Mike Carey & Peter Gross – The Unwritten, Vol. 4: Leviathan
20. Leviathan by Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Vince Locke, Al Davison (2011)
The Unwritten, Volume 4
Length: 144 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Started / Finished: 18 February 2012
Where did it come from? The library.
Why do I have it? New installment in one of my ongoing graphic novel series.
Looking for the source,
Tom Taylor finds himself a
whale of a problem.
Summary: Tom Taylor is hunting for the source of his father’s power to bridge the gap between fiction and reality, following a note on his father’s map that features a picture of a whale. Soon, he finds himself trapped inside Moby Dick, while his accomplices, Lizzie and Richie are stuck in the real world, but facing a nasty new adversary with some special plans just for them.
Review: Every time a new volume of The Unwritten comes out, I’m reminded just how badly I need to start buying the series so I can re-read them, since I have a terrible memory and there is just so much going on, even in a short volume like this one. I was able to get back into the main storyline pretty quickly, but I feel like there were hints and clues, particularly about the ultimate goals of the bad guys, that were just going over my head because I can’t remember the hints and clues from the last volume well enough to piece everything together.
I wasn’t as crazy about this volume as I was about the first or third. In part that may be because I haven’t read Moby Dick, and so didn’t have that as an “in” to the story. But I think that it’s mostly because the source of Wilson Taylor’s power, when it’s revealed, is kind of unexceptional. It wasn’t so obvious that I figured it out on my own, and it makes good sense with the rest of the story, but it also didn’t blow me away or leave me going “oh, that’s *cool*” the way other elements of this series have. The story is (of course) jam-packed with all sorts of literary references, and lots of little funny throwaway lines and sight gags that you have to be paying attention to catch. While I wasn’t head-over-heels for this story arc, I still enjoyed reading it, and I’m definitely intrigued to see where Carey takes the series next. 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: The Unwritten as a whole is highly recommended for anyone who likes Sandman, Fables, literature-based metafiction, or any kind of stories about stories.
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Vocab: (see the whole list)
- p. 23: “Morality tale or epic adventure, nekula or political fable, this vast novel is like the whale itself, a blank slate on which critics project…” – calling a soul to consult about the future using a sacrifice.
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Yes, having not read Moby Dick sort of killed my enthusiasm for this particular volume, but it was still a good read. :)
Right? I haven’t read a lot of books that this series references, but it’s great nevertheless.
This was my least favorite of the volumes so far and I HAVE read Moby Dick. Twice actually. I don’t feel like it gave me an in, particularly, although that could be because I hated Moby Dick a lot both times I had to read it for school. But yeah, definitely still excited to see where Carey takes the story next.
Jenny – You had to read Moby Dick twice for school? Ouch. But I’m glad to know I’m not terribly, terribly missing out here.
I feel you about the rereading—part of the joy of having it in its monthly issues is the fact that I can go back and start at the beginning whenever I wish. Ahhh.
Omni – Rub it in, whydontcha. :-P