Never land
Never Land is the book for the miniseries Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman . The plot and characters were taken from the series. The novel form, however, allowed Gaiman to work out individual narrative strands more precisely and to withdraw some concessions that he had to make in favor of the television version. The novel was originally published by BBC Books in 1996 and became a huge hit. The original TV series did not garner comparable international attention.
action
Never Land is the story of Richard Mayhew and his adventures in Lower London . At the beginning of the story he is a young businessman with a normal life. That changes when he helps a girl who appeared out of nowhere before him. Actually on his way to dinner with his fiancée and her influential boss, he takes the exhausted and injured Door home with him.
The next morning, Door recovered surprisingly quickly. She sends Richard to look for the Marquis de Carabas, the man who can help her. Door is pursued by two notorious hit men, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar. The Marquis accompanies Richard to his apartment, only to immediately disappear with Door. Soon after, Richard discovers that he apparently no longer exists. He loses his job, his fiancée, his apartment, his entire previous life.
To get his normal life back, he decides to look for Door and the Marquis in Lower London. His journey first leads him to the rat speakers. Together with the rat speaker girl Anaesthesia, who is to accompany him to the next market, he crosses the mysterious Night's Bridge (to Knightsbridge , a London underground station), where he loses it. Arriving at the hiking market, he finds Door, who is looking for a bodyguard .
The legendary bodyguard "Hunter" joins them. Door searches for the people behind the murder of her family. In search of information and support, Door, Richard Mayhew, Hunter and the Marquis de Carabas head to the Earl's court (after Earls Court Underground Station ).
In the meantime, Door and the Marquis have gone to Door's house and found an entry in Door's father's diary there. In it he advises them to seek help from the Angel Islington (after Angel Underground Station, Islington ) in an emergency . The Earl's Court is held in a London Underground carriage . The marquis is not wanted at court and has to separate from the rest of the group.
Door learns that she can get to Islington via the Angelus. The Angelus is a depiction of an angel in the British Museum . Door and Richard go to the museum. Hunter cannot come to Upper London due to a curse and waits in an abandoned tube station for Door and Richard to return. They find the Angelus and Door uses her ability to open doors to get to the whereabouts of the Angel Islington. Islington declares that he is the protector of London. This is his punishment for the fall of Atlantis , which was also under his protection. He promises Door that he will help her solve the murder of her family. For this he needs a certain key, which the Black Friars (English for Dominicans , but also a train station ) keep.
In the meantime, the marquis visits Croup and Vandemar in their hiding place to trade a priceless figure from the Tang Dynasty for information. He wants to find out who is behind the murders of Door's family. He has to pay for the information with his life; Croup and Vandemar capture, torture and kill him.
Door, Richard and Hunter go to the Black Friars residence. There they have to undergo three exams. Hunter wins the fight with one of the monks; Door solves a riddle and Richard becomes the first challenger to pass the most difficult of the three tests. With the help of illusions, he is led to believe that his adventures in sub-London were just a hallucination. Just before he, like all his predecessors, can commit suicide, a memento of anesthesia in his pocket reminds him that his adventures are real. He then receives the key from the monks. Richard emerges from the exam with greater confidence. He is now confident that he can face the challenges in sub-London.
To meet the marquis, the three of them go to the next hiking market. Hammersmith, a friend of Door (but also a reference to the subway station of the same name ), makes a copy of the key. Richard meets the mysterious Lamia, one of the vampire-like velvets. She offers to take them to Islington.
Door, Richard, Lamia and Hunter make their long walk down Down Street (London Underground Station). Old Bailey finds the body of the marquis and can awaken it with the help of the life essence previously deposited with him. The weakened marquis sets out to find Door and the others. On Down Street, Lamia tries to steal Richard's life force in payment for her service as a guide. The marquis can save him at the last second.
It turns out that Hunter betrayed Door to Croup and Vandemar. As a reward, she receives the magical spear that she needs to kill the great monster of London. Croup and Vandemar capture Door, leaving Richard, the Marquis and Hunter behind.
They must now find their way through the Great Labyrinth to Islington without a guide . The monster lives in this labyrinth. You are attacked by the Great Beast and Hunter is mortally wounded. With the magic spear and the support of the dying Hunter Richard succeeds in killing the Great Monster of London.
Richard and the Marquis hurry on, and when they finally meet Islington they realize its true intentions. He had hired Croup and Vandemar to kill Door's family. He was also responsible for the fall of the Atlantis entrusted to him and was banished from heaven for it.
Now he wants to use Door and the key to open a door to heaven, where he wants to usurp the rule. After Richard was tortured by Croup and Vandemar, Door gives in to Islington's demands and opens a door with the key. To do this, however, she uses the copy of the key and so the door to heaven is not opened but to a very distant place. Islington, Croup and Vandemar are sucked out through the gate.
Door uses the real Black Friars key to escort Richard back to Upper London. Richard is happy for a while after returning to his normal life, but realizes that his experiences have changed him. His old life and friends no longer mean anything to him. He realizes that he no longer fits into the normal world and returns to sub-London.
backgrounds
When adapting the film to the novel, some changes have been made. Most notably, in the novel, the first market takes place in Harrods , whereas in the film it is held under Battersea Power Station . This correction became necessary after Harrods management changed its attitude towards the planned filming.
expenditure
- Neil Gaiman : Never Land. Novel (Original title: Neverwhere ). German by Tina Hohl . Paperback first edition. Heyne, Munich 1998, 368 pages, ISBN 3-453-13757-4
- Mike Carey, Glenn Fabry: Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere . 1-9 (August 2005 - September 2006). Vertigo (English, individual issues of the comic).
- Mike Carey, Glenn Fabry: Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere . Vertigo, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4012-1007-6 (English, edited volume of the comic).
