Books of Magic, The: Death After Death - Book 7 [Paperback]

John Ney Rieber (Author), Peter Gross (Author), John Bolton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Books of Magic | Publication Date: November 1, 2001

Tim Hunter finally comes to a decision about his powers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 223 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563897407
• ISBN-13: 978-1563897405
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.9 x 10.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #669,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good trees, but not much of a forest, July 8, 2002

By 

Tarl R Kudrick (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Books of Magic, The: Death After Death - Book 7 (Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unfinished Business...., April 13, 2006

By 

Michael F. Green (Melbourne, Australia.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Books of Magic, The: Death After Death - Book 7 (Paperback)

I have really enjoyed the "Books of Magic" series. I have loved the way they have blended the real and the fantastical, I have loved the creative spins on fantasy motifs, I have felt for Timothy Haunter's painful journey, and I have loved the sometimes very beautiful artwork in these books.

This volume collects issues 42 to 50 of the comics series. There are 75 issues in the "Books of Magic" - the last third of the story has not been anthologised by VERTIGO. (This collection first appeared in 2001.) What the other reviewers may have felt is the sense of being in the middle part of a story - some parts resolved, low-key, but not yet entering the final stage of the tale's revelations.

There is a latter collection "The Names of Magic" which I picked up. Its prelude tells briefly of what happens in the 25 issues I have been unable to read. It is painful - I want this final third of the original story in all its multipanel technicolor glory, but it has not been collected and published by VERTIGO.

Perhaps we should petition them.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying conclusion to the series., April 21, 2006

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Books of Magic, The: Death After Death - Book 7 (Paperback)

John Ney Rieber, The Books of Magic: Death After Death (Vertigo, 2001)

Rieber's conclusion to the Books of Magic series seems to be widely considered the weakest work therein; odd, because it turned out to be my favorite of its seven collections. It started out with much the same problem that constantly plagued the other six-- utter confusion-- but once Rieber started wrapping things up, the book got, if not great, at least good.

One of the main differences between the Sandman (of which the Books of Magic is a spinoff) and the Books of Magic is that Rieber doesn't seem to be able to get as much across in as succinct a manner as Neil Gaiman. Needless to say, this could also be a problem with Peter Gross' artwork, but it always seemed more centered on the writing, to me. And the book starts out with problems along those lines, as Rieber takes on another rather complex storyline (this one involving both Tim and an alternate version of him) and manages to plunge the reader into confusion for a number of pages. This gets resolved towards the end of the story arc, however, and the book gets down to the brass tacks of tying up some of the series' loose ends. This is the kind of place where you expect the pace to grind to a halt, or the characters to shift into "this is what they did after the story ends" mode, or whatever. Not that this kind of thing can't be done effectively (see Sandman: The Wake for a perfect example), but more often than not it isn't. And while there is an undeniable streak of "Danny went off to college, got a degree in landscape architecture, and is now Hugh Hefner's personal groomer," it's done with a sense of style and, more importantly, pace. There is a story to be told, and Rieber does, in fact, tell it, and tell it well.

I have to admit that, aside from the first book, the Books of Magic series never did all that much for me. It's nice to see, however, that the last book almost approaches the first in quality, giving the series a bookended kind of feel that appeals. If you abandoned the series at some time in the past, at least skip forward and check this one out; it's worth your time. *** ?