Tom Taylor and Christopher Robin Milne have a lot in common. They're both the inspiration for their father's greatest literary works. They both have quite a bit of resentment toward their father for that fame. But, unlike Christopher Robin Milne, Tom Taylor may not be quite who he thinks he is.
Tom Taylor's father wrote the popular Tommy Taylor series, which follow the exploits of a boy wizard and his friends as they try to survive the rise of a powerful dark lord. After writing the final Tommy Taylor book, Wilson Taylor went missing, leaving his son to grow into a rude, cynical slacker. There's no love lost between Tom and his father - his father never seemed especially affectionate toward him and insisted upon drilling seemingly useless knowledge of literature and literary geography into his head at every available opportunity. Although Tom has attempted to distance himself from his fictional childhood self throughout his life, he always finds himself returning to the convention circuit.
It's at one of these conventions that he encounters two people that throw his life into turmoil. The first is a very eccentric man who believes himself to be Count Ambrosio, the villain of the Tommy Taylor novels. He has been stalking Tom Taylor's convention appearances for a while, and his behavior has been getting increasingly erratic. The second is a woman named Lizzy Hexam, who asserts that Tom Taylor is not the real son of Wilson Taylor - in fact, the boy known as Tom Taylor may not have ever existed at all. There's no evidence of Tom's existence - no birth certificate, no real social security number, nothing. So, who is he, really? Before Tom can fully digest this revelation, "Count Ambriso" kidnaps him and attempts to livestream his villainous triumph over the boy wizard. And the "Count" isn't the only one that seems to be out for Tom's blood.
The Unwritten may sound like AU Harry Potter, but it's a lot darker and grittier than the beloved children's series. It's kind of like what Harry Potter would have been like if it had been crossed with Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.
The first volume's pacing fluctuates. During the action parts, it's pretty quick, but then there's an entire chapter following the literary life of Rudyard Kipling that's pretty slow. The Rudyard Kipling chapter isn't included just for giggles - there's important things being established in this chapter - but it's slow and hard to read because you're reading handwritten diary entries. It was my least favorite chapter, but don't skip it or you'll be confused about the overall "shadowy cabal" stuff that's going on.
I can't say that any characters stood out as being "favorite character" material in the first volume. Tom Taylor is an unlikable, self-centered jerk, and you don't really know enough about anyone else to really form a strong opinion of them. Lizzy Hexam is interesting - why does she know so much about Tom, and why was she researching him in the first place?
The real star of this book is the world-building that's going on. We may think we know what's going on in the modern world, and we may think that literature is just a form of entertainment, but the line between the two may not be as clear as we think. Authors might be more than just spinners of fanciful tales, but just how much power do they wield if that's the case?
The art is pretty good - it conveys emotion and movement really well. The action sequences are paced well enough that you can follow what's going on without having to study each panel for five minutes. You should definitely take the time to study the cover art and alternate cover art gallery at the back, though. I think that a couple of them would make nice posters.
I think that this would be good reading for older teens to adults who were fans of the Harry Potter series or like darker fantasy stories. It's definitely not something you'd get for your ten-year-old Pottermaniac nephew for his birthday. There is a lot of strong language, and it's pretty violent - they don't shy away from committing grisly acts of murder with, for instance, farm tools or nail bombs. (Okay, your ten-year-old nephew might be mature enough to deal with this, but, y'know, full disclosure and all.)
No comments:
Post a Comment