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bantwalkers's review against another edition
3.0
It's been a few days since I finished this book, and promptly moved on to Beautiful Creatures. This one I picked up for a respite between volumes of the bulky, but super-mega-awesome, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel. And The Magicians may suffer from the completeness of the latter and the quick, lovey, mystery-packed former. That may infer that I didn't like it, I liked it quite a bit. However, I think my view of it may suffer by being read around the same time as two similar but better books (and I've only read 1/3 of Jonathan Strange, so my feelings about that could change too.)
So, here's what I like about The Magicians and why I'm glad the Alex committee picked it. There are a few problems I had with it, but I will leave those on the cutting room floor.
Quentin Coldwater is smart, lonely, and obsessed with the fantasy world of Fillory (think Narnia). He's preparing for his final year of high school and the upcoming rigors of an Ivy League education (fingers crossed.) He pines over his best friend's girlfriend and does close-up magic tricks to busy himself in-between getting straight A's and beyond. That is until he discovers the magic and wonder he's always escaped into is actually real. He's been invited to start classes at Brakebill's, a very elite school for magicians (think Hogwart's College.) But he soon finds magic isn't the awesome, ideal, fantastic art he's believed it to be. It's difficult and painful, and he has to study hard just to do the basic spells. The Magicians pays great respect to the fantasy that's come before it, very clearly tipping it's hat to Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia, but it adds the cold-harsh reality of college, becoming an adult, and how our dreams and dream worlds may not be all they are cracked up to be.
(ok. I got a little wordy yesterday when I was writing that synopsis. So I quit and came back to the review today.)
So . . . while thinking about what I liked about the book last night, that's after I wrote the synopsis for this review, I realized it takes the darkness of the last 4 Harry Potter books to the next level. This book is considerably more dangerous than any of the boy wizard's adventures, but this isn't technically the story of a boy wizard and his friends. That's not to say The Deathly Hallows wasn't dangerous, Grossman just ups the ante in The Magicians. Magic in this universe is literally painful, and everything has to go just right, or it plain won't work. In the Potter series if a spell goes slightly amiss then hilarity ensues. In The Magicians if a spell is done wrong, well a magical beast is unleashed that may or may not eat the students.
Also, the characters here aren't automatically granted what they want. They have to work and struggle to become magicians, and I think that makes their journey in the end more heroic, more satisfying. Of course, some may argue that Quentin is a tool, and he is. But I connected with his loneliness. And he does work his tail off for everything he gets. He's not just some magical person who has always had the gift and will, without a doubt, defeat the enemy in the end. That's never a certainty. Not the way it is in the other books. That makes for more of a thrill when it comes to the end. We think we know the outcome, we want the "hero" to prevail, but it isn't a guarantee.
I like that. I like that it challenges readers in a different way. It wants them to believe in wonder, but not to take it for granted. It wants us to remember the world is dangerous, so why wouldn't other worlds be dangerous as well?
eavers's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
highkingtay's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
colinbrooksbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
robiok's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
No other rathing feels RIGHT.
gracenextdoor's review against another edition
5.0
When this book first came out, it was one I repeatedly recommended to my husband, but never saw myself reading. I was afraid of the "Harry Potter for adults" reviews and descriptions of a depressed protagonist obsessed with his favorite childhood books. It seemed a bit...much. When SyFy adapted the books, I watched them with my husband and *loved* it, but still didn't feel compelled to read the source.
Finally, my husband urged me to read them, and I conceded. The Magicians follows Quentin Coldwater, a high school senior, who struggles with finding his path in life. Not-so-secretly in love with his friend's girlfriend and still obsessing about Fillory, the magical land from the beloved children's series of his youth, Quentin is an oddball loner with no ideas about what his future will be. When an interview for Yale takes an unexpected turn, Quentin finds himself at Brakebills, a school for magic. His owl had finally arrived.
If you're here for a "grown up Harry Potter," of course you'll leave disappointed. It's very different. Book 1 does not = year 1. Quentin makes friends, falls in love, but oddly finds that magic doesn't magically fix everything. He's still the same person, with the same insecurities and self-doubt he had before he found out magic was real. He's not an innocent eleven-year-old boy wizard. He's a young adult trying to navigate the world on his own, amidst his depression and strange, violent encounters with an utterly creepy villain.
If you, like me, watched the series first, I want to say how delighted I was to find how closely the characters on screen matched those on the page. TV Quentin IS Quentin. As is Eliot. And Janet/Margo. The tv show might take a lot of artistic license, but the books are there. Out of order with a lot of changes (and fantastic musical numbers), but they're there nonetheless. This book was even more enjoyable to read than it was to watch. And that's saying something.
Finally, my husband urged me to read them, and I conceded. The Magicians follows Quentin Coldwater, a high school senior, who struggles with finding his path in life. Not-so-secretly in love with his friend's girlfriend and still obsessing about Fillory, the magical land from the beloved children's series of his youth, Quentin is an oddball loner with no ideas about what his future will be. When an interview for Yale takes an unexpected turn, Quentin finds himself at Brakebills, a school for magic. His owl had finally arrived.
If you're here for a "grown up Harry Potter," of course you'll leave disappointed. It's very different. Book 1 does not = year 1. Quentin makes friends, falls in love, but oddly finds that magic doesn't magically fix everything. He's still the same person, with the same insecurities and self-doubt he had before he found out magic was real. He's not an innocent eleven-year-old boy wizard. He's a young adult trying to navigate the world on his own, amidst his depression and strange, violent encounters with an utterly creepy villain.
If you, like me, watched the series first, I want to say how delighted I was to find how closely the characters on screen matched those on the page. TV Quentin IS Quentin. As is Eliot. And Janet/Margo. The tv show might take a lot of artistic license, but the books are there. Out of order with a lot of changes (and fantastic musical numbers), but they're there nonetheless. This book was even more enjoyable to read than it was to watch. And that's saying something.
rockatanskette's review against another edition
I just can't do it. Quentin is too annoying and all the reviews say he doesn't get any better. Also, the way the narration describes women is disgusting and I'm tired of it.
nphillipich's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
mrsrccockrell's review against another edition
4.0
This book was recommended to me by every “Harry Potter for Adults” book list I found online. It has an agonizingly slow start, but it does eventually pick up and I’m looking forward to reading the next one. I am, however, not a huge fan of Quentin, the main character. He’s kind of a self-absorbed prick who can’t help but wallow in misery that he’s created for himself. In fact, there was only one character I was 100% on board with and I’m not happy with the way her arc played out.
I hope, now that things have gotten moving with this plot, that the next two books keep me momentum going and that Quentin starts being a character worth getting behind.
I hope, now that things have gotten moving with this plot, that the next two books keep me momentum going and that Quentin starts being a character worth getting behind.
charlote_1347's review against another edition
2.0
I didn’t like this novel. The beginning had me enthralled but as the chapters crept on, I grew less and less interested. Only a determination to finish kept me reading. I can pinpoint the exact moment my interest spluttered out too – when Brakebills was left behind and Fillory came into play. The disconnect between the two plots was infuriating and fragmented. Between one heartbeat and the next, Grossman went from depicting a sexy, edgy Harry-Potter-type world to a knock-off Narnia that replaced the wardrobe with a button.
The Fillory world-building was sketchy at best, with broad, sweeping statements and vague plot progression that stripped away all the juicy stuff. I like banter and passion and petty arguments in my fiction. Encounters I can sink my teeth into. Encounters that make me laugh, or cry, or sympathise. The only emotion that gets screen-time is Quentin’s incessant pursuit of happiness and his depression at the pointlessness of existence and boy, does that screen-time drag on. Every significant event, every epiphany and every decision seems to be a consequence of Quentin’s never-ending self-pity and while I rolled with it during the Brakebills saga, by Fillory I’d had more than enough. There’s only so much a reader can take.
The novel’s other characters were not that much better. Eliot was a constant favourite of mine, despite his ongoing and ever-escalating drinking problem. I’m interested to see how the sequel approaches his character progression. Josh had redeemable features too but it was impossible to really explore the facets of his personality. The closest look I was given of his inner workings was before the welters game, when he was hiding out in the library, and Quentin very quickly made the whole encounter about him. Penny was my pet peeve from his first scene. Every time he made an appearance I couldn’t take him seriously, even when his Discipline was revealed and he exposed the others to the Neitherworld. Not to say that I didn’t feel the utmost sympathy when his hands were bitten off. That was brutal. Brilliant in terms of dramatic impact but brutal. I liked the ambiguity of his ending – that he disappeared into a building in the City. Janet didn’t make an impression on me at all. Alice insists that Janet hated her from the beginning and pursued Quentin only to one-up her and hurt her, but I don’t see it. Not because it’s not a possibility but because I was given no reason to believe that Janet felt that way. Grossman revealed no motivation for her behaviour. She existed and acted in a void. Alice was another character that had almost no effect on my reading experience, which is sad because I really wanted to like her. The depiction of characters in general lacked something. They appeared to be three-dimensional but if the reader actually reached out to touch them, they crumbled. I apologise if there’s any other Physicals I’m forgetting but I genuinely don’t remember them so perhaps that speaks for itself.
In order to avoid a ramble I’m going to finish with one last complaint, and it’s a doozy. ‘The Magicians’ should not have been a single novel. There’s enough content for a trilogy, at the very least. By cramming so much into a four-hundred page story, Grossman thoroughly overwhelmed the reader’s senses. I loved the Brakebills experience as it unravelled – I was eager for more. The writing style was concise but flawless and demonstrated a unique mastery of imagery. There were no clichés. My main criticism, before I sifted through the rest of the book, was going to be that the Brakebills’ experience read more like a summary than a novel. Then came Manhattan…and the Neitherworld…and Fillory. Whatever enjoyment the Brakebills’ portion conjured evaporated like it’d never been. From what I’ve heard, the television show might be more to my liking.
The Fillory world-building was sketchy at best, with broad, sweeping statements and vague plot progression that stripped away all the juicy stuff. I like banter and passion and petty arguments in my fiction. Encounters I can sink my teeth into. Encounters that make me laugh, or cry, or sympathise. The only emotion that gets screen-time is Quentin’s incessant pursuit of happiness and his depression at the pointlessness of existence and boy, does that screen-time drag on. Every significant event, every epiphany and every decision seems to be a consequence of Quentin’s never-ending self-pity and while I rolled with it during the Brakebills saga, by Fillory I’d had more than enough. There’s only so much a reader can take.
The novel’s other characters were not that much better. Eliot was a constant favourite of mine, despite his ongoing and ever-escalating drinking problem. I’m interested to see how the sequel approaches his character progression. Josh had redeemable features too but it was impossible to really explore the facets of his personality. The closest look I was given of his inner workings was before the welters game, when he was hiding out in the library, and Quentin very quickly made the whole encounter about him. Penny was my pet peeve from his first scene. Every time he made an appearance I couldn’t take him seriously, even when his Discipline was revealed and he exposed the others to the Neitherworld. Not to say that I didn’t feel the utmost sympathy when his hands were bitten off. That was brutal. Brilliant in terms of dramatic impact but brutal. I liked the ambiguity of his ending – that he disappeared into a building in the City. Janet didn’t make an impression on me at all. Alice insists that Janet hated her from the beginning and pursued Quentin only to one-up her and hurt her, but I don’t see it. Not because it’s not a possibility but because I was given no reason to believe that Janet felt that way. Grossman revealed no motivation for her behaviour. She existed and acted in a void. Alice was another character that had almost no effect on my reading experience, which is sad because I really wanted to like her. The depiction of characters in general lacked something. They appeared to be three-dimensional but if the reader actually reached out to touch them, they crumbled. I apologise if there’s any other Physicals I’m forgetting but I genuinely don’t remember them so perhaps that speaks for itself.
In order to avoid a ramble I’m going to finish with one last complaint, and it’s a doozy. ‘The Magicians’ should not have been a single novel. There’s enough content for a trilogy, at the very least. By cramming so much into a four-hundred page story, Grossman thoroughly overwhelmed the reader’s senses. I loved the Brakebills experience as it unravelled – I was eager for more. The writing style was concise but flawless and demonstrated a unique mastery of imagery. There were no clichés. My main criticism, before I sifted through the rest of the book, was going to be that the Brakebills’ experience read more like a summary than a novel. Then came Manhattan…and the Neitherworld…and Fillory. Whatever enjoyment the Brakebills’ portion conjured evaporated like it’d never been. From what I’ve heard, the television show might be more to my liking.