21 Best Neil Gaiman Books for Those Who Love Surprising Twists on Classic Tales

Check out our list of the best Neil Gaiman books. From short story collections to full novels and multi-book comics, you’ll find something for everyone.

The definition of a Renaissance Man is a gifted man who has skills and knowledge in many different areas. In the writing world, English author Neil Gaiman fits this definition perfectly. Neil Gaiman’s work includes everything from whimsical poetry for children to scripts for popular television series. Tales of hidden worlds, gods walking among modern Americans, the war between Heaven and Hell, and what happens at the end of the world are all something you can read about when you dive into Gaiman’s works.

Gaiman’s future as an author was clear from a very young age. The award-winning author started winning accolades for his works in elementary school, and the prizes keep coming, including Hugo, Locus, Havey, and Nebula Awards. He also won the British Fantasy Award multiple times, and in 2010 he earned the coveted Carnegie Medal for The Graveyard Work. Interested in learning more about Gaiman’s writing skills? Check out our Neil Gaiman masterclass review.

Wondering what it is that makes Neil Gaiman’s books so popular? The author loves to take on mythology, god stories, and fairy tales and tell them in a new, twisted, and sometimes excitingly dark way. In his books, you’ll discover characters you know or characters like those you know but see them from a different vantage point.

Rumor has it he writes all of the first drafts of his books with an old-fashioned fountain pen, and he loves to use a Pilot 823 at book signings. If you’re a fan of authors like Neil Gaiman with novels featuring mythology, dark fantasy, fairy tales, or good stories with a surprising twist, it’s time to discover the best works by this prolific and versatile author.

Best Neil Gaiman Books Ranked

1. American Gods

Are there mythical gods in modern America? In American Gods, the main character, Shadow, discovers that there are. Eagerly anticipating his release from prison, Shadow finds that his wife, Laura, has died in a car crash. On the plane ride home, he encounters Mr. Wednesday, a mysterious character claiming to be the god and king of America. This sparks a journey across the United States that takes a hard look at what makes America the country it is. American Gods is the first book in the series by the same name. The 2001 fantasy novel won the Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards for best novel in 2002.

“What I say is, a town isn’t a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it’s got a bookstore, it knows it’s not foolin’ a soul.”

Neil Gaiman, American Gods

2. Coraline

Can dark fantasy and children’s novels go together? Neil Gaiman says they can, and he proved this with his 2002 book Coraline. The book won numerous awards and earned a spot on The Guardian’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century list. While the awards are impressive, the unique plot makes the book appealing. When nine-year-old Coraline becomes bored and starts to explore, she finds a door in a brick wall that leads to a parallel universe. She finds a new world, including the doppelgangers of her mother and father. Her return to the real world creates a mystery when she discovers her parents are missing.

“I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted just like that, and it didn’t mean anything? What then?”

Neil Gaiman, Coraline

3. The Sandman Series

One of the things that sets Neil Gaiman apart as an author is his ability to transcend genres. The Sandman is a comic book series written by Gaiman and illustrated by several artists. It tells the story of Dream of the Endless, the ruler of the dream world. From January 1989 to March 1996, Gaiman wrote 75 different issues for the series, and in 2020 they were all compiled into a 14-volume paperback set. In addition, he has written short stories and graphic novels to go along with the original comics.

“Have you ever had one of those days when something just seems to be trying to tell you somebody?”

Neil Gaiman, The Sandman Volume 1

4. Neverwhere

Neverwhere is the novelization of an urban fantasy television series Gaiman wrote about a world hiding under the streets of London. It tells the story of Richard Mayhew, a young man who moves to the city, anticipating a normal businessman’s life with his fiancé. When Mayhew helps a mysterious girl named Door, he enters a bizarre adventure fighting assassins and mythical creatures. As he falls deeper into this world, known as London Below, he eventually becomes invisible to the world around him. To get his life back, he must find the girl and demand it.

“I want to go home. Then he mentally underlined the last sentence three times, rewrote it in huge letters in red ink, and circled it before putting a number of exclamation marks next to it in his mental margin.”

Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere

5. Stardust

Tristran Thorn is a man on a mission: to win the heart of Victoria. When the couple watches a star fall from the night sky, he sets out to find it for her. This takes him across the ancient wall that protects their village. Outside of the wall, Tristran discovers the world of the Faerie. When he discovers the fallen star, he realizes it is a living Faerie creature called Yvaine. Tristran discovers he is of Faerie heritage, and a quest to find love and legacy develops. This is the plot of Stardust. The 1999 book became the subject of a 2007 film that renamed the main character “Tristan” but kept much of the plot the same.

“Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at the stars because we are human?”

Neil Gaiman, Stardust

6. The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book is a young adult novel that Gaiman published in 2008. It follows the story of a boy named Nobody Owens, who everyone calls “Bod,” the adopted child of the supernatural occupants of a graveyard. The brutal murder of his parents led to him being brought up in the cemetery by ghosts. The book is about his quest to find his parents’ murderer and bring justice to them and some of the ghosts. Eventually, Bod grows up and leaves to start a life away from his ghostly family. The book won the British Carnegie Medal and the American Newbery Medal. It also won the Hugo Award and the Locus Award.

“It’s like the people who believe they’ll be happy if they go and live somewhere else but who learn it doesn’t work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you. If you see what I mean.”

Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

7. Good Omens (co-written with Terry Pratchett)

Good Omens is a 1990 collaborative work between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The comedy book focuses on what happens when a demon, witch, and angel must stop the Apocalypse. In the book, Aziraphale, an angel who once guarded the gates of Eden, and Crowley, a demon who tempted Eve, have been living on Earth since the beginning.

When the Antichrist is sent to Earth, the demon and angel are charged with presenting him as the son of an American diplomat. They decide, instead, to stick around and help raise the child. However, a mixup at the hospital sends the Antichrist to the wrong family, and the demon and angel set out on a quest to find him. Hilarity ensues as the pair and a witch named Anathema Device all attempt to stop the Apocalypse.

“It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.”

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens

8. Anansi Boys

Anansi is the trickster god of West African folklore, often depicted as a spider, and in Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman transforms him into Mr. Nancy. When Nancy dies, his son, Fat Charlie, is sent from London to Florida to plan his father’s funeral. While there, he discovers that not only does he have a twin brother, but that the brother has the divine power of the spider god, a gift that skipped over Fat Charlie. As the two reunite, life becomes quite interesting as they enter the divine world together. The book is quite funny and has a few spooky twists throughout. It became a number-one New York Times bestseller after its publication in 2005.

“Everybody going to be dead one day, just give them time.”

Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

9. The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award, the 2013 novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane explores the themes of self-identity and the disconnection between adults and children. The story begins with the main character returning to his childhood hometown. Returning to the home of Lettie Hempstock, a girl he knew in his childhood, he begins to remember incidents in the area when he was young. As a dark fantasy book, it explores a magical world of worms coming to life, hungry birds that attack people’s hearts, and memories lost as people turn into adults.

“Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds of times, or thousands; perhaps it never occurs to adults to step off the paths, to creep beneath rhododendrons, to find the spaces between fences.”

Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

10. Norse Mythology

Norse Mythology is a collection of Norse myths retold with Gaiman’s signature storytelling abilities. In the book, he stays true to the tales of Odin, Thor, Loki, and the rest of the deities but transforms the stories into a novel with a complete story arc. The author also weaves humor and wit into his work, bringing life to the myths many have forgotten. The book is engaging for fans of fantasy books, but for those who love mythology, it is an absolute must-read work.

“The Norse myths are the myths of a chilly place, with long, long winter nights and endless summer days, myths of a people who did not entirely trust or even like their gods, although they respected and feared them.”

Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology

11. Fragile Things

Fragile Things is another work that shows Gaiman’s versatility. It contains short stories and poetry by Gaiman. The opening story, “The Mapmaker,” was originally part of American Gods. Next comes “A Study in Emerald,” a Sherlock Holmes short story. The book has fairy tales, too, including “The Fairy Reel,” a short poem, and “Instructions,” a longer poem about what to do if you are in a fairy tale. Fragile Things ends with a full novella, The Monarch of the Glen, an American Gods sequel that takes on the tale of Beowulf. The work was published in 2006 and won the 2007 Locus Award for Best Collection.

“There are so many fragile things, after all. People break so easily, and so do dreams and hearts.”

Neil Gaiman, Fragile Things

12. Smoke and Mirrors

Another collection of short stories and poems, Smoke and Mirrors, was published in 1998 in the United States and 1999 in the UK. The book opens with “Reading the Entrials,” a poem about fortune telling. Many of the stories in the book focus on popular mythology, including a story about the Holy Grail, a retelling of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and a retelling of Snow White. Some of the works in this book were originally written for different purposes, such as a story Gaiman once included in a Christmas card.

“When I was a child, adults would tell me not to make things up, warning me of what would happen if I did. As far as I can tell so far, it seems to involve lots of foreign travel and not having to get up too early in the morning.”

Neil Gaiman, Smoke and Mirrors

13. The Books of Magic (co-written with John Bolton, Scott Hampton, Charles Vess, and Paul Johnson)

The Books of Magic is a miniseries of four comic books written by Gaiman with illustrations by John Bolton, Scott Hampton, Charles Vess, and Paul Johnson. The miniseries explores the story of Tim Hunter, a 12-year-old boy who can become the greatest magician in the world if he chooses to. In each book, Tim learns more about the DC Comics Universe and his potential role in it as a different character of the DC World takes him to meet magical characters from the worlds within the comics. Tim decides to pursue magic at the end of Gaiman’s four contributions to his story. A new writer then took over the series to keep it going.

“Humanity is evil — civilization is the scum that forms on the surface, but beneath, humanity consists of brutes and animals.”

Neil Gaiman, The Books of Magic

14. Black Orchid (co-written with Dave McKean)

Featuring the art of Dave McKean, Black Orchid is a DC Comics series published from 1988 to 1989. It has three issues that follow Flora, a reincarnation of the Black Orchid. The series starts when she wakes up in a greenhouse and starts a journey through the DC Universe. Along the way, she meets Batman, Swamp Thing, and Lex Luthor. This arc is a coming-of-age story about Flora as she discovers where she stands. It’s also an origin story for the character, giving what is often a secondary character a bit of depth. Dave McKean’s breathtaking artwork breathes life into the characters.

“I trust you, too, will become a crime fighter. There are too few of us.. and far too many of them.”

Neil Gaiman, Black Orchid

15. The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish (illustrated by Dave McKean)

Have you ever wanted something so bad you’d be willing to trade almost anything for it? That’s the premise of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, a picture book by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. In the story, the narrator trades his dad for his best friend’s two goldfish and then must tell his mom what he’d done. McKean and Gaiman wrote and illustrated the book so that the text looked cut from hand-written notes and pasted inside the story. With this work, Gaiman shows his uncanny ability to write for any age and truly understand them.

“I’ll swap you my dad,” I said. “Oh-oh,” said my little sister.”

Neil Gaiman, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish

16. The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch (illustrated by Dave McKean)

Another collaboration between McKean and Gaiman, The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, tells the story of a Punch & Judy man at a seaside arcade and a woman who plays a live mermaid. A young boy encounters these characters and must unravel their family secrets. With a Punch and Judy man at the center of the story, the book also features puppet shows, but not the innocent, kid-friendly ones you’re probably thinking of. Instead, the puppet show has a lot of violence and betrayal woven into the tale. Published in 1994, this was one of the author’s earlier works.

“Adult helplessness destroys children. Or it forces them to become tiny adults of their own.”

Neil Gaiman, The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch

17. Angels and Visitations

Many of Gaiman’s early writings appeared in magazines and anthologies, and 1993 DreamHaven books collected and published several of them in Angels and Visitations. The stories explore themes like black magic in London, an old woman who finds and displays the Holy Grail, trolls guarding a bridge, and more. It also features poetry, an essay, and a book review. If you want to glimpse the variety that makes Gaiman so popular, grab a copy of this book. “Murder Mysteries,” the last and longest story in the book, is one of the most popular that it contains.

“If not for Death, they’d be content to simply exist, but with Death, well, their lives will have meaning — a boundary beyond which the living cannot cross.”

Neil Gaiman, Angels and Visitations

18. Trigger Warning

Trigger Warning is the 2015 collection of short fiction from Neil Gaiman. Some of the stories in the work are previously published for other reasons, but some are firsts for the collection, such as the Doctor Who story he wrote for the show’s 50th-anniversary celebration. The theme of the stories in this anthology are the masks people wear that hide their true selves and what happens when they come off.

Many stories are horror and ghost stories, but they all contain plenty of emotion. Gaiman even takes on the theme of social media in “A Calendar of Tales,” which is inspired by his replies to the tweets of his fans. This book stands out because of the diversity of material it contains.

“The monsters in our cupboards and our minds are always there in the darkness, like mold beneath the floorboards and behind the wallpaper, and there is so much darkness, an inexhaustible supply of darkness. The universe is amply supplied with night.”

Neil Gaiman, Trigger Warning

19. Instructions (illustrated by Charles Vess)

Gaiman’s lyrical poem Instructions first appeared in Fragile Things. Readers connected with it so well that he partnered with illustrator Charles Vess to turn it into a children’s book he published in 2010. The story takes a novice traveler through a fairy tale’s enchanted woods, past castles, and even over a river until he finds his way home. The colorful illustrations depict the mythical creatures of fairy tale lore, and it’s a beautiful way to explore the world of myths with a child in your life.

“Touch the wooden gate in the wall you never saw before. Say “please” before you open the latch. Go through.”

Neil Gaiman, Instructions

20. Blueberry Girl (illustrated by Charles Vess)

Blueberry Girl is another of Gaiman’s poems that became a picture book featuring the artwork of Vess. Gaiman originally wrote the poem for Tash, his goddaughter, in 2000. In 2004, he commissioned Ves to paint pictures to accompany the poem. The paintings were complete, and the work was published in 2009. The sweet story allows readers to grow up with a baby girl as she develops into a brave and adventurous young woman.

“Let her tell stories and dance in the rain, somersault, tumble and run, her joys must be as high as her sorrows are deep. Let her grow like a weed in the sun.”

Neil Gaiman, Blueberry Girl

21. M is for Magic

Most of Gaiman’s short stories are for adults, but not M is for Magic. This book is written for younger Gaiman fans while still chilling and a bit dark, like many of the author’s works. It takes classic children’s tales and puts a spin on them, such as asking what would happen if Humpty Dumpty’s sister had hired a detective to investigate his death. While many stories come from works readers know well, they all have an unexpected twist.

“Dumpty had his finger in most of the crooked pies in town; I could think of five guys who would have preferred to see him dead than alive without trying. Without trying too hard, anyway.”

Neil Gaiman, M is for Magic

Looking for more? Check out our authors like Patricia Briggs!