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A review by crookedtreehouse
The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman
2.0
I'm a long-time fan of Gaiman's work, and "Books Of Magic" has long been praised by my friends who doused themselves in Vertigo books in the last century. I've been told that the series goes well-down hill after Gaiman's original run, but I'm finding that hard to believe.
This is a very pretty book by a series of interesting artists that fails to tell a story. It's a premise. It's a premise about magic that gets its head entirely up its own ass while trying to establish a character. But instead of characters with personality, we just get explanations for what magic is and a very cursory introduction to a slew of DC Universe magic characters such as Doctor Fate, Deadman, and The Spectre, while a bunch of personalitiless Mystery Magic characters (one of them named Mister E...ugh), and a barely recognizable John Constantine try and get the blank slate kid to either accept magic or deny its powers. That's the book. It's a one-issue lead in to a larger story, except that it's four long issues.
It's weird to think that this is the same person who was simultaneously working on Sandman. Whereas that book plunged you into an intricate story, and made magic and myths seem effortless, this book is more like being dragged behind a tour bus where the world's dullest narrator fails to make you appreciate the beautiful landscape you're being dragged through.
I can't really recommend this book, which is a bummer. I'm making a continuity of books worth reading from The Sandman Universe, and including the introduction of Tim Hunter, as written by Neil Gaiman, seems like a necessary entry. But I can't recommend this. It's mind numbingly dull.
This is a very pretty book by a series of interesting artists that fails to tell a story. It's a premise. It's a premise about magic that gets its head entirely up its own ass while trying to establish a character. But instead of characters with personality, we just get explanations for what magic is and a very cursory introduction to a slew of DC Universe magic characters such as Doctor Fate, Deadman, and The Spectre, while a bunch of personalitiless Mystery Magic characters (one of them named Mister E...ugh), and a barely recognizable John Constantine try and get the blank slate kid to either accept magic or deny its powers. That's the book. It's a one-issue lead in to a larger story, except that it's four long issues.
It's weird to think that this is the same person who was simultaneously working on Sandman. Whereas that book plunged you into an intricate story, and made magic and myths seem effortless, this book is more like being dragged behind a tour bus where the world's dullest narrator fails to make you appreciate the beautiful landscape you're being dragged through.
I can't really recommend this book, which is a bummer. I'm making a continuity of books worth reading from The Sandman Universe, and including the introduction of Tim Hunter, as written by Neil Gaiman, seems like a necessary entry. But I can't recommend this. It's mind numbingly dull.