Summonings: Books of Magic, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

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

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Timothy Hunter, age 13, may become one of the most powerful magicians of all time. But that's only one of his problems. In this trade paperback followup to the popular Neil Gaiman story, Tim must contend with a heartless sorcerer, tea in hell, a murderous Victorian cyborg, a whirlwind family reunion with an insanely jealous Faerie Queen and ... a first date.

Product Description
Timothy Hunter, age 13, may become one of the most powerful magicians of all time. But that's only one of his problems. In this trade paperback followup to the popular Neil Gaiman story, Tim must contend with a heartless sorcerer, tea in hell, a murderous Victorian cyborg, a whirlwind family reunion with an insanely jealous Faerie Queen and ... a first date.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo; illustrated edition edition (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563892650
• ISBN-13: 978-1563892653
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #539,488 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not my favourite in the series...but still good, April 24, 2000

By A Customer

As the title says...but still an excellent book. The entire series and especially the best books in it really immerse you in the story lines and this does it exceptionally well. I really liked the development of the relationship with Molly and the fairie queen character was a classic. My advice: read it; if you haven't read any of the Books of Magic before its a great introduction, and if you have read some of the other books...its a great addition.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Imaginary friends and time travel, May 15, 2005

By	Gagewyn (United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Summonings follows the story of Tim Hunter, a teenager who is destined to become the world's greatest magician. Young Tim Hunter is reminded of an imaginary friend he had as a child who was killed by someone or something. In an investigation into the imaginary friend's death he enters a world where all his childhood imaginings are now real. Simultaneously we follow grown up and increasingly pitiful Tim Hunter. He visits the past to kidnap the woman of his life while she still loves him and to raise himself to grow up to be him. (He has done this many times before and we see him inspecting a nursery full of girls.) Influencing his younger self is a daunting task for him since he has traded away his childhood memories in various battles with demons.

Those are the big plots that span the shorter stories. The small plots involve a magician (not grown up Tim, another magician) who tries to catch Tim with his pet/slave succubus and various characters from Victorian England who have crossed over into modern England via the land of fairy. The sucubus makes for an interesting character. At one point she lets her dinner, a live pigeon, fly free over the city and muses on her own lack of freedom. There are also parallels between her obvious position of slavery and the less obvious traps that other characters are stuck in.

The plots are twisting and complex. There was a previous book in the series, but starting in here is fine. I hadn't read it first and was not too disoriented. This book introduces the two plot lines that will carry on into the next book: Tim's future and using his childhood dreams to open new worlds now.

The graphics here are well done. They are realistic and printed in a limited array of colors. (Most pages look somewhat like the cover amazon shows, which should give you a better idea.) The layouts felt just a tad off for me. Often I read frames out of sequence and they just didn't flow right. Visually this book is fine but the real strength is the twisting plot lines and parallels between the different characters and stories.

Overall I recommend Summonings. It has a complex and involving plot that is self contained (to the series) so it is a good choice for people who are new to the genre as well as those who read lots of comics. This is one of the best story lines I have come across and the book does comics right. I also recommend this to libraries with one reservation for school libraries: All these stories take place against a backdrop of demonology and characters from fairy mythology make appearances. That could be controversial.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A minor, but decent, contribution., November 23, 2005

By	Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

John Ney Rieber, The Books of Magic: Summonings (DC Comics, 1996)

After the first story in the Books of Magic series was complete, Neil Gaiman vanished, leaving the series in the hands of writer John New Rieber. That is not entirely a bad thing, but it's not a great one, either.

While Summonings is still good reading, the gap in quality between the first collection and this one is noticeable. The stories here are far more unconnected, disjointed, and episodic than those in the first collection, with only Tim to hold them together as a coherent whole.

That said, if you look at this more as a series of vignettes designed to give a little insight into Tim's character, rather than as a complete story arc, you'll probably enjoy it more. *** ½