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The Books of Magic #1
The Books of Magic: The Invitation
Timothy Hunter is just like any other thirteen-year-old boy in London . . . except for the tiny fact that he might be the most powerful magician of his time. When four strangers offer to show Tim the realms of magic, he begins a journey beyond imagination. Wizards pursue him, danger threatens at every turn, and he discovers powerful forces that want him on their side -- or dead.
235 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2003
4 people are currently reading
497 people want to read
About the author
Carla Jablonski
47 books63 followersCarla Jablonski is the author and editor of dozens of best-selling books for teenage and middle-grade readers. She grew up in New York City, where she attended public schools and the Bronx High School of Science. She has a BA in anthropology from Vassar College and an MA from NYU's Gallatin School, an interdisciplinary program for which she combined playwriting, the history of gender issues in 19th Century Circus, and arts administration. "I wanted to write the play, contextualize the play, and learn how to produce the play for my degree," she explains. "I think I may have been the happiest graduate student at NYU -- I SO loved working toward my thesis."
While still in graduate school she supported herself as the editor of The Hardy Boys Mysteries. "When I interviewed for the job they asked me if I'd ever read the Hardy Boys as a kid. 'No way,' I scoffed. 'Those are BOY books! It was Nancy Drew for me!' Luckily my future boss had a sense of humor. She hired me after I promised I'd read the books if I got the job."
She has participated in the renowned Breadloaf Writers' Conference as well as Zoetrope's All-Story highly competitive writing workshop held at Francis Ford Coppella's resort in Belize. She has taught writing for the children's market, as well as "cold-reading" skills for teachers as part of Project:Read. Several of her books have been selected as part of the Accelerated Reader's program.
She continues to work freelance as an editor for publishers and for private clients, even as she writes novels and creates new series. She also has another career (and identity!) as a playwright, an actress, and a trapeze performer. "I try to keep the worlds separate," she explains about her multiple identities. "The different work I do has different audiences, so I want to keep them apart. But they're all me -- they're all ways of expressing what I'm thinking and feeling -- just in different mediums."
While still in graduate school she supported herself as the editor of The Hardy Boys Mysteries. "When I interviewed for the job they asked me if I'd ever read the Hardy Boys as a kid. 'No way,' I scoffed. 'Those are BOY books! It was Nancy Drew for me!' Luckily my future boss had a sense of humor. She hired me after I promised I'd read the books if I got the job."
She has participated in the renowned Breadloaf Writers' Conference as well as Zoetrope's All-Story highly competitive writing workshop held at Francis Ford Coppella's resort in Belize. She has taught writing for the children's market, as well as "cold-reading" skills for teachers as part of Project:Read. Several of her books have been selected as part of the Accelerated Reader's program.
She continues to work freelance as an editor for publishers and for private clients, even as she writes novels and creates new series. She also has another career (and identity!) as a playwright, an actress, and a trapeze performer. "I try to keep the worlds separate," she explains about her multiple identities. "The different work I do has different audiences, so I want to keep them apart. But they're all me -- they're all ways of expressing what I'm thinking and feeling -- just in different mediums."
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
September 28, 2010
Aceptable adaptación novelada de la miniserie de comic escrita por Neil Gaiman y dibujada por verdaderos talentos del noveno arte. Claro que todo lo que aporta los espectaculares dibujos en el comic no lo llega a verse compensado literariamente con la eficiente pero lineal prosa de Jablonski. También quita puntos que no aparezcan varios de los personajes del Universo DC que estaban originalmente en el comic (por problemas de derechos, supongo) y que se infantilicen un par de escenas para no alterar al público infantil, verdadero "target" de esta adaptación. No es imprescindible pero en conjunto es una obra que cierra, que resulta una buena plataforma de despegue para el comic original y que va a gustar a los fans de Gaiman y a algún que otro harrypottero despistado que piense que Tim Hunter nació como una burda copia del anteojudo de la cicatriz, aunque lo preceda por varios años.
April 27, 2019
I didn't love this. I admit to only buying this series because Gaiman penned them, but then I was thrilled when I realized that this seemed a bit like Gaiman's spin on Harry Potter. His spin was... a little boring.
I've purchased the first four and will probably read them all because despite being a bit boring, this was a very quick read. It is clearly meant for a younger audience, and let's be honest, that may be the real problem here. Harry Potter is also meant for a younger audience, but adults read and love them because they are not written in a condescending way. Neither do they include inappropriate situations.
It's a very fine line. One that Gaiman and Jablonski have not yet mastered.
I've purchased the first four and will probably read them all because despite being a bit boring, this was a very quick read. It is clearly meant for a younger audience, and let's be honest, that may be the real problem here. Harry Potter is also meant for a younger audience, but adults read and love them because they are not written in a condescending way. Neither do they include inappropriate situations.
It's a very fine line. One that Gaiman and Jablonski have not yet mastered.
June 19, 2023
I wasn't really into this one at first, mostly started it because my friend told me it was kinda like Harry Potter and also it's by Neil Gaiman, so basically magic universe just with a much better author.
It's kinda slow at first, but after you get the pace it's very fun with a lot of references of other tales, and the end was really nice. Overall a retty good beginning for a series.
It's kinda slow at first, but after you get the pace it's very fun with a lot of references of other tales, and the end was really nice. Overall a retty good beginning for a series.
October 24, 2025
The Invitation (The Books of Magic) Updated
Tim is out riding his skate board when all a sudden he hears strange tapping sounds. He can’t tell where they’re coming from and figures they’re just coming from something banging against a building. The tapping sound gets louder. Tim feels a hand on his shoulder and standing there is a blind man with a cane. He asks him if he believes in magic. Tim pushes him away and rides on. Only to be confronted by another man in a trench coat that says they only want to talk to him. Tim tries to ride away from him to (wondering how the man knew his name).
Yet, another man in a trench coat appears. He tries to escape them but they catch up to him and one snatches him up by the collar. The men say they’re private operator. Again, then ask him if he believes in magic. He scoffs it off at first and then admits that he’d like to be it just isn’t real. They tell him that magic is very real. One of the men introduces himself as John Constantine. When Tim gives him his name, John gives him rule #1 Never tell anyone your real name. It gives them power over you. And ask what they’d like to be called. The other men are Dr. Occult, Mister E, and the last man says he doesn’t have a name but hopes one day Tim will call him “friend” but until then he’s a stranger.
The men say they’re there to give him a choice and asks him if he wants magic in his life. Tim tells them magic doesn’t exist. Dr. Occult turns his yo-yo into an owl. Deciding he can do a lot with magic-including helping his friend Molly’s family when they fall on hard times and be treated with more respect- he agrees to take the journey and let them teach him. The Stranger says they’ll go through the door where they’ll see the past, but they can’t influence it. A square materializes. Tim steps through and finds him in empty space. The Stranger calls it “the void”.
Then they show Tim where magic originated throughout history and all over the world until it’s too much for him and he gets sick as a result. Tim walks away from the experience thinking the only thing he learned was magic had been around a really long time but that he’d been warned by a mage that he should walk away from it. Tim observes that today it seems like magic has died out but the Stranger says not completely. Some “wild magic” is still present today. And there are still magicians they’re just harder to find. Tim makes a bold declaration that he wants to be the one to bring magic back. The Stranger again says he’ll have the information by the end of his journey to decide what he wants but his part in his journey is over.
A door materializes and the Stranger tells him that beyond it is are monsters and saints and sinners and freaks more remarkable than anything you have seen on our travels. He wonders how it can top Atlantis, Merlin, and the Spanish Inquistion. He goes through another door and finds himself in present-day London. Constantine tells Tim he wants to introduce him to some people that live in America and Tim then finds them on a plane. The plane lands in NYC. The first person they visit is Madame Xanadu (who isn’t happy to see Constantine). She draws a 4 card spread for Tim (the hermit, the wheel of fortune, the empress, and justice).
John tells him they should get out of there “they are on to them”. They being the people that want to kill Tim. A beautiful women comes at them suddenly with a dagger aimed at Tim. A drunk jumps up and hits the women with a bottle. John hurries Tim away. Constantine stays vague to Tim’s many questions about the incident. He only says they have to get Tim some place safe. Constantine then takes Tim to San Francisco. He then puts him to sleep. When he awakens, he’s standing on a cliff and cars ae burning in the chasm below him. One of the cars is there’s. Constantine says they’re still after them.
They hitch a ride the rest of the way there with a man named Dr. 13-a professional debunker of magic-. Constantine says in a way he’s right. Magic doesn’t exist for him. You have to *choose it* and that’s what Tim’s being given. If he says no to it, he’ll never see it again and live in the normal world. But if he does choose it, even tho things might look the same things will always be unpredictable-like stepping off the sidewalk into the street-. Next, they’ll be paying a visit to the famous magician Lady Zatanna. She invites them to stay with her. John reads a letter that Zatanna says was left for him, says he can’t leave them alone for five minutes, and tells them he’s leaving to go to India (Calcutta) and he’ll be back as soon as he can. Tim gets showered and Zatanna makes him breakfast. He’s a little disturbed when he calls his dad he doesn’t seem to hear him when he tells him where he is and with who. Zatanna tells him not to worry Constantine will be back. She then invites him to a Halloween party to meet some of the most prominent magicians-which is what Constantine was going to do-.
Zatanna introduces Tim to Tala-a queen of evil-. Then Tannarak -another of the bad guys-. He says he’s not really one of the bad guys. He and Zatanna are just on opposite sides. Tim wants to know if he wants to do black magic. He says there’s no such thing. Necromancy isn’t good or evil. It’s just the ability to see through the shadows to the living them beyond. He sees many interesting people. None of them he recognizes are wearing masks. It starts to make him a little uncomfortable. Then Zatanna realizes the party is full of dark practioners. It’s a trap. Tannarak makes an announcement and draws the crowd’s attention to Tim. Zattana says if they want Tim they’ll have to go through her. Tannarak laughs and says there’s only one of her and hundreds of them. He’s dead!
Constantine appears and says the boy is his and they know his reputation if they want to start something. Noone moves and John gets Zatanna and Tim and leaves. Constantine tells them about the organization Cold Flame in Calcutta. They wanted to take them out -and weaken their numbers- so they did. If Tim lives up to his potential he could become a threat to them. If they can’t kill him they’ll try to win him over to their side. Before he knows it, Tim finds himself back on a plane with Constantine. Their next stop Fairy land.
Dr. Occult takes him on this journey. They have to wait until the sun sets. Dr. Occult says he must obey his orders specifically and he’s not to accept anything-food or gifts-. Third remember his manners. Then lastly never stray from the path no matter what he feels, hears, or sees. When they pass through the gates, Dr. Occult is transformed into a woman. Tim gives her the name Rose. Rose takes Tim to market. A creature tries to bargain with Tim for his hearts desire. Tim remembering what the Dr told him politely turns him down. All of a sudden Yo Yo (Tim’s yo-yo turned owl) swoops down and dugs his talons into the creatures shoulder making it yell out he was attacked and demands compensation.
The Owl tells Rose that the creature was trying to put a bracelet in Tim’s pocket. The creature says its bull but he’ll let it go. Rose tho asks to speak to the warden. He tries to say they shouldn’t bother Glory with market affairs but Glory arrives and says that the way he sees it Snout would have tried to stick the bracelet in Tim’s pocket and when he left he would have yelled STOP THIEF! And as the wronged party he would have been able to keep the boy for seventy years. And to claim restitution from his companions into the bargain. Lord Glory gives Tim permission to take for him and the Owl one item from Snout’s burrow. R ose says its ok.
The Owl chooses a silver chain. Tim chooses a glowing egg inside a tea pot. Lord Glory tells him luck is on his side and advises him to guard the egg. While on the path, Tim loses Rose. He decides to stay on the path. He sees Dr. Occult at a cab ahead and he calls to him that he should come there because there’s an emergency, but Tim remember what Dr. Occult said about staying on the path. But he was also told to obey him. When he gets there its Baba Yaga whose played a trick on him and she grabs him. He realizes there’s no way for Rose to find him because the house has chicken legs. She hangs him up like a side of beef and goes to find some kindling. He then sees a talking rabbit hanging upside down beside him (and a hedgehog-Master Redlaw and Master Leverett).
Yo Yo frees Tim by using the silver chain which has magic powers. Then he cuts down the hedge hog ad the rabbit. Rose scares Baba Yaga into letting Tim go by threatening to reveal her real name. On the road they meet Titania. She takes them to her castle and introduces them to her husband Auberon (who isn’t interested in sticking around and hurries of to a hunt). A hawk tries to join them but Titanna dismisses him. Titania acknowledges that she knows Tim has been seeing words and she tells him there’s an infinite number of worlds waiting to be opened. He produces a key and tells him it’s a gift from her to him. Then she throws it at him and he catches it. Rose gasps and yells out NOOOO! Tim wants to know if he did something wrong but the Queen says he didn’t and offers him a drink. He refuses.
The Queen then shows them a row of gigantic doors behind the castle-entrances to the worlds-. Tim opens one of the doors and The Queen tells him its Skartaris a world where time deforms and twists upon itself, Dinosaurs roam the earth, while planes fly overheard. Tim is about to try another door-now knowing he has the power to open them all- but Rose says its time for them to leave. The Queen reminds them that Tim accepted her gift (of the key) and asks that he stay and be her page. There’s so much more she can show him. Tim turns down her offer, but she says she wasn’t *asking*. She says he now owes her a gift of equal value or she’ll have to force him to stay there.
Rose says she wishes he could have listened. She says she’ll be back with the other three and they’ll get him back but rules are rules. Tim tries to return the key but the Queen says that’s not how it works. You can’t give a gift back once accepted. Rose gets the Queen to accept as a gift The Mundane Egg that Timothy got from the creatures house. nside this egg is a part of creation as yet unborn. One day the egg will hatch, and from it a whole world will emerge. Every world is hatched from a Mundane Egg. After they leave, the falcon comes to Titania again and turns into a human (Tamlin). Titania tells him he was right about the boy. He’s special and needs to be watched.
When Tim wakes up, they’re back in the field. He still has the key. Dr. Occult (whose back to his male self) tells him to keep it. It was a fair trade. His next part of the journey will be to Tomorrow with Mister E. Tim finds himself 15 years into the future at a crime scene. here were bodies, and blood, and screams all around them. pair of creatures in the sky were battling each other with lightning. One looked like the strange half wolf, half man he had seen at the nightclub with Zatanna. he other was some sort of monster with claws and a thrashing tail. Then a group of large new creatures came into view, tackling the first two. They were thick, with bald heads, and wore what looked like uniforms. Then Tim sees Zatannia hurt and bleeding. He wants to help her but Mister E says this world is just one of infinite possibilities.
Then he sees Constantine in the same state. Tim finds out from John to his dismay that he’s become the leader of the opposition and he treats Molly horribly. Mister E tells Tim there are other battles in which he is Mage Supreme. Keeper of the Light. And there are an infinite number of options. In some of them, you are entirely uninvolved in this battle. And indeed there are futures in which this battle doesn't even occur. Tim tells Mister E he doesn’t like him for having shown him this. Particularly if it’s no more likely than the other possibilities but he just says it doesn’t matter to him. He just wanted him to see what happened if evil triumphs.
Then then go to a civilization of science-where they’ve turned down magic-. Mister E shows him an orange-hued world that seemed to be on fire; next, a sky of spaceships populated by androids; tidal waves destroying a city--just like in Atlantis; new cities rising up. He takes him further than he’s ever gone-past a thousand years- and all they see left of the world is green skeletal figures digging for worms. Meanwhile, Occult and the Stranger realize there’s trouble. E has taken Tim so far into the future they can’t detect them anymore. John is furious that they trusted E. They decide to send Yo-Yo to find him.
Meanwhile, Mister E pushes Tim to go further into the future. He says he’s taking him to the end of time-the very end-. But when they get there, there’s just darkness. Mister E then grabs Tim and holds him up. He’s about to stake him -and says he only wants to protect him- but Tim bites him. It doesn’t stop him for long. He’s in front of Tim again, stake raised, and then brings it down into… Yo Yo. Yo-Yo vanished. Tim hurls the stake at Mister E. He says he doesn’t need eyes to find him and all of a sudden Tim feels himself being strangled by invisible hands.
Then a man and lady show up. The lady is Death and she says she’s there for her brother Destiny and for the universe. She tells them this really is the end so she can’t let them stay. She gives Tim his yo-yo -now a toy again- and E his glasses. E says he has to kill him but she says that burden will not be his. She’s sending him back to his time-the hard way-. He has to walk back step by step through the ages. She then tells Tim to close his eyes.
The Trenchcoats ask what Tim’s choice is and Tim tells them he learned that all magic comes with a price and he’s just not willing to pay it. He asks if they’re mad and they say it’s his choose and tell him goodbye. As they walk away, Tim tries to call back to them that he’s changed his mind but they’ve vanished. The thee men meet up and decide to just wait. Tim returns home disappointed. In his room, he realizes magic wasn’t taken from him when his yo-yo turns back into an owl.
My Thoughts:
I know I’ve probably said this before but I just can’t get over thinking back how once upon a time I really wanted to read this series but I couldn’t find the books to save my life. When I originally read this I compared it slightly to Harry Potter (the owl, the introduction to magic, Tim’s appearance). With this one, I was interested to find out which path Tim would take in the end. But I think I knew that it wouldn’t be the wrong one like the book hinted at the end. Although, that would be a different way for the series to end. The books hero usually doesn’t go the dark route in the end. I was also interested to see how Tim finds his way back to magic. On this read, I made a connection I should have made a long time ago that John Constantine (who I’d watched in DC Legends of Tomorrow) and knew had a television series (and I think a movie) this is where that character was taken from.
Rating: 6
Tim is out riding his skate board when all a sudden he hears strange tapping sounds. He can’t tell where they’re coming from and figures they’re just coming from something banging against a building. The tapping sound gets louder. Tim feels a hand on his shoulder and standing there is a blind man with a cane. He asks him if he believes in magic. Tim pushes him away and rides on. Only to be confronted by another man in a trench coat that says they only want to talk to him. Tim tries to ride away from him to (wondering how the man knew his name).
Yet, another man in a trench coat appears. He tries to escape them but they catch up to him and one snatches him up by the collar. The men say they’re private operator. Again, then ask him if he believes in magic. He scoffs it off at first and then admits that he’d like to be it just isn’t real. They tell him that magic is very real. One of the men introduces himself as John Constantine. When Tim gives him his name, John gives him rule #1 Never tell anyone your real name. It gives them power over you. And ask what they’d like to be called. The other men are Dr. Occult, Mister E, and the last man says he doesn’t have a name but hopes one day Tim will call him “friend” but until then he’s a stranger.
The men say they’re there to give him a choice and asks him if he wants magic in his life. Tim tells them magic doesn’t exist. Dr. Occult turns his yo-yo into an owl. Deciding he can do a lot with magic-including helping his friend Molly’s family when they fall on hard times and be treated with more respect- he agrees to take the journey and let them teach him. The Stranger says they’ll go through the door where they’ll see the past, but they can’t influence it. A square materializes. Tim steps through and finds him in empty space. The Stranger calls it “the void”.
Then they show Tim where magic originated throughout history and all over the world until it’s too much for him and he gets sick as a result. Tim walks away from the experience thinking the only thing he learned was magic had been around a really long time but that he’d been warned by a mage that he should walk away from it. Tim observes that today it seems like magic has died out but the Stranger says not completely. Some “wild magic” is still present today. And there are still magicians they’re just harder to find. Tim makes a bold declaration that he wants to be the one to bring magic back. The Stranger again says he’ll have the information by the end of his journey to decide what he wants but his part in his journey is over.
A door materializes and the Stranger tells him that beyond it is are monsters and saints and sinners and freaks more remarkable than anything you have seen on our travels. He wonders how it can top Atlantis, Merlin, and the Spanish Inquistion. He goes through another door and finds himself in present-day London. Constantine tells Tim he wants to introduce him to some people that live in America and Tim then finds them on a plane. The plane lands in NYC. The first person they visit is Madame Xanadu (who isn’t happy to see Constantine). She draws a 4 card spread for Tim (the hermit, the wheel of fortune, the empress, and justice).
John tells him they should get out of there “they are on to them”. They being the people that want to kill Tim. A beautiful women comes at them suddenly with a dagger aimed at Tim. A drunk jumps up and hits the women with a bottle. John hurries Tim away. Constantine stays vague to Tim’s many questions about the incident. He only says they have to get Tim some place safe. Constantine then takes Tim to San Francisco. He then puts him to sleep. When he awakens, he’s standing on a cliff and cars ae burning in the chasm below him. One of the cars is there’s. Constantine says they’re still after them.
They hitch a ride the rest of the way there with a man named Dr. 13-a professional debunker of magic-. Constantine says in a way he’s right. Magic doesn’t exist for him. You have to *choose it* and that’s what Tim’s being given. If he says no to it, he’ll never see it again and live in the normal world. But if he does choose it, even tho things might look the same things will always be unpredictable-like stepping off the sidewalk into the street-. Next, they’ll be paying a visit to the famous magician Lady Zatanna. She invites them to stay with her. John reads a letter that Zatanna says was left for him, says he can’t leave them alone for five minutes, and tells them he’s leaving to go to India (Calcutta) and he’ll be back as soon as he can. Tim gets showered and Zatanna makes him breakfast. He’s a little disturbed when he calls his dad he doesn’t seem to hear him when he tells him where he is and with who. Zatanna tells him not to worry Constantine will be back. She then invites him to a Halloween party to meet some of the most prominent magicians-which is what Constantine was going to do-.
Zatanna introduces Tim to Tala-a queen of evil-. Then Tannarak -another of the bad guys-. He says he’s not really one of the bad guys. He and Zatanna are just on opposite sides. Tim wants to know if he wants to do black magic. He says there’s no such thing. Necromancy isn’t good or evil. It’s just the ability to see through the shadows to the living them beyond. He sees many interesting people. None of them he recognizes are wearing masks. It starts to make him a little uncomfortable. Then Zatanna realizes the party is full of dark practioners. It’s a trap. Tannarak makes an announcement and draws the crowd’s attention to Tim. Zattana says if they want Tim they’ll have to go through her. Tannarak laughs and says there’s only one of her and hundreds of them. He’s dead!
Constantine appears and says the boy is his and they know his reputation if they want to start something. Noone moves and John gets Zatanna and Tim and leaves. Constantine tells them about the organization Cold Flame in Calcutta. They wanted to take them out -and weaken their numbers- so they did. If Tim lives up to his potential he could become a threat to them. If they can’t kill him they’ll try to win him over to their side. Before he knows it, Tim finds himself back on a plane with Constantine. Their next stop Fairy land.
Dr. Occult takes him on this journey. They have to wait until the sun sets. Dr. Occult says he must obey his orders specifically and he’s not to accept anything-food or gifts-. Third remember his manners. Then lastly never stray from the path no matter what he feels, hears, or sees. When they pass through the gates, Dr. Occult is transformed into a woman. Tim gives her the name Rose. Rose takes Tim to market. A creature tries to bargain with Tim for his hearts desire. Tim remembering what the Dr told him politely turns him down. All of a sudden Yo Yo (Tim’s yo-yo turned owl) swoops down and dugs his talons into the creatures shoulder making it yell out he was attacked and demands compensation.
The Owl tells Rose that the creature was trying to put a bracelet in Tim’s pocket. The creature says its bull but he’ll let it go. Rose tho asks to speak to the warden. He tries to say they shouldn’t bother Glory with market affairs but Glory arrives and says that the way he sees it Snout would have tried to stick the bracelet in Tim’s pocket and when he left he would have yelled STOP THIEF! And as the wronged party he would have been able to keep the boy for seventy years. And to claim restitution from his companions into the bargain. Lord Glory gives Tim permission to take for him and the Owl one item from Snout’s burrow. R ose says its ok.
The Owl chooses a silver chain. Tim chooses a glowing egg inside a tea pot. Lord Glory tells him luck is on his side and advises him to guard the egg. While on the path, Tim loses Rose. He decides to stay on the path. He sees Dr. Occult at a cab ahead and he calls to him that he should come there because there’s an emergency, but Tim remember what Dr. Occult said about staying on the path. But he was also told to obey him. When he gets there its Baba Yaga whose played a trick on him and she grabs him. He realizes there’s no way for Rose to find him because the house has chicken legs. She hangs him up like a side of beef and goes to find some kindling. He then sees a talking rabbit hanging upside down beside him (and a hedgehog-Master Redlaw and Master Leverett).
Yo Yo frees Tim by using the silver chain which has magic powers. Then he cuts down the hedge hog ad the rabbit. Rose scares Baba Yaga into letting Tim go by threatening to reveal her real name. On the road they meet Titania. She takes them to her castle and introduces them to her husband Auberon (who isn’t interested in sticking around and hurries of to a hunt). A hawk tries to join them but Titanna dismisses him. Titania acknowledges that she knows Tim has been seeing words and she tells him there’s an infinite number of worlds waiting to be opened. He produces a key and tells him it’s a gift from her to him. Then she throws it at him and he catches it. Rose gasps and yells out NOOOO! Tim wants to know if he did something wrong but the Queen says he didn’t and offers him a drink. He refuses.
The Queen then shows them a row of gigantic doors behind the castle-entrances to the worlds-. Tim opens one of the doors and The Queen tells him its Skartaris a world where time deforms and twists upon itself, Dinosaurs roam the earth, while planes fly overheard. Tim is about to try another door-now knowing he has the power to open them all- but Rose says its time for them to leave. The Queen reminds them that Tim accepted her gift (of the key) and asks that he stay and be her page. There’s so much more she can show him. Tim turns down her offer, but she says she wasn’t *asking*. She says he now owes her a gift of equal value or she’ll have to force him to stay there.
Rose says she wishes he could have listened. She says she’ll be back with the other three and they’ll get him back but rules are rules. Tim tries to return the key but the Queen says that’s not how it works. You can’t give a gift back once accepted. Rose gets the Queen to accept as a gift The Mundane Egg that Timothy got from the creatures house. nside this egg is a part of creation as yet unborn. One day the egg will hatch, and from it a whole world will emerge. Every world is hatched from a Mundane Egg. After they leave, the falcon comes to Titania again and turns into a human (Tamlin). Titania tells him he was right about the boy. He’s special and needs to be watched.
When Tim wakes up, they’re back in the field. He still has the key. Dr. Occult (whose back to his male self) tells him to keep it. It was a fair trade. His next part of the journey will be to Tomorrow with Mister E. Tim finds himself 15 years into the future at a crime scene. here were bodies, and blood, and screams all around them. pair of creatures in the sky were battling each other with lightning. One looked like the strange half wolf, half man he had seen at the nightclub with Zatanna. he other was some sort of monster with claws and a thrashing tail. Then a group of large new creatures came into view, tackling the first two. They were thick, with bald heads, and wore what looked like uniforms. Then Tim sees Zatannia hurt and bleeding. He wants to help her but Mister E says this world is just one of infinite possibilities.
Then he sees Constantine in the same state. Tim finds out from John to his dismay that he’s become the leader of the opposition and he treats Molly horribly. Mister E tells Tim there are other battles in which he is Mage Supreme. Keeper of the Light. And there are an infinite number of options. In some of them, you are entirely uninvolved in this battle. And indeed there are futures in which this battle doesn't even occur. Tim tells Mister E he doesn’t like him for having shown him this. Particularly if it’s no more likely than the other possibilities but he just says it doesn’t matter to him. He just wanted him to see what happened if evil triumphs.
Then then go to a civilization of science-where they’ve turned down magic-. Mister E shows him an orange-hued world that seemed to be on fire; next, a sky of spaceships populated by androids; tidal waves destroying a city--just like in Atlantis; new cities rising up. He takes him further than he’s ever gone-past a thousand years- and all they see left of the world is green skeletal figures digging for worms. Meanwhile, Occult and the Stranger realize there’s trouble. E has taken Tim so far into the future they can’t detect them anymore. John is furious that they trusted E. They decide to send Yo-Yo to find him.
Meanwhile, Mister E pushes Tim to go further into the future. He says he’s taking him to the end of time-the very end-. But when they get there, there’s just darkness. Mister E then grabs Tim and holds him up. He’s about to stake him -and says he only wants to protect him- but Tim bites him. It doesn’t stop him for long. He’s in front of Tim again, stake raised, and then brings it down into… Yo Yo. Yo-Yo vanished. Tim hurls the stake at Mister E. He says he doesn’t need eyes to find him and all of a sudden Tim feels himself being strangled by invisible hands.
Then a man and lady show up. The lady is Death and she says she’s there for her brother Destiny and for the universe. She tells them this really is the end so she can’t let them stay. She gives Tim his yo-yo -now a toy again- and E his glasses. E says he has to kill him but she says that burden will not be his. She’s sending him back to his time-the hard way-. He has to walk back step by step through the ages. She then tells Tim to close his eyes.
The Trenchcoats ask what Tim’s choice is and Tim tells them he learned that all magic comes with a price and he’s just not willing to pay it. He asks if they’re mad and they say it’s his choose and tell him goodbye. As they walk away, Tim tries to call back to them that he’s changed his mind but they’ve vanished. The thee men meet up and decide to just wait. Tim returns home disappointed. In his room, he realizes magic wasn’t taken from him when his yo-yo turns back into an owl.
My Thoughts:
I know I’ve probably said this before but I just can’t get over thinking back how once upon a time I really wanted to read this series but I couldn’t find the books to save my life. When I originally read this I compared it slightly to Harry Potter (the owl, the introduction to magic, Tim’s appearance). With this one, I was interested to find out which path Tim would take in the end. But I think I knew that it wouldn’t be the wrong one like the book hinted at the end. Although, that would be a different way for the series to end. The books hero usually doesn’t go the dark route in the end. I was also interested to see how Tim finds his way back to magic. On this read, I made a connection I should have made a long time ago that John Constantine (who I’d watched in DC Legends of Tomorrow) and knew had a television series (and I think a movie) this is where that character was taken from.
Rating: 6
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 3, 2020
Los libros de magia: La invitación. Es la adaptación novelada de la novela gráfica de #NeilGaiman y #JohnBolton que narra el reclutamiento, por parte de la Brigada de las Gabardinas, del joven Tim Hunter, de 13 años, al mundo de la magia.
La historia nos transporta al pasado, dimensiones paralelas y al intrigante futuro para conocer los rastros que la magia tiene en toda la historia. Hasta que al final se le da la libertad al protagonista de elegir.
🗣Opinión Personal: había leído la novela gráfica y en esta historia aparecen muy bien adaptados los personajes, sin la riqueza gráfica se puede jugar más a la construcción del lector del ambiente y las realidades que nos propone la autora, sin perder la esencia de la obra original.
🔊Recomendado para los lectores que aman a Gaiman, pero que a la vez se animan a descubrir la riqueza de las diferencias, sutiles en este libro, que utiliza la autora. Imaginen el desafío de ella de adaptar a este autor y lo logra efectivamente.
En las imágenes la portada y la sinopsis. Este libro lo compré en una tienda de saldos.
La historia nos transporta al pasado, dimensiones paralelas y al intrigante futuro para conocer los rastros que la magia tiene en toda la historia. Hasta que al final se le da la libertad al protagonista de elegir.
🗣Opinión Personal: había leído la novela gráfica y en esta historia aparecen muy bien adaptados los personajes, sin la riqueza gráfica se puede jugar más a la construcción del lector del ambiente y las realidades que nos propone la autora, sin perder la esencia de la obra original.
🔊Recomendado para los lectores que aman a Gaiman, pero que a la vez se animan a descubrir la riqueza de las diferencias, sutiles en este libro, que utiliza la autora. Imaginen el desafío de ella de adaptar a este autor y lo logra efectivamente.
En las imágenes la portada y la sinopsis. Este libro lo compré en una tienda de saldos.
June 22, 2020
This is the first volume in a collection of graphic novels where a young man name Timothy Hunter is discovered by a group of magicians, including John Constantine, the blind Mister E., and Doctor Occult. Timothy must decide whether he will pursue magic or ignore it in his life. He has the potential to become very powerful either for good or evil.
February 20, 2025
The comparison to harry potter is like they do magic and it’s a boy who could be the chosen one. It’s set in the dc universe with other characters from there like Constantine, which I just envision him as played by Keanu (with a British accent). It’s a quick read as it’s adapted from a graphic novel is my understanding, overall I very much enjoyed it.
January 23, 2021
Tratto dal fumetto omonimo, sinceramente lo trovo molto al di sopra di Harry Potter. Peccato abbiano tradotto in italiano solo il primo libro 😢
April 25, 2011
I wanted to love this. I really did. I am a huge Tim Hunter fan from when the original BoM mini-series was released by DC/Vertigo back in 1989, and I've followed most every iteration of the character since then. I love Harry Potter, but Tim will always be closer to my heart because I met him first. Somehow, this series of paperback adaptations of the Neil Gaiman, and then John Ney Rieber, comics made it past me when they originally came out. I tripped across this one in a used bookstore. I was excited. By the end of the book, I appreciated the hard spot writer Carla Jablonski was in but even understanding the challenges she faced didn't mitigate the fact that I was disappointed with the book.
So let's talk about that hard spot Jablonski was in. She had to take a property many young adult readers will look as as a "Harry Potter knock-off," and adapt existing comic-book scripts into paperback form. In addition to the difficulty of adapting comics to prose, she had to deal, at least in this initial book, with the fact that most of the characters Tim encounters, including the so-called Trenchcoat Brigade who introduce him to magic, are DC Comics characters with complex histories of their own that are both peripheral and integral to Tim's story. I'm sure copyright issues are to blame for the herky-jerky nature of Tim's trip through time (the Altantean sorcerer he meets is never named in this version as Arion in this version, and thus the reason for his crotchety response to Tim's presence feels a bit awkward and ill-explained, for example) and his tour of the modern era (DC couldn't really force Zatanna out of the story without changing the very nature of it, but I feel like there were more DC magical characters in the original story).
Once Tim heads into the Realms of Faerie and the Far Future, the story falls into a bit of a better rhythm. Jablonski had one advantage over Gaiman: she had access to the stories written by John Ney Rieber that flesh out Tim's family and school life, and was able to drop names and descriptions into this book to make the introduction of those characters in the second book a little less awkward. The book shines for the brief time where Titania, Queen of Faerie, and her court are on the page, and you can see that Jablonski really does like Tim Hunter and wants to tell his story well. But once Tim is journeying into the future, the book returns to feeling like a straight adaptation; I never really got a feeling for Mr. E's motivations in the original story, and it doesn't play any better in this version -- I still feel like Mr. E is less a character than he is a plot device (unlike Tim's other three guides -- John Constantine, Dr. Occult, and even The Phantom Stranger -- who at least feel like characters with greater depth from the way Jablonski handles their dialogue and interactions with Tim).
I will probably seek the next book out in used bookstores, because it's not fair to judge Jablonski solely on her version of what would probably be the most difficult Tim Hunter story to adapt (precisely because of how much it relies on knowledge of the rest of the DC Universe and how magic operates therein). Perhaps once she's into adapting stories that are purely about Tim and his discovery of his abilities, her own talents will shine better.
So let's talk about that hard spot Jablonski was in. She had to take a property many young adult readers will look as as a "Harry Potter knock-off," and adapt existing comic-book scripts into paperback form. In addition to the difficulty of adapting comics to prose, she had to deal, at least in this initial book, with the fact that most of the characters Tim encounters, including the so-called Trenchcoat Brigade who introduce him to magic, are DC Comics characters with complex histories of their own that are both peripheral and integral to Tim's story. I'm sure copyright issues are to blame for the herky-jerky nature of Tim's trip through time (the Altantean sorcerer he meets is never named in this version as Arion in this version, and thus the reason for his crotchety response to Tim's presence feels a bit awkward and ill-explained, for example) and his tour of the modern era (DC couldn't really force Zatanna out of the story without changing the very nature of it, but I feel like there were more DC magical characters in the original story).
Once Tim heads into the Realms of Faerie and the Far Future, the story falls into a bit of a better rhythm. Jablonski had one advantage over Gaiman: she had access to the stories written by John Ney Rieber that flesh out Tim's family and school life, and was able to drop names and descriptions into this book to make the introduction of those characters in the second book a little less awkward. The book shines for the brief time where Titania, Queen of Faerie, and her court are on the page, and you can see that Jablonski really does like Tim Hunter and wants to tell his story well. But once Tim is journeying into the future, the book returns to feeling like a straight adaptation; I never really got a feeling for Mr. E's motivations in the original story, and it doesn't play any better in this version -- I still feel like Mr. E is less a character than he is a plot device (unlike Tim's other three guides -- John Constantine, Dr. Occult, and even The Phantom Stranger -- who at least feel like characters with greater depth from the way Jablonski handles their dialogue and interactions with Tim).
I will probably seek the next book out in used bookstores, because it's not fair to judge Jablonski solely on her version of what would probably be the most difficult Tim Hunter story to adapt (precisely because of how much it relies on knowledge of the rest of the DC Universe and how magic operates therein). Perhaps once she's into adapting stories that are purely about Tim and his discovery of his abilities, her own talents will shine better.
October 31, 2014
Thirteen-year-old Tim is out one day on his skateboard when four strangers in trenchcoats come up to him and ask if he believes in magic. Tim agrees to a tour, of sorts, that takes him from the beginning of the world to its end, from the slums of London to the clubs of California to the court of Faerie. But Tim's not alone on this tour: he's got a much stronger magic than he knows, and even if he doesn't know who he is yet, others do.
This book is the first of the series, and reads like an introduction. Tim's journey is fascinating, but he spends most of it following people around and watching rather than making his own decisions. Despite that, the offbeat humor in the book is a real strong point.
Case in point, my favorite lines in the book: "It's an airplane," Constantine said. "Big metal thing. Flies through the air. Sends your luggage off in the opposite direction. Only we haven't got any luggage, so that's all right."
Completely ignoring the fact that they shouldn't be on an airplane at all... Constantine was the most developed of the four in the trenchcoat squad. He's very easy to visualize: unpredictable, a bit of a woman-chaser, ambling through the most ridiculous situations with total aplomb, and smoking to keep his nerves in check. The Stranger loves mystery too much to really get a personality. Dr. Occult hardly talks about anything that isn't a direct answer to one of Tim's questions. And I liked Mister E, though he was about as flat as The Stranger. Mister E irritated everyone, particularly Constantine, and brought out some of Constantine's best jabs.
Perhaps because it's the first book of a series, the antagonists were pretty muddy. Usually whoever learned who Tim was tried to take advantage of him or tried to kill him. The plot could have been a lot stronger if a specific entity had stepped up. Cold Flame seemed to want to move that way a few times, but they remained a name in the background rather than a serious threat.
I'm glad I found this in the clearance rack. I'd seen the series a few times in bookstores, but I hadn't done more than admire the covers. It's a quick read, and I have no idea how the rest of the series will pan out, but this book gets a Recommended.
This book is the first of the series, and reads like an introduction. Tim's journey is fascinating, but he spends most of it following people around and watching rather than making his own decisions. Despite that, the offbeat humor in the book is a real strong point.
Case in point, my favorite lines in the book: "It's an airplane," Constantine said. "Big metal thing. Flies through the air. Sends your luggage off in the opposite direction. Only we haven't got any luggage, so that's all right."
Completely ignoring the fact that they shouldn't be on an airplane at all... Constantine was the most developed of the four in the trenchcoat squad. He's very easy to visualize: unpredictable, a bit of a woman-chaser, ambling through the most ridiculous situations with total aplomb, and smoking to keep his nerves in check. The Stranger loves mystery too much to really get a personality. Dr. Occult hardly talks about anything that isn't a direct answer to one of Tim's questions. And I liked Mister E, though he was about as flat as The Stranger. Mister E irritated everyone, particularly Constantine, and brought out some of Constantine's best jabs.
Perhaps because it's the first book of a series, the antagonists were pretty muddy. Usually whoever learned who Tim was tried to take advantage of him or tried to kill him. The plot could have been a lot stronger if a specific entity had stepped up. Cold Flame seemed to want to move that way a few times, but they remained a name in the background rather than a serious threat.
I'm glad I found this in the clearance rack. I'd seen the series a few times in bookstores, but I hadn't done more than admire the covers. It's a quick read, and I have no idea how the rest of the series will pan out, but this book gets a Recommended.
May 9, 2012
This story was apparently a novelised version of a former comic written by Neil Gaiman. I’ve never read (or even heard of) the comic so whether it does it justice or not, I have no idea.
I’ve also read other reviews on this book, which say this book is very Harry Potterish. In my opinion, the two books are totally different. I never once thought of Harry Potter whilst reading this book. Yes, there’s a young, dark-haired boy in both books, but that’s were the resemblance ends.
But I did think of other books I’ve read: Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, The Time Machine, Howl’s Moving Castle, just to name a few. There are snippets in the story that reminded me of these other stories. Sometimes the reminder was quite strong, other times it was a familiarity tugging at my memory.
Overall, the book isn’t badly written. However, at times I wondered if it was in fact written for the younger audience as there’s lots of smoking in it, the odd sexual innuendo, and other situations that I wouldn’t want my young reader (if I had one) to be reading. I found myself asking if the original comic might have been written for an older audience, but haven’t bothered to research this thought (I just don’t have the time).
The storyline is about magic. If we believe in it, it will be around us. If we don’t believe it, we will live in a purely scientific world. Being a bit of a believer in all things mystical, I liked the idea of this. Believe and it will happen. I can see myself falling hook, line and sinker for this notion.
There was nothing wrong with the characters. The storyline is fast moving most of the time and something is always happening. No wonder the young boy in the story was exhausted! It kept my interest, but...
I don’t know what the ‘but’ is. Something wasn’t right. Maybe it was all the things I’ve already written about. Maybe it was something else. I really don’t know. I think I’d be willing to read the second book in the series to see where the story goes from here, to see if the missing ingredient is found. The plot has potential so I’m hoping the second book will delivery.
I’ve also read other reviews on this book, which say this book is very Harry Potterish. In my opinion, the two books are totally different. I never once thought of Harry Potter whilst reading this book. Yes, there’s a young, dark-haired boy in both books, but that’s were the resemblance ends.
But I did think of other books I’ve read: Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, The Time Machine, Howl’s Moving Castle, just to name a few. There are snippets in the story that reminded me of these other stories. Sometimes the reminder was quite strong, other times it was a familiarity tugging at my memory.
Overall, the book isn’t badly written. However, at times I wondered if it was in fact written for the younger audience as there’s lots of smoking in it, the odd sexual innuendo, and other situations that I wouldn’t want my young reader (if I had one) to be reading. I found myself asking if the original comic might have been written for an older audience, but haven’t bothered to research this thought (I just don’t have the time).
The storyline is about magic. If we believe in it, it will be around us. If we don’t believe it, we will live in a purely scientific world. Being a bit of a believer in all things mystical, I liked the idea of this. Believe and it will happen. I can see myself falling hook, line and sinker for this notion.
There was nothing wrong with the characters. The storyline is fast moving most of the time and something is always happening. No wonder the young boy in the story was exhausted! It kept my interest, but...
I don’t know what the ‘but’ is. Something wasn’t right. Maybe it was all the things I’ve already written about. Maybe it was something else. I really don’t know. I think I’d be willing to read the second book in the series to see where the story goes from here, to see if the missing ingredient is found. The plot has potential so I’m hoping the second book will delivery.
September 23, 2013
En este primer libro se nos presenta al protagonista de la saga, un niño inglés, Tim Hunter, que no gusta de su vida, pero no sabe que el destino le dará una sorpresa: él podría llegar a ser un mago muy poderoso. (Sin duda muchos buscarán semejanzas con el joven Harry Potter, ya desde ver las portadas, pero se sorprenderán al saber que los cómics fueron escritos varios años antes que Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone).
Y es así que se nos presenta la Magia en el mundo actual, actuando siempre desde lo oculto, sin ser vista o sin ser detectada por los hombres comunes. A Tim se la presentará la Brigada de los Impermeables, cuatro misteriosos hombres, que lo llevarán de viaje por el tiempo y el espacio. Entretenido, aunque le falta trabajo a la escritura a mi parecer. Pero para la edad a la cual encara, está bueno.
Y es así que se nos presenta la Magia en el mundo actual, actuando siempre desde lo oculto, sin ser vista o sin ser detectada por los hombres comunes. A Tim se la presentará la Brigada de los Impermeables, cuatro misteriosos hombres, que lo llevarán de viaje por el tiempo y el espacio. Entretenido, aunque le falta trabajo a la escritura a mi parecer. Pero para la edad a la cual encara, está bueno.
March 1, 2012
So apparently this book originally was published as a comic book written by Neil Gaiman, then recently got "literized" and was written as a novel. I didn't realize this was the case until I read the forward. I picked up this one on a whim because I was in the mood for something a bit creepy and Gaiman definitely can deliver that. And as I started in on the book, I could totally see how this book would have made a good comic book. All of the characters would be visually appealing.
The story was a bit choppy, with one event happening right after another with hardly a transition between. One paragraph, Tim is in London, and the next paragraph, he's on an airplane. That's magic, I guess.
It wasn't a bad book. But I haven't decided if I'm going to read the other books in the series. Maybe that tells me something.
The story was a bit choppy, with one event happening right after another with hardly a transition between. One paragraph, Tim is in London, and the next paragraph, he's on an airplane. That's magic, I guess.
It wasn't a bad book. But I haven't decided if I'm going to read the other books in the series. Maybe that tells me something.
June 17, 2014
The first time I read this book I really didn't have any idea about the world of comics. The characters were just characters that appear in the course of a book and they were all just as fresh to me as Tim Hunter was. That was several years ago and I've learned just a little bit more about the word of comics. Not a whole lot, but enough that I recognize some of these names. I also find it fun that I can now see Neil Gaiman in these books, where I don't think I saw him before.
Beyond that, I liked this book. It was quite the adventure and a great call to adventure. :D
Beyond that, I liked this book. It was quite the adventure and a great call to adventure. :D
April 7, 2016
I first read this back in the seventh grade. It is very similar to Harry Potter, given the fact that the protagonist wears glasses and has scruffy hair. I only recently discovered that it was a Neil Gaiman creation, and it was his story idea for a new graphic novel series. I picked up the graphic novel and was amazed by the shear exactness between the written novel and the graphic one. This is one of the series that I would love to get back into or when I have children of my own to read this probably before delving into Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings.
October 16, 2012
This novel didn’t feel like an adventure, but more of a tour. Tim was just dragged to random places by several strangers. He gets excited on the sightseeing, exhausted on the travels, and gets into trouble when he’s separated from his tour guide.
~ Longer version
~ Longer version
March 11, 2016
This is the novel form of Neil Gaiman's graphic novel. It is a wonderful tale of mystery and magic; about growing up and making choices. It is also about the consequences of those choices. The Trenchcoat Bridgade takes Timothy Hunter on a wild adventure through time, space, and magic worlds. I can't wait to finish book 2.
May 1, 2019
En mesterlige penn vekker til live en magisk univers og med dyktige tegnere ved sin side blir dette en fantastisk tegneserie!
Hele min omtale finner du på bloggen min Betraktninger
Hele min omtale finner du på bloggen min Betraktninger
February 8, 2019
El libro es bueno, realmente entretenido y de fácil lectura. Algunos personajes secundarios logran atraer la atención, una lástima que no se les haya dedicado más espacio para desarrollar los mismos. Buena adaptación de los comics de Neil Gaiman.
January 8, 2008
These parallel the Potter books in a major way. The differences are enough that it is a very good book, though. It's a very quick read and only takes about two hours to read this book through.
March 25, 2009
Wow! best stuff ever. very Harry Potter like, then again Neil and Rowling are both from England. Maybe Great writing comes naturally there.
February 5, 2011
Novelization of the comic, which I've never read. I'm assuming it didn't translate well, because I'm a huge fan of Gaiman, and didn't like it at all.
January 15, 2015
Loved it want read rest of series
April 12, 2013
read it so long ago. I loved the vocabulary used in this book. I really need to re-order them
September 23, 2013
No keď už to bolo na motívy komixu Neila Gaimana mohlo to byť aj lepšie. Čakala som fakt viac, nevedela som sa dočkať konca. Ako bolo to fajn, ale čítanie ďalších častí si ešte rozmyslím.
January 17, 2014
was not able to finish this book. was even able to read the 50% mark before I lost all interest in it abd the series.
June 9, 2013
So amazing! Why can't meet people like that in real life? Where did the magic go to now aday?
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