"There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife. The knife had a handle of polished black bone and a blade finer and sharper than any razor...if it sliced you, you might not even know that you had been cut – not immediately.”

The Graveyard Book is a short novel which depicts the life of a young boy who, by strange events, has been left orphaned and is left to be brought up and educated by the ghosts of his local graveyard. The story follows Nobody Owens (Bod for short) on his journey to discover the world outside the graveyard, a world of which he has no experience. 

I enjoyed the structure and the way Neil Gaiman has written the characters, the way it always draws you in, even though nothing much happens in the actual plot. But however much I liked how it was written I cannot draw my attention away from the fact that I really don’t like the ending: Bod defeats his enemies, who were almost non-existent throughout the story, almost too easily. Then when it is time for him to leave, his guardian still fails to answer Bod’s questions which he has asked all his life and all the story, leaving me dissatisfied and feeling as if I’m still missing something.

I also think The Graveyard Book was written for younger readers (around 8–10), showed well by the fact it has pictures; therefore, as a more mature reader, I find it less interesting. However, if I were a younger reader I think I would enjoy the novel and its illustrations much more: that is why I am giving this 7/10.