Saturday, October 13, 2012

The Magicians, Lev Grossman

Quentin did a magic trick. Nobody noticed. 

The Magicians is an excellent adult fantasy. It was kind of a new genre for me; I've read plenty of children's, middle-grade, and YA fantasy, but not that much adult fantasy. And I enjoyed it. The Magicians is the story of Quentin, a high school math genius who is secretly still hooked on the Fillory books, a children's fantasy series. He dreams of magic; imagine his surprise when he stumbles from Brooklyn into a hidden college of magic, Brakebills. He meets a whole bunch of new people there, and realizes that magic is not what he has always imagined, or what is commonly thought. It is much harder, and much more painstaking.

The Magicians definitely gives a nod to Harry Potter (the school) and Narnia (the fantasy land of Fillory), but it's much darker, I would say. And obviously more adult. There are curse words/lewd references etc. But it was funnier, I think. And Quinton is a good narrator, with a certain wry humor about him. I think it's pretty obvious to the prospective reader that Fillory actually exists, so I'll say it: Fillory exists. There. The writing was fairly absorbing, and I never knew quite what to expect. Though the first section of Part 2 is kind of depressing. There is a sequel too: The Magician King. I would recommend it to fans of fantasy.

Read The Magicians:
  • if you like fantasy
  • if you like Lev Grossman
  • if you like books set in colleges/schools
402 pages.
 
Very Good! I would recommend this book!

1 comment:

  1. As a big fan of The Magicians, the Magician King was everything I wanted it to be and more. It's refreshing to find a series that can be both intellectual stimulating and magical at the same time.
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