The Books of Magic: Bindings: Amazon.ca: John Ney Rieber, Neil Gaiman: Books

Product Description

This graphic novel, a companion volume to the first "Books of Magic" series, collects the first four issues of the series and also features the character of Death, from "The Sandman". Tim Hunter may become the greatest magician the world has ever known, but that depends on the choices he makes now.

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

3.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars A worthy effort, July 14 2004

By

H. Roberts "vertigod" (vallejo, ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Books of Magic, The: Bindings - Book 01 (Paperback)

The original Books of Magic, written by Neil Gaiman was great reading. John Ney Rieber Takes over writing chores for the regular series and manages to put together a decent arc in "Bindings" which takes place in Books of Magic 1-4.
There are a few subplots in the story, but the main driving force is Tim Hunter's battle with the Manticore. The Manticore is a changeling beast that captures children, "educates" them and eventually eats them. This is vintage Vertigo horror stuff, and is creepy enough to make you think that Gaiman might have ghostwritten it.
Tim's search to find the identity of his real father is also dealt with, although not to my satisfaction. Also something about the destruction of the lands of Fairie is thrown in, but it seems like an afterthought and isn't developed very well.
Death also makes a housecall, but is she there on business? Read the book and find out.
Overall, it's a very good story, the artwork is serviceable, but at times sketchy. This is another hallmark of early Vertigo work, and it does seem to add to the atmosphere of the book. The covers by Vess, on the other hand, are great. Too bad Vertigo reprints them 1/2 their regular size in this edition, you lose a lot of the detail.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Fair, Jun 17 2001

By

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Books of Magic, The: Bindings - Book 01 (Paperback)

This isn't my favorite of the "Books of Magic"--Summonings takes that honor. It's an interesting tale of Timothy Hunter, perhaps the greatest magician of all time, the illegitimate son of Tam Lin and Queen Titania of the Faeries.

Tim lives as an ordinary boy in our world, with a sloppy but loving father, and a few rather unworldly acquaintances. His father, Tam Lin, occasionally pops up in human form as does the Amadan, a rather repulsive little sprite who waits on Queen Titania. The Queen herself is furious because the Faerie lands are dying, for reasons that no one knows.

Tim has problems of his own when he ventures into the lair of a mysterious - and sinister - creature. This will lead to the discovery of what is killing the Faerie lands, and exact a terrible price in return.

While I found the story tight-paced and enjoyable, I wished they'd give us a little more backstory as to how Tim knows who his true father is. It would've made Titania's comments in the garden a little easier to understand ("we made love and a child in this garden"). I also felt that the explanation for the dying Faerie lands was a little too pat.

The artwork was pretty bad - often it shifted from one frame to another, becoming well-defined in one frame and blurry in another. Dimensions altered. And Titania was terribly drawn - she's supposed to be beautiful, darnit! It looks like they simply took a picture of a none-too-pretty woman and colored her green (not to mention the fact that her teeth often appear the same color as her skin). She looks much better in future books.

However, the atmosphere is unparalleled. The clash with the Manticore was downright chilling, as was the effects on Tim. I was quite surprised by Death's arrival, you'll be surprised at the face and personality of "death." And the last few pages were both sweet and sad.

A nice comic book, hardly flawless but nor is it bad.

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4.0 out of 5 stars meet tim hunter, greatest of all enchanters, Oct 14 2000

By

elfee (somewhere in time) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Books of Magic, The: Bindings - Book 01 (Paperback)

this is not where i first said hi to tim, but it's the meeting where you actually exchange a few words about yourself and get a feel for where your relationship is going to go :) needless to say, i like tim, and this is one good reason why. if anything, for his soliloquy at the beginning about love and fear and what holds the universe together. jnr writes uniquely weird stuff, and this is before it all overwhelmed tim and he got... well... a bit ahead of himself maybe. no molly yet, but otherwise, there's always death, isn't it :)

very tantalizing if you start with it (as one should if you don't want the original mini too). also, do not be deceived!! jane yolen just wrote the introduction (it was a very nice introduction, but really, jnr should get first billing, i daresay).

i suppose it may be too short-- only four issues-- but it completes its arc and you won't be disappointed if you like magic.. and boys... and maybe england :)

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars beutiful
it was great stuff.i love diving into the magical world of timothy hunter. very enjoyable.

Published on Feb 23 2000 by Amazon.com User

2.0 out of 5 stars It was just not the best book.
Some people would love it, I'm sure, but me, well, it was alright. Don't get discouraged though! You should read it and see what you thnk of it!

Published on Sep 9 1999