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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really wanted to like this book, but it just felt like a bad Harry potter wanna-be
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Це як Гаррі Поттер + Нарнія, тільки всі в депресії і з алкоголем.
Not keen on the writing or the characters. Couldn’t imagine the rest of the book changing my mind
slow-paced
This is one of the books that I can't really put my fingers on. To like or not to like. I feel like I'm being a total indecisive ass who couldn't make up her mind for all that matters. But seriously, there are so many things about this book that could make you go "AAAARRRGGHHHH ENOUGH WITH THIS SHIT!" to "I KNEW IT!" to "Hmm, that make sense... However..."
I know, I don't make sense. I'm still wondering why I read this book in the first place except that I got a feeling it'd be a nice read.
Was it?
It was. To be honest, it was an enjoyable read. I'm a visual person and I could see this as a motion picture. Maybe one or two movies for this book, since the latest trend is to divide a book into two movies. Yes, I mean you, Harry Potter and Twilight.
To sum it up, The Magicians is like a mix of various fantasy book mashed up together, in a New Yorker artsy type of way. Another way to say it is, adult Harry Potter in a Narnia world. With sex.
Not sure how to say or mention the sex part. Definitely it's one thing that made this book fell into "adult fantasy" category instead of young adult, though it won't ever be near "urban fantasy". But hey, I don't split hair.
The story revolves around Quentin Coldwater and his friends. Quentin is your regular wallflower from the beginning of the book, and actually hasn't much changed throughout the story. He's still the observer, "the pacifist" among a bunch of chaos he called "friends".
Strangely, I couldn't find or have a favorite character. None whatsoever. It's not like they're unlovable mess. I just couldn't. Period.
I gave it three stars because I'm always the generous one. Haha. No, but really, I'm not sure about this subtle love-hate relationship I have with this book. Though, I have the sequel and will read it soon. Hope it'll be before Torment. xD
I know, I don't make sense. I'm still wondering why I read this book in the first place except that I got a feeling it'd be a nice read.
Was it?
It was. To be honest, it was an enjoyable read. I'm a visual person and I could see this as a motion picture. Maybe one or two movies for this book, since the latest trend is to divide a book into two movies. Yes, I mean you, Harry Potter and Twilight.
To sum it up, The Magicians is like a mix of various fantasy book mashed up together, in a New Yorker artsy type of way. Another way to say it is, adult Harry Potter in a Narnia world. With sex.
Not sure how to say or mention the sex part. Definitely it's one thing that made this book fell into "adult fantasy" category instead of young adult, though it won't ever be near "urban fantasy". But hey, I don't split hair.
The story revolves around Quentin Coldwater and his friends. Quentin is your regular wallflower from the beginning of the book, and actually hasn't much changed throughout the story. He's still the observer, "the pacifist" among a bunch of chaos he called "friends".
Strangely, I couldn't find or have a favorite character. None whatsoever. It's not like they're unlovable mess. I just couldn't. Period.
I gave it three stars because I'm always the generous one. Haha. No, but really, I'm not sure about this subtle love-hate relationship I have with this book. Though, I have the sequel and will read it soon. Hope it'll be before Torment. xD
Coja usted un buen puñado de "Harry Potter", añádale mas tarde una buena cantidad de "Las crónicas de Narnia" y, por último, eche un generoso chorro de alcohol (del fuerte) a la mezcla. Agítelo con energía y… ¡bualá! ya tiene el coctel "Los Magos" listo para consumir.
El libro me ha gustado. Sin embargo, tengo que reconocer que ya iba preparado para lo que me podía encontrar. Como he dicho antes, el libro esta cargado de referencias a la saga de Harry Potter y a "Las crónicas de Narnia", pero el carácter del libro en general y las personas a las que va destinado son completamente distintos. La novela está destinada a un lector más adulto que el que nos encontramos en los libros anteriormente citados. La historia es más oscura, los personajes son más caóticos en su forma de entender la vida y la magia.Se nos muestran situaciones con un realismo y una crudeza que, para un lector que no esté preparado para lo que se va a encontrar, puede resultar bastante impactante.
Como he dicho antes, el libro me ha gustado. Especialmente la primera parte, en la que Quentin (el protagonista) ingresa en la escuela de magia y empieza a ver cumplidos sus sueños de la infancia. Sin embargo, descubre como la magia y todo lo que la rodea es muy distinta a como la había imaginado. Aprender magia es difícil, agotador, incluso aburrido y tedioso en muchas ocasiones. Esta parte de la novela me parece sublime.
La segunda parte, en la que el protagonista y sus compañeros salen de la escuela de magia para enfrentarse al mundo real, en mi opinión es más floja o, por lo menos, no me encontraba devorando páginas como sí me ocurría con la primera mitad. Aun así, el hilo de la historia mantiene la tensión correctamente. Guardando numerosas sorpresas para el final de la novela.
En conjunto, el libro es muy recomendable. Siempre y cuando, como he dicho antes, vayas preparado para lo que te vas a encontrar. Por mi parte, ya estoy preparando un hueco en mi infinita pila de lectura para la segunda parte de la novela, "El bosque mágico".
El libro me ha gustado. Sin embargo, tengo que reconocer que ya iba preparado para lo que me podía encontrar. Como he dicho antes, el libro esta cargado de referencias a la saga de Harry Potter y a "Las crónicas de Narnia", pero el carácter del libro en general y las personas a las que va destinado son completamente distintos. La novela está destinada a un lector más adulto que el que nos encontramos en los libros anteriormente citados. La historia es más oscura, los personajes son más caóticos en su forma de entender la vida y la magia.Se nos muestran situaciones con un realismo y una crudeza que, para un lector que no esté preparado para lo que se va a encontrar, puede resultar bastante impactante.
Como he dicho antes, el libro me ha gustado. Especialmente la primera parte, en la que Quentin (el protagonista) ingresa en la escuela de magia y empieza a ver cumplidos sus sueños de la infancia. Sin embargo, descubre como la magia y todo lo que la rodea es muy distinta a como la había imaginado. Aprender magia es difícil, agotador, incluso aburrido y tedioso en muchas ocasiones. Esta parte de la novela me parece sublime.
La segunda parte, en la que el protagonista y sus compañeros salen de la escuela de magia para enfrentarse al mundo real, en mi opinión es más floja o, por lo menos, no me encontraba devorando páginas como sí me ocurría con la primera mitad. Aun así, el hilo de la historia mantiene la tensión correctamente. Guardando numerosas sorpresas para el final de la novela.
En conjunto, el libro es muy recomendable. Siempre y cuando, como he dicho antes, vayas preparado para lo que te vas a encontrar. Por mi parte, ya estoy preparando un hueco en mi infinita pila de lectura para la segunda parte de la novela, "El bosque mágico".
A bizarre but fun read
This is definitely not your standard magic story. The characters are rather dark and the struggles they go through are not easy. Maybe that should make magic mean that much more when you have it. Though in many instances the characters don’t realize how magical their own lives truly are.
Quentin is a bit of a dish-rag sop of a character. I keep hoping he develops into something more, but he just gets swept along within the currents happening around him. I wonder if Julia had been the hero, things would have happened for the better.
Even though I don’t really care for the Quentin character, it is still a great book. It does drag a few times when the story gets bogged down with a little too much detail. For the most part though, it’s well written and has some interesting characters and plot.
The ending with Julia, Eliot and Janet returning to take Quentin to Fillory was a slight let down. Being the hero, shouldn’t Quentin have been the one to get everyone together for the big return. It will be interesting to see where it goes. Of course, where is Josh, it seems rather sad to leave him out of this chapters finale.
This is definitely not your standard magic story. The characters are rather dark and the struggles they go through are not easy. Maybe that should make magic mean that much more when you have it. Though in many instances the characters don’t realize how magical their own lives truly are.
Quentin is a bit of a dish-rag sop of a character. I keep hoping he develops into something more, but he just gets swept along within the currents happening around him. I wonder if Julia had been the hero, things would have happened for the better.
Even though I don’t really care for the Quentin character, it is still a great book. It does drag a few times when the story gets bogged down with a little too much detail. For the most part though, it’s well written and has some interesting characters and plot.
The ending with Julia, Eliot and Janet returning to take Quentin to Fillory was a slight let down. Being the hero, shouldn’t Quentin have been the one to get everyone together for the big return. It will be interesting to see where it goes. Of course, where is Josh, it seems rather sad to leave him out of this chapters finale.
Jeg havde ingen interesse i karakterne og historien bevægede sig for langsomt fremad til min smag.
Do you ever wonder what would happen if someone decided to be Original™ and Edgy™ and throw some Never Before Seen Themes! into a genre that is typically filled with hopeful books filled with innocent ideas of friendship and love (how boring, right?), then had a billion ideas about worldbuilding and decided to write in everything because they are all such amazing and Genius Ideas that Every Single One must be included, and then finally realized that some actual plot was missing and decided to shove that in at the last second, meanwhile forgetting that such a thing as characters should also exist? Wonder no more: the result would be The Magicians.
Let me clarify something before I officially start: I hate this book. I read it many years ago and I still hate it to this day. In fact, I feel like my level of disdain has only grown over the years. I’m not rereading it again for this review; I read it almost twice just out of spite so I could be sure that all my negativity is well-placed, and I do not intend to put myself through that again. For this review I’m using some old notes I made back then.
To get the niceties out of the way first, I will give it some due credit in that the writing style was actually quite good. The last 100 pages were very engaging and sometimes even downright terrifying. The descriptions were very good, and the premise as a whole was not bad.
And with that ends everything good I have to say about it.
My biggest issue with this book were the characters and their lack of any kind of character – sure, the author tried; there was one (to my recollection) gay character, there might have been some ethnic diversity as well, there were some girls who could be badass sometimes. But what the author ultimately failed in doing was making any of his characters in any way different from one another or likable in any form or way. They all, without exception, had the same sort of pretentious egotistical personality that made it impossible for any reader to feel any kind of sympathy for any of them at any given point in time (repetition here on purpose, thank you very much), including the (fucking) protagonist, who was probably the worst of them all. For the length of the book, we got almost no information on any character’s backstory or motives, and I can’t tell if that was because the author knew nothing about character exposition or because his protagonist is so self-absorbed, selfish and lacking any kind of concern for others that he never cares to learn any of those things for himself, and since the readers are doomed to his point of view, neither does anyone else. I have the feeling that it’s both. None of the characters have stayed with me in any way except for Alice – the only somewhat tolerable cast member, and of course she had to die at the end for a dick like Quentin, so what’s even the point of liking her – and I know for a fact that even while I read the book, I couldn’t remember any of their names because they were all so unimaginative and indistinguishable. I have the feeling that the Token Gay™ of the book was named Richard, and I only remember that because I know I was angry that he was so blatantly the Token Gay™ that it was honestly atrocious. But I can’t even be sure of that, because, as I said, I couldn’t be bothered to care about anyone at all.
Another issue was that while I do agree that the style of the narration itself was quite good atimes, the dialogue was soulless, disjointed and lacking any sort of essence. It felt forced most of the time and didn’t really convey anything of substance. It doesn’t even deserve this paragraph, but here we are.
Remember how I mentioned something about cramming a million ideas into one place just because you think they’re all genius and Must Be There? I know this feeling. Every author knows this feeling. We understand. But what every author must learn is also a little word called moderation (an issue he sometimes has with descriptions as well). Grossman had so many ideas that he just had to include in detail that the end result was 200 pages of worldbuilding and exposition and 100 (barely) pages of plot. I swear that nothing at all happens for about 80% of the book except that we understand how the system in the world works, how magicians learn, how their year(s) in training go and how they learn to make themselves comfortable in society. On theory, this sounds great! But The Magicians failed. Immensely. Grossly. Nothing but bland and identical characters that you have no interest or sympathy for doing nothing for about 200-ish pages is not a way to write a book, my friends. If you want an excuse to include all the wonderful details you’ve thought of for your world, then write some sort of Index at the end, or a guide to go along with the book itself (if I recall, this is the same problem the Eragon series had). Not to mention that no one would care how these characters dealt with their daily lives after training anyway, since the process itself seemed to fail in giving them any kind of development. At some point you just want to give them all a good punch in the mouth. And also Alice didn’t deserve the book she was in and I feel mildly sorry for her and all the treatment the female characters got in this series.
And finally, the saddest part is that what The Magicians lacks most is the actual feeling of magic. The sheer bitterness, cynicism and dissatisfaction with life that drips from it (advertised as an Adult Version of Harry Potter) kills any kind of wonder you might get from the idea of magic itself. And no fantasy book should ever feel that way.
Let me clarify something before I officially start: I hate this book. I read it many years ago and I still hate it to this day. In fact, I feel like my level of disdain has only grown over the years. I’m not rereading it again for this review; I read it almost twice just out of spite so I could be sure that all my negativity is well-placed, and I do not intend to put myself through that again. For this review I’m using some old notes I made back then.
To get the niceties out of the way first, I will give it some due credit in that the writing style was actually quite good. The last 100 pages were very engaging and sometimes even downright terrifying. The descriptions were very good, and the premise as a whole was not bad.
And with that ends everything good I have to say about it.
My biggest issue with this book were the characters and their lack of any kind of character – sure, the author tried; there was one (to my recollection) gay character, there might have been some ethnic diversity as well, there were some girls who could be badass sometimes. But what the author ultimately failed in doing was making any of his characters in any way different from one another or likable in any form or way. They all, without exception, had the same sort of pretentious egotistical personality that made it impossible for any reader to feel any kind of sympathy for any of them at any given point in time (repetition here on purpose, thank you very much), including the (fucking) protagonist, who was probably the worst of them all. For the length of the book, we got almost no information on any character’s backstory or motives, and I can’t tell if that was because the author knew nothing about character exposition or because his protagonist is so self-absorbed, selfish and lacking any kind of concern for others that he never cares to learn any of those things for himself, and since the readers are doomed to his point of view, neither does anyone else. I have the feeling that it’s both. None of the characters have stayed with me in any way except for Alice – the only somewhat tolerable cast member, and of course she had to die at the end for a dick like Quentin, so what’s even the point of liking her – and I know for a fact that even while I read the book, I couldn’t remember any of their names because they were all so unimaginative and indistinguishable. I have the feeling that the Token Gay™ of the book was named Richard, and I only remember that because I know I was angry that he was so blatantly the Token Gay™ that it was honestly atrocious. But I can’t even be sure of that, because, as I said, I couldn’t be bothered to care about anyone at all.
Another issue was that while I do agree that the style of the narration itself was quite good atimes, the dialogue was soulless, disjointed and lacking any sort of essence. It felt forced most of the time and didn’t really convey anything of substance. It doesn’t even deserve this paragraph, but here we are.
Remember how I mentioned something about cramming a million ideas into one place just because you think they’re all genius and Must Be There? I know this feeling. Every author knows this feeling. We understand. But what every author must learn is also a little word called moderation (an issue he sometimes has with descriptions as well). Grossman had so many ideas that he just had to include in detail that the end result was 200 pages of worldbuilding and exposition and 100 (barely) pages of plot. I swear that nothing at all happens for about 80% of the book except that we understand how the system in the world works, how magicians learn, how their year(s) in training go and how they learn to make themselves comfortable in society. On theory, this sounds great! But The Magicians failed. Immensely. Grossly. Nothing but bland and identical characters that you have no interest or sympathy for doing nothing for about 200-ish pages is not a way to write a book, my friends. If you want an excuse to include all the wonderful details you’ve thought of for your world, then write some sort of Index at the end, or a guide to go along with the book itself (if I recall, this is the same problem the Eragon series had). Not to mention that no one would care how these characters dealt with their daily lives after training anyway, since the process itself seemed to fail in giving them any kind of development. At some point you just want to give them all a good punch in the mouth. And also Alice didn’t deserve the book she was in and I feel mildly sorry for her and all the treatment the female characters got in this series.
And finally, the saddest part is that what The Magicians lacks most is the actual feeling of magic. The sheer bitterness, cynicism and dissatisfaction with life that drips from it (advertised as an Adult Version of Harry Potter) kills any kind of wonder you might get from the idea of magic itself. And no fantasy book should ever feel that way.