Neil Gaiman's a good writer and I can see that as I read it to the end - but it is just one of those novels that for no fault of its own, just didn't click with me. I read it because it was readable and I wanted to know what happened - and because unless they're absolutely dire I don't like giving up on books. But some parts of it for me just dragged and I can't really say I liked the characters.
It's a shame and maybe I'll give Gaiman another go because he's my favourite author's best friend. (She being Diana Wynne Jones) And he did actually write this book after drawing inspiration from her Eight Days of Luke.
Oh well. You can't like them all.
I'd recommend it to people still as a book they may enjoy. But I just couldn't get into it.