Tom Taylor s life was screwed from the word go. His father created the mega-popular Tommy Taylor boy-wizard fantasy novels. But dad modelled the fictional epic so closely on Tom s real life that fans constantly compare him to his counterpart, turning him into a lame, Z-level celebrity.When a scandal hints that Tom might really be the boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a mysterious, deadly group that s secretly kept tabs on him all his life. Now, to protect his life and discover the truth behind his origins, Tom will travel the world, to all the places in world history where fictions have shaped reality.
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Review
'packed with recherche trivia and literary psychogeography....fans of Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Carroll will be right at home here: if the rest of the series lives up to this cliffhanging first volume it will be very good indeed' --The Telegraph
'just as truth and fiction, fascinatingly collide with intriguing postmodern results...Mike Carey climaxes his first page-turning volume with a discursive chapter on an imagined political conspiracy surrounding Rudyard Kipling' --The Metro
"A wish-I'd-thought-of-it premise, beautifully executed. Highly recommended for anyone who thinks that fantasy can do more than just help you escape the real world" --Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, TV's LOST)
'just as truth and fiction, fascinatingly collide with intriguing postmodern results...Mike Carey climaxes his first page-turning volume with a discursive chapter on an imagined political conspiracy surrounding Rudyard Kipling' --The Metro
"A wish-I'd-thought-of-it premise, beautifully executed. Highly recommended for anyone who thinks that fantasy can do more than just help you escape the real world" --Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, TV's LOST)
About the Author
Mike Carey is the writer of Elektra, Fantastic Four, Inferno, My Faith in Frankie and the smash-hit Lucifer. He is currently writing X-Men and Wetworks. Peter Gross has contributed artwork to The Sandman, The Books of Magic: Summonings, and The Books of Magic: Reckonings.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
I will admit this right from the beginning: I got this book because of its cover. It's deceptively simple and quite brilliant. And the phrase that's pictured coming out (or going into) the book really piqued my interest: Stories are the only thing worth dying for. Food for thought.
Wilson Taylor is the author of the most celebrated fantasy book series in the world. Surpassing even Harry Potter's popularity, the Tommy Taylor series follows the adventures of a boy wizard, his friends Sue and Peter, and a magical flying cat as they battle an evil vampire called Count Ambrosio (the similarity to Harry Potter's storyline is evident). The author's son, Tom Taylor, is believed by fans to be the model for his father's stories, and when Wilson Taylor disappears, his son tries to cash in on his father's legacy in any way he can. However, he is haunted by abandonment issues and resentment at being looked at only as a fictional character. When doubts are raised about his past, and whether or not he is truly the son of the missing author, Tom Taylor is thrust into a lot more trouble than he could conceive.
I liked the story, the premise is interesting, and all the literary references make this a true pleasure for any book lover. I had a few problems with the execution - for example, I thought that the story evolved quite slowly, with the main character not figuring out things that are made quite obvious to the reader. I guess this is fairly true to reality - after all, if you were in the main character's shoes, just how easily would you believe you were actually a character made flesh, or that all the literary mumble-jumbo your father taught you would be useful to battle enemies you're not even aware of?... Read more ›
Wilson Taylor is the author of the most celebrated fantasy book series in the world. Surpassing even Harry Potter's popularity, the Tommy Taylor series follows the adventures of a boy wizard, his friends Sue and Peter, and a magical flying cat as they battle an evil vampire called Count Ambrosio (the similarity to Harry Potter's storyline is evident). The author's son, Tom Taylor, is believed by fans to be the model for his father's stories, and when Wilson Taylor disappears, his son tries to cash in on his father's legacy in any way he can. However, he is haunted by abandonment issues and resentment at being looked at only as a fictional character. When doubts are raised about his past, and whether or not he is truly the son of the missing author, Tom Taylor is thrust into a lot more trouble than he could conceive.
I liked the story, the premise is interesting, and all the literary references make this a true pleasure for any book lover. I had a few problems with the execution - for example, I thought that the story evolved quite slowly, with the main character not figuring out things that are made quite obvious to the reader. I guess this is fairly true to reality - after all, if you were in the main character's shoes, just how easily would you believe you were actually a character made flesh, or that all the literary mumble-jumbo your father taught you would be useful to battle enemies you're not even aware of?... Read more ›
By King Diamond
Amazon Verified Purchase
This book on the surface is a Harry Potter pastiche, though as you read further into it, there are also many paralells with the life of Christopher Robin Milne. Made in to a character in a popular childrens book series by his missing father, Tommy Taylor makes a living on the comic convention circuit. However, as the book progresses, it becomes clear that the stories written about Tommy may not be entirely ficticious. An entertaining and cleverly written book.
By Noel
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Ugh, I've tried three times to start this review properly and fairly by giving a summary of the plot and a fair critique of it and I can't do it. This book just sucks. Tom Taylor is boring, he's Daniel Radcliffe in another life living off of Harry Potter. There's a mysterious organisation which seems to say the places and stories in classic lit are real and meaningful.
Tom's pop, an unlikeable prig, made him memorise fictional locations in novels because one day he'll need them. I have a problem with this as Tom hasn't actually read any of these novels he just knows the locations where they take place. Why not read them for goodness sake, that's the point of novels. But of course dull old Tom hasn't read them, his imagination remains undeveloped so most of his actions are predictable.
He goes to the Villa Diodati (students of literature will notice a lot of famous locales in this book) where he apparently grew up, a bad guy shows up and hunts down some dreary writers.
Peter Gross's artwork is terrible, the characters barely have expressions, most of the panels are unimpressive and scratchy at best. Not one panel jumped out at me, they were all as bland as the others.
I can't write anymore, it's too dispiriting. This joyless, unimaginative dirge of a comic book hasn't got any good characters, any great concept that's worth pursuing, the artwork is utterly crap, frankly "Unwritten" should have stayed just that - unwritten. God knows how it's a "New York Times Bestseller", I suppose anything that whiffs of Harry Potter makes it to the top.
Tom's pop, an unlikeable prig, made him memorise fictional locations in novels because one day he'll need them. I have a problem with this as Tom hasn't actually read any of these novels he just knows the locations where they take place. Why not read them for goodness sake, that's the point of novels. But of course dull old Tom hasn't read them, his imagination remains undeveloped so most of his actions are predictable.
He goes to the Villa Diodati (students of literature will notice a lot of famous locales in this book) where he apparently grew up, a bad guy shows up and hunts down some dreary writers.
Peter Gross's artwork is terrible, the characters barely have expressions, most of the panels are unimpressive and scratchy at best. Not one panel jumped out at me, they were all as bland as the others.
I can't write anymore, it's too dispiriting. This joyless, unimaginative dirge of a comic book hasn't got any good characters, any great concept that's worth pursuing, the artwork is utterly crap, frankly "Unwritten" should have stayed just that - unwritten. God knows how it's a "New York Times Bestseller", I suppose anything that whiffs of Harry Potter makes it to the top.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By N. Rossis
Without wanting to reveal the plot, the whole premise is a fascinating discourse into the fantastic power of literature. This is revealed very gradually, and only in the final chapter do all the pieces of the puzzle fall together. Although the reader's curiousity will have picqued by then, the next installment remains sadly as yet unpublished (although I have already pre-ordered it).
Still, in a "graphic novel", the "novel" part is simply one side of the whole. As far as the "graphic" part is concerned, the art is rich and cinematographic, and helps the plot unfold in a most satisfactory manner. However, it feels that the emphasis is placed more on the wondrous story and less on the art that, after a while, becomes "transparent" to the viewer, and serves best as a vehicle for the unfolding of the plot.
One can't help but wonder what the result might have been if Mike Carey and Blacksad's Guarnido ever worked together on a project...
Still, in a "graphic novel", the "novel" part is simply one side of the whole. As far as the "graphic" part is concerned, the art is rich and cinematographic, and helps the plot unfold in a most satisfactory manner. However, it feels that the emphasis is placed more on the wondrous story and less on the art that, after a while, becomes "transparent" to the viewer, and serves best as a vehicle for the unfolding of the plot.
One can't help but wonder what the result might have been if Mike Carey and Blacksad's Guarnido ever worked together on a project...
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Mike Kemp
This a great opening volume for one of the best comics on the go at the moment. By creating a Harry Potter analogue in the character and books of Tommy Taylor, Carey allows himself room for some wonderful pastiche that doesn't feel disrespectful to its inspiration. That this aspect is merely gravy on the meat of a fantastical story about identity, conspiracy and the power of words is quite something.
Tom Taylor is the son of the author of the Tommy Taylor books who is at great pains to stress that he is not the hero out of his father's books, unless doing so will earn him a few bucks at conventions. As the mystery of his father's disappearance and questions about his own past are teased out in this trade paperback, Tommy finds himself on a quest to find answers before a shadowy group can either get to those same answers themselves or at least stop him from doing so. Along the way, other works of literature such as Frankenstein and Just So Stories are folded into the plot without sacrificing the tension and pace of the main story.
As the lines between what is real and what is "merely" a story become more and more blurred, the climax should leave you with a small sense of closure for this volume but a greater desire to see what happens next.
Tom Taylor is the son of the author of the Tommy Taylor books who is at great pains to stress that he is not the hero out of his father's books, unless doing so will earn him a few bucks at conventions. As the mystery of his father's disappearance and questions about his own past are teased out in this trade paperback, Tommy finds himself on a quest to find answers before a shadowy group can either get to those same answers themselves or at least stop him from doing so. Along the way, other works of literature such as Frankenstein and Just So Stories are folded into the plot without sacrificing the tension and pace of the main story.
As the lines between what is real and what is "merely" a story become more and more blurred, the climax should leave you with a small sense of closure for this volume but a greater desire to see what happens next.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Who is Tom Taylor?
If you crossed "Fables" with a Christopher Nolan movie (plus a dash of "Harry Potter" and Christopher Robin), you might get something like "Unwritten Vol. Read more
Published on 1 May 2011 by E. A Solinas
5.0 out of 5 stars
His Story or History?
'The Unwritten' is a rare beast. Original, innovative and entertaining from start to finish. It is a work of art that left me dumbfounded almost from the word go. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2011 by Quicksilver
4.0 out of 5 stars
moreish
got this graph today.....finished it already....love the concept.....can't wait for the next one.....hooked already.....the only reason i didn't give it a five..... Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2010 by Mrs. V. Wallis
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