Tommy Taylor And The War Of Words. Writer, Mike Carey (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
This rating is for the series as a whole so far. While I have liked parts of it, overall it has left me pretty cold. The story was OK, with some unexpected fun here and there, but it lost me with the characters. While there were some vivid supporting ones (Wilson's publisher and the prison warden and his children are some I can think of), the main ones are just so... meh. It may well be that a book about books and stories can't help but have stolid archetypes as the main characters, but I think a better writer would have managed to make them archetypal and distinctly individual at the same time. We are given some glimpses of Tom's life and upbringing through the books, but what seemed like an interesting, conflicted character to begin with more and more becomes an uninteresting, can-do-no-wrong, self-sacrificing hero. Out of his two sidekicks, at least Richie is a character that seems to have more going on in his life than just the purpose he serves in this story, although Carey could have done much more with his vampirism. But Lizzie... Oh, Lizzie. Some people may argue that she was created and manipulated by Wilson only to help Tommy, and that's why after the first couple of books there is absolutely NOTHING to her other than being Tommy's sidekick and convenient lover. Remove Tom from the equation, and she is just a blank placeholder for every love interest that a hero is supposed to have. Her story might have gone in interesting ways, but the writers seem to have no idea about what to do with her. And so it goes...So, overall, in a world that contains the Sandman, the Fables series, and the Thursday Next books, I found this series just OK and nowhere near as surprising and satisfying as those. Well, here we are and so much that started in volume 1 pays off here. Conflicts come to a head in a mostly satisfying way. It was not quite the epic I was hoping for, but then it's also not a conclusion.That's really what's dragging this story for me. This went for 54 issues. I'm not sure, without some major twists or digressions, how you get 20 more issues out of this.Still, a good read.My local public library has slowly been getting them all and I am glad they have.
What do You think about Tommy Taylor And The War Of Words. Writer, Mike Carey (2012)?
A lot of background on some of the big characters and clever story lines using myths.
—tbgb
An interesting concept. Well drawn. I will have to start at the beginning.
—rich
This just continues to be awesome. I got Vol. 7 lined up. Bring it on!
—salg
