The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman

[meganbmoore]

So, Books of Magic.  If you mention Harry Potter to most people who've read this book(or many times, just the ones who know a fair bit about  Tim Hunter,) the polite ones will say that HP is an all ages version of BoM, or heavily influenced by.  The less polite ones will just say it's a ripoff.

I've been meaning to read this book(and the sequel series) for some time.  Now that I have, I'd say that the wikipedia explanation of the similarities explains it best, though Neil Gaiman is more generous than I am(but then, he's always struck me as a very generous man):

Many people have noticed similarities between Timothy Hunter — a bespectacled English teenager with family troubles, a scar on his forehead and who has a magical owl as a pet — and the later and more famous Harry Potter. Neil Gaiman has been quoted as saying that while there are similarities between the two they are largely superficial and most likely reflect the fact that both draw on common archetypes. [1] [2]

Personally, I find it difficult, if not impossible, to believe that Rawling didn't read Books of Magic before coming up with Harry Potter.  I would say, however, that I think Harry is more inspired by Tim Hunter than based on Tim, looks aside(sorry, but while dark haired 12 year olds are common, and glasses, the scar and owl kinda make it hard to ignore...)

(Incidentally, Books of Magic predates Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by 7 years and Tim's ongoing series had been running for 3 years when HP was first published)

As far as my opinions on the book itself go?

The book is excellent.  Period.  Gaiman gets myth and the common man's approach to fantasy better than anyone else.  Like everything else of his that I've read, he gets the mytharc and it's possibilities and puts them out there in a way that makes them perfectly comprehensible yet far out of our grasp.  It took Alan Moore over 30(good) issues of Promethea to accomplish what Gaiman did in 4, and Gaiman it better, and in a way that never left you scrambling for a ladder so you can reach the point where you can understand what he's saying(for those who haven't read Promethea, Moore sometimes barges ahead, leaving the readers in the duct and with no way to catch up until he takes a break)

Books of Magic is about Tim Hunter, an apparently isolated 12 year old who lives alone with his father.  While Tim does not believe in magic, he has the potentional to become the most powerful practitioner of this age.  To make sure he doesn't randomly turn a school bully into a pile of goo and then have no idea what just happened, four of the world's most powerful practitioners(though not necessarily magicians)-Phantom Stranger, John Constantine, Dr. Occult, and Mister E.  ( And Not. One. Word. About the names.  This is a graphic novel from the world of comics in 1990.  Neil Gaiman cannot be held responsible for that)-step in to educate him about magic, and to give him the choice between the magic-less, mostly safe, mundane world, and the magical, uncertain and unsafe but never dull world he was born for.

One will show him the magic of the past, another the magic of today, another the magic of the worlds beside us, and the last the darkest possibilities of the future.  Tim himself, a child, is, of course, woefully unprepared for the new world he's faced with, despite how valiantly he tries to keep up with it.  He makes mistakes, he loses his way, and, ultimately, he makes a wrong choice that he almost regrets for the rest of his life.  While some of the book is a compilation of DC's magic users and magic history, it's not to the point where the uninitiated will be lost(I'm only passingly familiar with a few of the people Tim meets, myself)  Mostly it's aboutt he past, present and possibilities of myth and the mytharc.

And the art?  John Bolton.  Scott Hampton.  Charles Vess. Paul Johnson.  While only Bolton and Vess are really well know these days(at least among comic book fans) trust me, excellent all around.

Now to find funds for the books of the ongoing series...