I'd read (Myth Hunters), probably because it was co-written with Tim Lebbon. Mind the Gap follows the story of Jazz, a young woman who ends up uncovering the 'real' United Kingdom under the metro. The story is fast paced, Jazz is literally on the run through the whole novel. She was raised to trust no one (her mum instilled a strong sense of paranoia in her and it serves her well) and she finds that this is almost always the c...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in November, 2008
Seventeen year old Jazz has been raised by her paranoid mom to be aware of everything that goes on around her and to be particularly ware of the Uncles (her dead father's old friends). One day when she arrives home from school to find her mother murdered and the Uncles staking out her house, it seems as though her mother was right to always be afraid. Jazz goes into hiding underground in the subway and is taken in by a group of underground dwellers who call themselves the United Kingdom. This gr...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2009
This story revolves around a girl who returns home from school to find her mother murdered and the people who have been watching over her and her mother responsible for the murder and waiting for her as well.
The girl, Jazz realizes she must find a safe haven to avoid the powerful group that is hunting for her and ends up London's abandoned underground where the adventures begin and the reason these powerful people turned on her family is eventually revealed.
Over all it wa...more
The girl, Jazz realizes she must find a safe haven to avoid the powerful group that is hunting for her and ends up London's abandoned underground where the adventures begin and the reason these powerful people turned on her family is eventually revealed.
Over all it wa...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2009
Good - in that it's a page turner that is hard to put down. It might have been 'very good' but I thought it lacked... something! Not sure how to express it. Description is pretty good - quite concise, which is nice for a change (as compared to some 1000+page books I've recently read which take 3 pages to describe a room in a pub which is of no consequence to the story). I guess my problem lies in the lack of information about the central theme of the book - which in the end turns out to be ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
Raised by an overly paranoid mother, Jazz comes home one day to find out that her mother wasn't nuts--the Uncles are there and her mom is dead. Jazz flees to the London Underground--no, even farther, under the Underground and comes across a makeshift "family" of thieves. She works crimes with them while trying to find out what happened to her mom, who her father was, the mysterious stranger who seems to know a lot, ghosts of WWII Londoners, and more.
Everything you read ...more
Everything you read ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2008
Best way I can think to describe this fun, fast read is "action thriller vs. Oliver Twist vs. Neverwhere vs. a ghost story." The action starts off almost right away, dragging you right into the story, and pretty much runs continuously. I found I didn't want to put it down. I suppose there's nothing really SUPER original about it, but I didnt care; found it quite enjoyable. The title stems from the fact that most of the action takes place in London's Tube system & surrounding tunnels.
...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2009
This book wasn't bad, but it wasn't nearly as good as I wanted it to be. It sounds good, a teenage girl is forced to go on the run after her mother is murdered and discovers hidden worlds under the city of London. The blurb on the cover lauds the blend of fantasy and realism, but I wanted a bit more magic. The pacing was also a bit uneven for most teen readers. The slow bits were too slow, and the action bits too short. Still, some teens might identify with the main character's search for t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2009
This was an odd book, and I'm still trying to figure out how many stars to give it.
After the murder of her mother, Jazz hides in the London Underground with group of orphans. These kids are guided and protected by an older thief who truly seems to care for them. Jazz soons finds herself confronted by his past, the reasons for her parent's deaths, London's ghosts and a mysterious cabal who ties them all together.
The ending was nothing that I could have predicted and bo...more
After the murder of her mother, Jazz hides in the London Underground with group of orphans. These kids are guided and protected by an older thief who truly seems to care for them. Jazz soons finds herself confronted by his past, the reasons for her parent's deaths, London's ghosts and a mysterious cabal who ties them all together.
The ending was nothing that I could have predicted and bo...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2008
Teenager Jazz is nearing her London home one day after school when she realizes that something isn’t quite right. Her mother has always drilled into her the urgent need to stay alert and even paranoid, and to trust no one and nothing except her instincts. Jazz’s instincts tell her to scope out her house – and she discovers that the Uncles, a mysterious group of BMW-driving men who have both supported and terrified her mother since Jazz’s birth, have killed her mother and are waiting fo...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
05/03/09
Myfannwy
added it
Read in April, 2009
If you liked Gaiman's "Neverwhere", then you'll enjoy this one.
Running from men she knows only as "the Uncles", who have just murdered her mum, Jazz finds a haven of sorts under London when she's taken in by a modern-day but kindly Fagin and his band of lost souls. But the abandoned tunnels of the London underground harbour their own ghostly dangers, and something hidden wants to draw Jazz back to the life she left behind.
Running from men she knows only as "the Uncles", who have just murdered her mum, Jazz finds a haven of sorts under London when she's taken in by a modern-day but kindly Fagin and his band of lost souls. But the abandoned tunnels of the London underground harbour their own ghostly dangers, and something hidden wants to draw Jazz back to the life she left behind.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2009
All the pieces were in place for a truly memorable urban fantasy, but it didn't go anywhere Gaiman and DeLint hadn't already gone. For a voracious (preferably teenage) reader who adores urban adventure fantasy, it's not a bad addition to the shelf. It doesn't stand out, however, and felt to my jaded eyes like a pale copy of Neverwhere.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I really enjoyed this. Jazz has been raised with an atmosphere of paranoia, which stands her in good stead when she comes home to find her mother murdered and the mysterious "Uncles" apparently waiting for her. She ecapes to the tunnels of London's Underground and is adopted by one of the groups that live there. There is also magic and mystery in this underground world, ghosts from London's past, the fearsome Hour Of Screams, lindering magic that some people want to harness for powe...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2008
This had a good level of suspense for most of the book but I felt it really let me down at the end. I felt that the denouement regarding ghosts and magic didn't really match the build-up of the plot. The character development for all but Jazz was almost non-existent. Altogether, I was fairly disappointed with this book.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2009
Not a big reader of sci-fi type books but I really liked the character and how the author laid the story out. Read it in 5 days.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2008
recommended to Heidi by:
found on my ownrecommends it for: teenagers
I recently read this and I can understand Jazz's belief that her parent, although hinky in the head, had a reason for why she parented Jazz the way she did.
It hooked me because I could understand the perspective of the child toward the mother.
It had a little of the believability that a child has no perspective of the impact of first friendships, dealing with a constant danger/threat, and a bit of the looking for and wanting to find tribe and belong.
Well written t...more
It hooked me because I could understand the perspective of the child toward the mother.
It had a little of the believability that a child has no perspective of the impact of first friendships, dealing with a constant danger/threat, and a bit of the looking for and wanting to find tribe and belong.
Well written t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in November, 2008
recommends it for:
any Sci Fi reader
Jazz's mother has trained her to be paranoid so when she comes home one day, she feels something is wrong. Her mother has been murdered and the "Uncles" are after her. She goes into hiding in the old subway tunnels under London. It's hard for her to trust anyone but she finds a group of kids led by an adult who steal things to survive. Magic and mystery is involved as Jazz tries to find out why her mother was killed. A pretty good read.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2008
The subtitle "A Novel of the Hidden Cities" really didn't make a lot of sense until I got to the end of the book and saw that there are other books with this same subtitle. While it takes place under London, it' really isn't (to me, at least) a story about the city under London.
The story seems undeveloped and rushed. While the main character is interesting, I found the other characters to lack depth.
The story seems undeveloped and rushed. While the main character is interesting, I found the other characters to lack depth.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
None found
