Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor And The Bogus Identity

Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity

From Publishers WeeklyA taut thriller that slyly plays off the real-world mania for imaginary ones like that of Harry Potter, Carey's new series undercuts the mythology of such all-pervasive media-hyped creations while at the same time hinting at a brilliantly imagined one of its own. Tom Taylor is the son of Wilson Taylor and the unwilling namesake of the protagonist in his dad's wildly popular 13-book fantasy series. The Tommy Taylor cottage industry of movies, video games, and geek-ridden conventions is given an extra dash of drama by Wilson's having mysteriously disappeared years before, leaving a cynical Tom (who inherited none of his millions) to eke out a grubby living at paid appearances. Carey's story (solidly illustrated by Gross) picks up speed fast when Tom realizes some elements of Wilson's stories might not be made up. By the time the first story is done, Carey has not only created a brisk and addictive story, sketched with crafty allusions to classic literature, but also neatly subverted the celebrity-worship manias of fantasy fandom and questioned the very nature of storytelling itself. (Jan.)Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Tom Taylor's life was screwed from go. His father created the Tommy Taylor fantasy series, boy-wizard novels with popularity on par with Harry Potter. The problem is Dad modeled the fictional epic so closely to Tom's real life that fans are constantly comparing him to his counterpart, turning him into the lamest variety of Z-level celebrity. In the final novel, it's even implied that the fictional Tommy will crossover into the real world, giving delusional fans more excuses to harass Tom.When an enormous scandal reveals that Tom might really be a boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a very mysterious, very deadly group that's secretly kept tabs on him all his life. Now, to protect his own life and discover the truth behind his origins, Tom will travel the world, eventually finding himself at locations all featured on a very special map -- one kept by the deadly group that charts places throughout world history where fictions have impacted and tangibly shaped reality, those stories ranging from famous literary works to folktales to pop culture. And in the process of figuring out what it all means, Tom will find himself having to figure out a huge conspiracy mystery that spans the entirety of the history of fiction.From BooklistTom Taylor makes a respectable celebrity living as the presumed former model for the boy hero of his father Wilsons 13 fantasy novels, which enjoy a Harry Potterish fandom. Hed as soon not be so identified with the character, though, especially when fans insist he must still possess his fictional doppelgngers magic. When its announced that he isnt Wilson Taylors biological child, after all, any relief he might get is complicated by having to dodge lynch mobs of former worshipers. Then, when he survives, unscathed, a would-be murder-by-bomb, the tables of his public identity resume their original setting. So he absconds to the Villa Diodati in Switzerland, where Mary Shelley dreamed up Frankenstein and he lived until his fathers disappearance when Tom was 12. Thereafter, things get very interesting, indeed. Appending an explanatory flashback featuring Rudyard Kipling, scripter Carey and artist Gross confidently launch The Unwritten with a first arc that boasts the most breathtaking gut-punch ending since that of The Fugue (2008), the dumbfounding first arc of Michael Alan Nelsons unpredictable Fall of Cthulhu. --Ray OlsonAbout the AuthorTom Taylor is more than just the son of one of the worlds most popular authors and the namesake of his most beloved creation, the boy wizard Tommy Taylor. Hes a living weapon in a literal war of words, in which a shadowy cabal uses the power of storytelling itself to shape the world according to their own dark designs.