The Unwritten, Vol. 2: Inside Man

The power of storytelling seems to be the main vein in this series and I absolutely love how it's being handled in this series. The first volume was good and enjoyable, but this second volume really pumps up the ante and includes really interesting and bizarre ideas. I continue to enjoy the characters and the artwork, as well as the literary references peppered throughout. The central mystery continues to have me baffled and I look forward, like Tom, on learning more about it in the coming volumes. The thin line between reality and fantasy, fiction and non-fiction blurs in this one-of-a-kind story, and I'm loving it!

This review is for books 1-5.

This is what one might call the graphic novel for book lovers. The whole idea is that books fuel the world. That people can come together to all love a book, think about a book and that will fuel the magic that the world is lacking yet needs. But there's this group of people who age incredibly slowly and they control the world by controlling the literature that the world is exposed to and they'll do whatever it takes to get that control.

I think.

These books have a lot going on and mostly at times I feel slightly confused. Still, they are exciting and, well, graphic. The only one I had a hard time with was Leviathan. All that Moby Dick talk bored the heck out of me. Not a fan.

But if you love books this could possibly be the best series of graphic novels you've ever read.

Not bad. Lot's of twists in the second volume of the Tom Taylor saga. I'm enjoying the series so far. The plot is thickening, and I'm eager to see what is going to happen. Volume 3 up next.

Better than volume 1, though I do find myself wondering which way the writers are going to take their subtext on imagination. Is imagination power and something to be preserved, or something to be quelled - because one thing is clear - the authors' take is definitely black or white - with no grey in sight.

as i said for volume 1, “wonderfully imaginative, compelling, and beautiful. hooray for comics for smart people!”

I mentioned in my review of the first volume of The Unwritten that it was too light on actual story; this volume corrects that by moving the story along nicely, while at the same time continuing to develop the themes implied by the premise.

Tom Taylor continues the journey he started in the first volume, encountering a variety of fictional characters who are starting to seep into the ‘real' world. What's really interesting here, though, is the subtle argument for the divine nature of story - Frankenstein's monster meets up with Tom at one point, and refers to them both as being “made, not born”, a distinction that's usually reserved for separating angels from humanity. Stories are magic - I think that's something I've been forgetful of, and as someone who dabbles in storytelling of his own, that's something I should be more mindful of.

Oh man. So good.