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tbd24's review
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I rather like this series, this is the second time i’ve read it and there are just really great turns of phrase in the prose. I love world building and this book embraces that times three, the magic system is cool and complicated and the characters are never just good people. Quentin is shitty and obnoxious but like what 17 yr old “gifted kid” isn’t? There’s a few questionable moments, the author loves to make women suffer viscerally a little too much in my opinion, but at least he still remembers to make them people. Overall, it’s a good read and an interesting series
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Excrement, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail
annlilik's review
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-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
3.0
This book had a few racist comments and sexist colorings.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Sexism, Cannibalism, and Cultural appropriation
ksheathebrave's review
It’s abundantly clear what the author’s race/gender and corresponding perspective are within the first few pages of the book, and that perspective dominates at least the first third of the book. The way the author talks about women and POC is uncomfortable and gross to say the least. It’s too bad because the tv series is really great. Book Quentin‘s character may grow as does the TV Quentin but frankly the book is too bad to find out.
As for the writing, the story itself is fine, just slow. The author uses unnecessarily highfalutin language, which constantly takes the reader out of the story (using “gonfalons” instead of “banners” is just obnoxious and makes you sound like a tool).
Won’t be coming back to finish.
As for the writing, the story itself is fine, just slow. The author uses unnecessarily highfalutin language, which constantly takes the reader out of the story (using “gonfalons” instead of “banners” is just obnoxious and makes you sound like a tool).
Won’t be coming back to finish.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
an_library_stan's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
It's a testament to the world building and plot that I overall enjoyed this book despite major issues with the language.
The magic is mysterious, even to the characters. I think it was nice they never really defined it. There were times when this annoyed me. Why didn't they just use magic to do X? I also was confused that sometimes really basic spells took meticulous study, understanding of the magicians' environment and specific ingredients to perform, and other times they just whipped out powerful spells seemingly without needing any of that.
The premise of the magical school and fantasy land and exceptional kids appealed to the part of me that felt like I never found my place in high school. I disliked the boy genius element of this, where it was mostly individual magicians doing genius magic after hard solo study. Kind of the same vibe as Iron Man building a super suit by himself.
My biggest issue with the book was some of the language the author used. It feels dated and cringe even for 2009. The book lives up to the stereotype of male authors writing excessively about women's breasts, including describing some as "gropable." Other sexism like this zinger "She hit like a girl, without any weight behind it, but he hadn't seen it coming to roll with it." Broadly sexualizes most female characters and few of the male characters. Multiple uses of the R word, descriptions of people "rocking autistically", racism towards indigenous people - descriptions of someone as "going native", this line seemingly painting Maori as other than human - "Human, or close to it anyway. Maybe Maori." There's a lot of normalized alcoholism in a friend group and no one really supports each other. Also intimate partner violence with a woman physically and verbally assaulting a man.
The magic is mysterious, even to the characters. I think it was nice they never really defined it. There were times when this annoyed me. Why didn't they just use magic to do X? I also was confused that sometimes really basic spells took meticulous study, understanding of the magicians' environment and specific ingredients to perform, and other times they just whipped out powerful spells seemingly without needing any of that.
The premise of the magical school and fantasy land and exceptional kids appealed to the part of me that felt like I never found my place in high school. I disliked the boy genius element of this, where it was mostly individual magicians doing genius magic after hard solo study. Kind of the same vibe as Iron Man building a super suit by himself.
My biggest issue with the book was some of the language the author used. It feels dated and cringe even for 2009. The book lives up to the stereotype of male authors writing excessively about women's breasts, including describing some as "gropable." Other sexism like this zinger "She hit like a girl, without any weight behind it, but he hadn't seen it coming to roll with it." Broadly sexualizes most female characters and few of the male characters. Multiple uses of the R word, descriptions of people "rocking autistically", racism towards indigenous people - descriptions of someone as "going native", this line seemingly painting Maori as other than human - "Human, or close to it anyway. Maybe Maori." There's a lot of normalized alcoholism in a friend group and no one really supports each other. Also intimate partner violence with a woman physically and verbally assaulting a man.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Racism
rxh05d's review
2.0
If you can make it to the end of this book, you can start to see what Grossman is trying to do with it. The theme of the book is a good one and you can see that Quentin is an unreliable narrator, being self-absorbed and emotionally immature. The problems with the book are 1) it took way too long to get there with a lot of unnecessary stuff in the middle. 2) Plot holes, thin characters, and unnecessary trauma make it appear that Grossman was too enamoured by the *idea* of his book ("what if I took Narnia but satirized everything problematic about it and made it gritty and grimdark?") to actually think through and tighten up his plot. 3) It has copious examples of sexism, homophobia, and ableism (racism too but only by virtue of everyone being white) and it at least appears that these are not caused by unreliable narrator Quentin but are actually how Grossman thinks and believes humans think.
I read this because we're sheltering in place, my roommate had these from the library, and I want to design a d&d campaign set in this world so I wanted to understand the magic system better. But honestly... just watch the show. It's got everything the book doesn't and does a way better job with Quentin.
I read this because we're sheltering in place, my roommate had these from the library, and I want to design a d&d campaign set in this world so I wanted to understand the magic system better. But honestly... just watch the show. It's got everything the book doesn't and does a way better job with Quentin.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, and Racism
Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual assault
ambient's review
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
enjoyable for the most part but definitely slow, the first part reads “slice of life but depressed” with the way nothing happens and just follows studying in Brakebills and discovering magic and such, the action starts off very late in the book, the character development was probably the best part imo in the way sometimes Quentin felt like he was getting worse ? and then he got better and then worse again, not a linear bad-to-good, wished we got more from other characters and not just Q though
the writing’s straightforward and blunt with prose here n there, n there was more than one reference to harry pot which made it feel kinda too try-hard to be “the adult harry potter” (the marketing term itself makes me cringe a little) but it stopped before it became way too much
my worst critique was at times the writing felt stereotypically “man writing women”, had some pretty questionable at best remarks sometimes, but ultimately nice read that moved at a turtle’s pace, the end’s kind of a cliffhanger but will i be picking up the sequel ? ehh
the writing’s straightforward and blunt with prose here n there, n there was more than one reference to harry pot which made it feel kinda too try-hard to be “the adult harry potter” (
my worst critique was at times the writing felt stereotypically “man writing women”, had some pretty questionable at best remarks sometimes, but ultimately nice read that moved at a turtle’s pace, the end’s kind of a cliffhanger but will i be picking up the sequel ? ehh
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism and Sexual content
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, and Cannibalism
doriandelioncourt's review against another edition
The writing is bad and reminds me of a fan fiction with metaphors that are far too forced. Grossman wins the crown for men-writing-women with his unnecessary sexist and even racist descriptions of the character. The gay character is made fun of for his sexuality and slut-shamed (there are rape jokes made on their behalf). The story drags because of the POV. Quentin is a whiny nice-guy protagonist who feels like an author self-insert. None of the characters are likeable, which wouldn't be a problem if their flaws were a focus of the story. All in all this book is a big cringe fest and I would not recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
katreadswaytoomuch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I was really excited to read this because I love the SyFy series, but I was sadly disappointed.
This book is full of misogyny, racism, and ableism. AND IT WAS PUBLISHED IN 2009. It suffers horribly from man-writes-woman.
I also found the MC more unlikeable than he was in the SyFy series. I can’t figure out if that was by design and genius or if it was how the author thinks and distasteful.
I’m so glad SyFy got a hold of this. They really improved the story overall. Don’t bother with the book. Just watch the show.
I still gave it 50/100 because I do like the concept. The characters are meant to be flawed; I love that, but I couldn’t stand the descriptions of female, POC, and plus-sized characters. The plot was really all over the place too.
This book is full of misogyny, racism, and ableism. AND IT WAS PUBLISHED IN 2009. It suffers horribly from man-writes-woman.
I also found the MC more unlikeable than he was in the SyFy series. I can’t figure out if that was by design and genius or if it was how the author thinks and distasteful.
I’m so glad SyFy got a hold of this. They really improved the story overall. Don’t bother with the book. Just watch the show.
I still gave it 50/100 because I do like the concept. The characters are meant to be flawed; I love that, but I couldn’t stand the descriptions of female, POC, and plus-sized characters. The plot was really all over the place too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Cannibalism
Minor: Pedophilia
Racial slurs, man writes womanarchaicgambit's review against another edition
challenging
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
IF YOU LOVE THE SYFY SERIES AND ARE DISAPPOINTED IN HOW IT ENDED, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT read this book.
-Quentin is a huge misogynist in book 1. His character is completely straight. His relationship with Eliot is a friendship that’s kind of homoerotic If u squint, rather than a full blown relationship where they raised a son together. He continually bullies Penny for exhibiting autistic traits. His behavior improves slightly in book 2, where the exploration of his depression is also written better, but the character is still not the kind-but struggling person Show fans loved & mourned.
-Quentin is a huge misogynist in book 1. His character is completely straight. His relationship with Eliot is a friendship that’s kind of homoerotic If u squint, rather than a full blown relationship where they raised a son together. He continually bullies Penny for exhibiting autistic traits. His behavior improves slightly in book 2, where the exploration of his depression is also written better, but the character is still not the kind-but struggling person Show fans loved & mourned.
-everyone is white, whereas the show is racially diverse. Kady, Marina, and other fan-favourite female characters essentially do not exist.
-Janet (Margo) gets maybe 5 seconds of screen time where she seduces Q, and Alice belittles her friendship with Eliot, claiming she must want him sexually for them to be that close.
-Alice is the only decently written female character in book one. But the bar is on the floor. She turns into a dragon during the fight with the beast though, so that's fun.
That said, there IS still some good prose and trolling of JKR. There are a lot of moments where I felt like lev was enjoying how he structured it as a writer even though I didn't enjoy it as a reader, I could like, sort of respect it?
Also the commentary on Narnia that forms the basis for the show is pretty solid. The base elements of what makes the show great are there, they just seriously needed to be fixed (and they were for the most part!)
The new The Magicians comics are being written by a trans woman, so I'm glad it seemed like Lev's learned to respect women since then.
-Alice is the only decently written female character in book one. But the bar is on the floor.
That said, there IS still some good prose and trolling of JKR. There are a lot of moments where I felt like lev was enjoying how he structured it as a writer even though I didn't enjoy it as a reader, I could like, sort of respect it?
Also the commentary on Narnia that forms the basis for the show is pretty solid. The base elements of what makes the show great are there, they just seriously needed to be fixed (and they were for the most part!)
The new The Magicians comics are being written by a trans woman, so I'm glad it seemed like Lev's learned to respect women since then.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Racism and Sexual content
Minor: Gore
deals mainly with themes of mental illness, be careful!