The Invitation

He's a British teen wizard with glasses and a pet owl, suddenly approached by a stranger who tells him of his magical powers and future great destiny. Harry Potter? No, Timothy Hunter, a comic character that predated the Potter series; Hunter's adventures are darker and more mysterious. NowTimothy Hunter seemed like an ordinary boy, an average boy with a depressed father and a sprightly best friend. But that was until he ran into a strange man called John Constantine. Constantine reveals that Timothy is more than he appears -- he is a powerful mage, perhaps destined to be the most powerful in the world. And he's there to show Timothy the world of magic that he can choose -- if he dares.To show Timothy this, Constantine takes him to the beginning of time, through space to the United States, to the land of Faerie, to one of many possible futures in his own life. He meets Merlin, Baba Yaga, and the queen of Faerie herself. But there are evil forces that want Timothy dead, and will chase him to the end of the universe (literally) to make sure he ends up that way.Jablonski's novelization of the first "Book of Magic" is a competant one, neither excellent nor bad. If you've never read the comics, you'll still understand what's going on, and probably look forward to future adventures involving Timothy, Molly, Zatanna and the rest. Gaiman's dark, sometimes sinister brand of magic is well-translated into the novelization, and he includes a foreword on Jablonski's work.The writing style is pleasant, not very descriptive but gives some good insights to Tim's thoughts. Fortunately, she never goes off-the-wall or out-of-character. The simplicity of the writing wasn't always okay; I had trouble picturing some of the characters (the only real description of Titania is "beautiful" and "green"). The characterizations are pretty well-done; Timothy in particular is well fleshed-out.Fans of the "Books of Magic" comic series may not bother with "The Invitation," but it's definitely worth reading for both newcomers and fans.

There's something ironic here. When DC Comics debuted its Vertigo line in 1993, the idea was to make comics for adults. Now one of the best comics in the line, "The Books of Magic," is being translated into a series of prose novels for young readers. That just strikes me as funky somehow.Jablonski does a good job of taking Gaiman's original comic book and distilling it to a novel. She strips the most overt elements of the DC universe (while Zatanna, Constantine and the Phantom Stranger are all DCU characters they aren't nearly as well-known or iconic as the likes of Superman, who made a cameo in the comic but was wisely left out of the novel). I'm curious as to whether this series is intended to follow Tim as far as the comics did, to his later teenage years in the "Hunter: The Age of Magic" series.Unfortunately, no matter how good this series is, it'll probably be overlooked as a Harry Potter clone, even though Tim and Yo-yo predate Harry and Hedwig by at least six years by my count. If you dig Harry Potter, give the Books of Magic a fair shot.