The Ocean at the End of the Lane Audiobook Review

Title: The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Author: Neil Gaiman
Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
Publisher: HarperAudio
Publication Date: June 18, 2013
ISBN-13: 978-0062263032

Listening copy via public library

I've written before about my love for Neil Gaiman (and Doctor Who) and fans will not be disappointed by Neil's latest work.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane has tropes familiar to both the author and the Doctor: a thing that is bigger in the inside, transformation of a harmless thing into a creature of terror, an offer to help that is spurned and will lead to the creature's ultimate demise.

And while it is not a groundbreaking work, it is still a delightful mix of the eerie and the everyday.

The unnamed protagonist remembers a time when he was seven years old and he meets a strange girl under strange circumstances who lives at the end of the lane. She has a pond on her farm that she calls an ocean, and the little boy almost believes her.

Together, they come across an ancient thing, a thing that the boy unwittingly unleashes into his own world, a thing that seeks to stay in this world at any cost.

Read by Neil Gaiman, the story unfolds at a leisurely pace. He is an amiable narrator, his placid tone only dropping during the moments of terror.

Highly recommended.

Bonus video: Neil Gaiman discusses audiobooks & The Ocean at the End of the Lane