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Books of Magic (2018-) Vol. 1: Moveable Type Kindle & comiXology

by Kat Howard (Author), Simon Spurrier (Author), Nalo Hopkinson (Author), Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 326 ratings

Part of: Books of Magic (2018-)

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Collecting issues #1-6 of the new DC Vertigo series! While Tim Hunter is trying to study and attract the cutest girl in his class, there are cultists who want to kill him, believing his magical powers will eventually corrupt him, turning him into a merciless mage who will bring upon the end of magic forever! Luckily, the new substitute teacher at his school wants to mentor him and educate him in the magical arts so that he can discover the secrets behind the Books of Magic...This collection also includes THE SANDMAN UNIVERSE SPECIAL #1!

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About the Author

Kat Howard is the author of novels Roses and Rot, a 2017 Locus Award finalist, and An Unkindness of Magicians, an NPR Best Book of 2017 and 2018 Alex Award winner. Forthcoming this fall is her collection, A Cathedral of Myth and Bone, which includes short fiction that has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award and performed as part of Selected Shorts.

Bestselling author Neil Gaiman has long been one of the top writers in comics, and also writes books for readers of all ages. He is listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one of the top ten living post-modern writers, and is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama. Gaiman's work has been honored with many awards internationally, including the Newbery and Carnegie Medals. His books and stories have also been honored with four Hugos, two Nebulas, a World Fantasy Award, four Bram Stoker Awards, six Locus Awards, two British SF Awards, A British Fantasy Award, three Geffens, an International Horror Guild Award and two Mythopoeic Awards.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07TYGLCYF
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vertigo; Illustrated edition (July 16, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 16, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 690353 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 200 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #89,613 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #4 in Graphic Novel Biographies & Memoirs
- #31 in Supernatural Graphic Novels
- #49 in Historical & Biographical Fiction Graphic Novels

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4.5 326 ratings

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4.5 out of 5

326 global ratings

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Heather W.

Dark, Crazy, Magical

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2024

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I love the way this plays off of the original Sandman stories and world. Magical, but deliciously dark. If you like Sandman, give this a go.

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2023

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Not gonna lie a whole lot better than I thought I seen the cover and kind of assumed it would be harry potter like until I seen it was a part of the Sandman universe while I started reading everything that had to do with it but it's nothing like the H.P. series much better in my opinion

One person found this helpful

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Christie M.

A worthy successor to the original

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2019

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Great line-up of today's most talented fabulists. I reread the original series before launching into this one--I was not disappointed.

2 people found this helpful

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S. Palmer

It was okay

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2019

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Didn’t like it as my co as the original series. I’m a little picky.

2 people found this helpful

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Hans Hageman

Misleading title and product information

Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2022

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Because this is entitles “Books of Magic Volume 1” and is said to be written by Neil Gaiman, I assumed this was the original four part 1990 series Books of Magic written by Neil Gaiman, the origin story of Timothy Hunter. This is not correct, however. This is a collection written after the original series, none of it by Neil Gaiman. I’m disappointed and return it, my first Amazon return ever. I wish the product information had been clearer.

9 people found this helpful

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James B.

Flying by too fast

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2019

I've wanted too read the original books of magic for a long time, but I've been having serious trouble finding it. Amazon has Gaiman's original miniseries, as well as the first volume of , but the rest has yet to be released. I figured I try the new version, but somehow, it doesn't have the same...well, magic.

The books of magic stars Tim Hunter. After prophecy indicates that Tim has the potential to be the greatest sorceror of his age, the resident magical experts give him a tour of the DC magic universe. But that's the backstory. Flash forward to this volume, and Tim is still a novice magician, who wants to learn, survive high school, and find his missing mother.

The weird part about this series is that, despite being a reboot, it feels like it's really leaning heavily on the original for you to get the characterization. Tim is quickly introduced as impatient and stubborn, with at least a kind heart to keep him grounded. After that, scenes just fly by at rapid pace, with barely any focus given to the side characters to get you invested in the world. Sure, I no more about Tim's dynamic with his dad and his few friends at school, but that's only because I read the original. I can't imagine anyone reading this for the first time being interested. I just hope it gets better.

3 people found this helpful

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Michael C.

Just Average

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2019

I never read Neil Gaiman's original 4-issue run of Books of Magic, nor did I read any of the subsequent runs, so, naturally, of the four titles initially announced for the first wave of Sandman Universe series, this one was the one I was least interested in. It's not that I wasn't interested in the premise - I love a good story about people learning how to do magic - but it was more the idea that, due to my lack of knowledge of any of the previous stories, I'd be totally lost going into this comic and find myself unable to enjoy it for what it is. Thankfully, that's not what happened. Unfortunately, it is still my least favorite 'volume 1' of the three in the Sandman Universe that I've read so far.

Books of Magic: Moveable Type isn't a bad graphic novel; it's just very average. The biggest issue is that it moves at such a break-neck pace that it's very hard to really immerse yourself into the story or to connect with the main character - especially when compared to titles like The Dreaming or Lucifer. But, some positives first. This book is surprisingly accessible to those who have never read a single comic in any of the previous iterations of the series. The first issue opens with a very quick recap of Gaiman's original miniseries (told in a very clever dream sequence that doesn't feel particularly expository) that gives you just enough of the vital backstory in order to understand and enjoy this new story being told. Also, based on a bit of research, it appears that this title is disregarding every previous Books of Magic series, aside from Gaiman's original. So, there's that. After that, we're fairly quickly thrown into the action as Tim Hunter is given a Book of Magic by his new substitute teacher and the action pretty immediately explodes.

Don't be fooled: while this comic centers around a teenage protagonist, it's very much a comic for more mature readers. There's a lot of gore and violence and language in this comic, making it clear that the target audience is definitely the same as the rest of The Sandman Universe's. But, interestingly, the writing itself doesn't feel very mature. Very little time is spent getting to know any character besides Tim and, even then, we don't really get to know him outside of his - pretty typical - teenage impulses and his drive to figure out what happened to his mother prior to the beginning of the series. Other than that, he feels a bit like every other teenager protagonist in stories like this. He's inexperienced and rash and impatient. Perhaps that's the point; perhaps he's supposed to feel very "everyman", but the comic doesn't really make it clear that's what it's going for, so it does come across as feeling a bit underdeveloped. Especially when you couple it with just how quickly the whole volume is paced. Everything happens so fast and very little time is spent with any individual event before we're rushed into the next one. Again, it's a choice, but I tend to prefer comics that take a bit more time to explore their plots. I wouldn't go so far as to say the pacing is a problem but it's something that didn't really work for me.

The artwork, penciled by Tom Fowley and colored by Jordan Boyd, falls into a similar camp. It's very stylized - intentionally so, I'd suspect - and does mostly work for the kind of story that's being told. It does take a bit of time to really get used to the style of artwork, though, especially when it comes to the facial expressions of the characters. This period of adjustment is most applicable when it comes to Tim Hunter's character design; he's full of sharp angles and exaggerated expressions and it can often seem out of place in the visual context of the rest of the scene. There were numerous times where the artwork seemed to be showing Tim in a more sinister light while the text itself - and the rest of the visual clues - didn't seem to support that. But, aside from that, the artwork is very good. I particularly dug Fowley's background artwork and creature design. He does a superb job in issue 5 with depicting The Dreaming; it looks similar enough to the artwork in The Dreaming to be identifiably The Dreaming while still maintaining Fowley's established style within the work of Books of Magic. Boyd's colors, however, are superb. They go a long way toward bringing Fowley's linework to life and the combination of Fowley and Boyd's styles makes for a very visually interesting experience.

All in all, Books of Magic: Moveable Type is not a bad graphic novel, but it's not quite as good as The Dreaming and Lucifer are. Perhaps it's merely down to the fact that this comic seems to be targeted at different audiences than those two are; perhaps it's more of a personal taste issue, it's really hard to say. What I can say is that I just don't have any strong feelings about this book positive or negative. Everything moved so quickly that I don't feel like I really got a chance to connect with the main character of the series, so it's hard for me to be emotionally invested in his personal journey. The world of the comic is cool, but I don't really feel inspired to continue reading the title past this volume. I'll probably pick up subsequent volumes at some point and see if the story develops into something that piques my interest a bit more, but I won't exactly be rushing out to do so. But that's not to say this is a bad comic; I definitely don't think that. There's a lot of good stuff here: some really great visuals, some interesting characters (that just really need some more development), and a plot that has the potential to go somewhere really interesting in the future. If you dug Gaiman's original mini-series, I suspect you'll dig this. If you didn't, it still might be worth a try. You never know, what didn't work for me might work a lot better for you.

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Cliente de Kindle

Interesante

Reviewed in Mexico on March 26, 2023

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No se si me gusta tanto como la historia de Neil Gaiman pero aún así la trama esta muy bien, hay páginas donde el arte es precioso y siempre me alegra ver a Sueño. Sólo me gustaría que Dr Occult siguiera siendo la contraparte de Rose.

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Sheri

Good condition

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2024

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There were minor dents in the corner but overall was in good condition. 👍
No damage to pages upon delivery.

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Books of Magic (2018-) Vol. 1: Moveable Type Kindle & comiXology

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Kat Howard

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