The Unwritten Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity

Now I remember why I stopped reading this series in 2012. It is the platonic ideal of the two star, ”it’s okay”, rating.

This is a hard sell for most people. But I actually think it was far ahead of it’s time and primed for readers to discover it again. On the face of things, initially, this looks like a Harry Potter grown up almost interesting idea. Tom Taylor is the son of a famous writer who penned Harry Potter-alike stories that swept the world by storm, just as they did in our own world. Then the author disappeared, abandoned his Real son, Tom. And so we find Tom years later, living off of signings in the convention circuit, suffused with daddy issues. At a convention, though, it comes to light that he may not be who he thinks he is, as someone dredges up evidence that the child stand-in for Tom in pictures was a Romanian child of a housekeeper. So who is Tom? But then things get surreal. Yes, the who-is-Taylor story isn’t all that compelling. But the factions are quickly introduced, and the story becomes more about story itself. What is the purpose of story in culture and what “power” that holds, if any, and who controls that story—or narrative. This becomes wonderfully unique and enticing. And because I’ve read it before I know where it’s going and the anticipation is killing me. One of my most favourite series of all time and no other work comes close to packaging these ideas like this.

Unwritten is sprawling journey across the world of literature with amazing deep storytelling, and great writing. I am really loving this series so far. I cannot recommend it enough.