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Title: Books of Magic: Death After Death by John Ney Rieber, Peter Gross, John Bolton ISBN: 1-56389-740-7 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 November, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Good trees, but not much of a forest
Comment: I was disappointed in this book because I expected Reiber's end, as the writer, to come in a way that concluded all the work up to this point. But nothing ever seems to really end, or ever really be concluded, in this series. Big plotlines come and go and are MOSTLY finished, but seem to end abruptly, and not for good reasons. I'd say "Death After Death" needed one more draft to reach its potential.
However, there are a LOT of very good things in these issues. Tim Hunter finally comes to a decision about his powers. Many hanging plot elements are settled, if not always satisfactorily. There are many great individual scenes, and it makes for fascinating reading. If you're a fan of this series, then I have to recommend this book, but...
The main problem is this: you can't keep explaining old plot twists just by introducing new plot twists. Think of a story as a road. At some point, it's supposed to take the reader to a real destination. I suspect Reiber may actually disagree with that philosophy of writing--to him, it's all about the journey, and who cares what it all adds up to? Well, his work on the Books of Magic makes a pretty good argument...there's a LOT to like here...but in the end, I'm a bit disappointed in a story that's all trees and no forest.
Rating: 2
Summary: The promising start dwindles away
Comment: I don't know what happened to John Ney Rieber... after his promising start on The Books of Magic, his stories slowly started to lose that magic. These stories fall at the end of Rieber's run at the title, and they're mighty thin gruel compared to what came before.
It may be the fact that any elements of light or real humor have been vacuumed from the book. Molly, a fantastic creation, isn't very much in evidence here and Tim Hunter's incessant whining simply becomes too much. Artist Gross took over the book after this series and made some improvements, but it was too late and the book ended. Rieber did a Books of Faerie with Molly that showed the man had lost his way: It shared much with this volume in the incomprehensible storytelling and not-very-interesting characterizations.
So, for completists only, and only for those completists willing to have their fond memories of the series in its heyday sullied by this volume.
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Title: The Books of Magic: Transformations by John Ney Reiber ISBN: 1563894173 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Books of Magic: The Burning Girl Book 6 by Peter John Ney/Gross Rieber ISBN: 1563896192 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 July, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Books of Magic: Bindings by Jane Yolen, John Ney Rieber ISBN: 1563891875 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 March, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Summonings: Books of Magic, Vol. 2 by John Ney Rieber, Peter Gross ISBN: 1563892650 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Books of Magic: Reckonings by D.C. Comics ISBN: 1563893215 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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