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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
So, here’s the thing- I completely understand why Grossman chose to make his characters some of the most insufferable people I’ve ever read. It really works for his larger theme of exploring what happens when achieving your dreams isn’t enough. However, I had so much trouble engaging with the story because I deeply struggled to find anything I liked about these characters. I had a hard time connecting to the surrounding story when it was being told through the lens of people I didn’t really care for. That may not bother you, and that’s great, but this just didn’t work for me.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters, and the writing is just so boring. Read some spoilers for this and the rest of the books, and feel fine with DNF.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had a really hard time liking any of the characters and caring about what happened to them. Could not finish the book, even though I read at least 2/3 - 3/4 of it.
This was almost a thing I've been wanting, which is a book set in a fantasy world but isn't about fantasy adventures. I really want a book that's a fantasy setting, but has the quiet introspection of Hesse or something. Anyway this was almost that. Most of the book is just "young persons life in magic world" and I liked that stuff the best. Once the adventure kicked in it was fun but I missed the slice-of-life atmosphere.
This also had a thing I hate which is people being vague about something very important, which causes a stupid domino effect of everything falling apart. So frustrating. Just say what the thing is!
This also had a thing I hate which is people being vague about something very important, which causes a stupid domino effect of everything falling apart. So frustrating. Just say what the thing is!
The Magicians is a very interesting read. There are definite overtones of Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia in it, but is much more edgy and not very cute and cuddly. Quentin is 17 when the book starts and probably about 22 or 23 when it ends and there is drugs, alcohol and sex, making this a very adult book. There is some fun made of Harry Potter - at one point a student is confused and keeps talking about quiddich - and Fillory has some distinct similarities to Narnia.
Quentin, a Brooklyn teen, takes a wrong path one day and winds up at a college for magicians. After taking a grueling entrance exam, he is admitted, starting immediately. He leaves behind his parents and friends to start this new adventure. All his life he has been obessed with a series of books based on the land of Fillory and how the Chatwins became the kings and queens of that land. Quentin is hoping that being a magician will be the start of his own Fillory adventure. However, magic isn't always as pretty, clean and easy as he has read it to be. It is hard work, much more dangerous and much less fullfilling than he ever imagined. Through the years, there is love, loss, death, drugs, alcohol and other normal college activities as well as learning how to be a magician. Once out of college, the magicians realize that studying magic prepares them for nothing in the real world and they are at loose ends as to what to do with their life. Then the impossible happens. They find a way to Fillory. But Quentin and his friends learn that a magical land is not necessarily a good land.
The Magicians is a well written story. Grossman's writing can be a little tough to get around sometimes (he really likes SAT words), but the story is very revitting and the characters are real. They can be annoying and at one time I really hated Quentin, but they are just like friends I had in college, and reminds me of the up and down relationships we had back then. I definitely recommend this to any adult who liked Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia.
Quentin, a Brooklyn teen, takes a wrong path one day and winds up at a college for magicians. After taking a grueling entrance exam, he is admitted, starting immediately. He leaves behind his parents and friends to start this new adventure. All his life he has been obessed with a series of books based on the land of Fillory and how the Chatwins became the kings and queens of that land. Quentin is hoping that being a magician will be the start of his own Fillory adventure. However, magic isn't always as pretty, clean and easy as he has read it to be. It is hard work, much more dangerous and much less fullfilling than he ever imagined. Through the years, there is love, loss, death, drugs, alcohol and other normal college activities as well as learning how to be a magician. Once out of college, the magicians realize that studying magic prepares them for nothing in the real world and they are at loose ends as to what to do with their life. Then the impossible happens. They find a way to Fillory. But Quentin and his friends learn that a magical land is not necessarily a good land.
The Magicians is a well written story. Grossman's writing can be a little tough to get around sometimes (he really likes SAT words), but the story is very revitting and the characters are real. They can be annoying and at one time I really hated Quentin, but they are just like friends I had in college, and reminds me of the up and down relationships we had back then. I definitely recommend this to any adult who liked Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia.
This book and its sequel, "The Magician King," drove me crazy with its inconsistency, addition and subtraction of characters without providing any reason to care about what happens to them, telling and not showing, and giant plot holes. I liked it - it's an audacious modern Narnia story that openly and deliberately steals from those books and openly alludes to Tolkien and Harry Potter. But it's frustratingly edited - or not edited. When you create a magic world, that world has to have rules and those rules can't disappear when it's convenient. So - enjoyable but annoying, read at your own risk.
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Every character outside of the protagonist is seen through a lens of whether he wants to sleep with them or how they threaten his being the hero of the story and despite massive personal losses he doesn't seem to change, at least not in this installment of the story.