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The Invitation (The Books of Magic Novels #1)

by Carla Jablonski, Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author) (Introduction)

3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 · rating details · 220 ratings · 11 reviews

Do you believe in magic? 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...more

Paperback, 256 pages

Published May 13th 2003 by EOS

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Apr 24, 2011 Anthony rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, sf-fantasy

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 e...more 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.(less)

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May 08, 2012 Karen Field rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 o...more 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.
(less)

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Sep 28, 2010 Federiken Masters rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Gaimanistas, nenes y magistas.

Recommended to Federiken by: Val.

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 alte...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Jessica N. rated it 3 of 5 stars

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...more

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Feb 05, 2011 Dan4th rated it 1 of 5 stars

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.

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Mar 24, 2009 Hanna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, fantasy

Wow! best stuff ever. very Harry Potter like, then again Neil and Rowling are both from England. Maybe Great writing comes naturally there.

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Apr 11, 2013 Brittany Perry rated it 5 of 5 stars

read it so long ago. I loved the vocabulary used in this book. I really need to re-order them

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Feb 26, 2013 Athena rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved it want read rest of series

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Oct 16, 2012 Sapphire Pyro rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: series-teen

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

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Jan 08, 2008 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: any fan of the Potter books

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, young-adult

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.

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Aug 24, 2012 Jie Hao rated it 5 of 5 stars

So amazing! Why can't meet people like that in real life? Where did the magic go to now aday?

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May 11, 2013 Meli Ciccarella rated it 3 of 5 stars

May 10, 2013 Jen Selinsky rated it 5 of 5 stars

May 07, 2013 Angela Kelman rated it 2 of 5 stars

May 07, 2013 Art rated it 3 of 5 stars

May 03, 2013 Joana Vieira rated it 4 of 5 stars

May 02, 2013 Legato Darksummers added it

Shelves: daddy-dark-s-baby-warrior-list

May 02, 2013 Joseph Burnsit marked it as to-read

May 02, 2013 Edwinian Lim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 24, 2013 Jude Rolan marked it as to-read

Apr 19, 2013 Shawn marked it as to-read

Apr 17, 2013 Larart added it

Shelves: bookshelf

Apr 15, 2013 Adriana Pereira rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-books-of-magic

Apr 11, 2013 Julie marked it as to-read

Apr 01, 2013 Dorka Hoffmann marked it as to-read

Mar 28, 2013 Josh marked it as to-read

Mar 28, 2013 Gloria marked it as to-read

Mar 25, 2013 Brad rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Mar 23, 2013 Kris Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mar 21, 2013 Noura rated it 3 of 5 stars

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About Carla Jablonski

Carla 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 19t...more

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