The Books of Magic: Bindings

The Books of Magic: Bindings is the second book in the series by Carla Jablonski (novelizations of Neil Gaiman and John Bolton's graphic novel series). Like the first book, Tim Hunter finds himself in mysterious situations, often with little explanation (at least to himself -- we as the reader often know more of what is going on than Tim does).

In this book, a mysterious stranger from Fairyland catapults Tim into a fight for the very life of Fairyland.

There are some very surprising revelations in this book that I fear I cannot tell or else I will have given too much away. Let me just say that Tim finds out some life-changing news and that, at the end of the book, what he has found out may not even matter.

This book is also very fast-paced and holds your attention well. No fidgety readers here!

My only real complaint is one that will only bother people who have any knowledge of fairy tales and their history. The mysterious stranger is named Tamlin, which carries a weight of history in old tales. However, this book seems to ignore most of posterity and forges a new outlook for this character that runs opposite what fairy tale lovers know. It bothered me, but it isn't likely to bother any young readers and should definitely not dissuade you from the series as a whole.