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raven_morgan's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, I liked this much better than the first book, mostly because of Julia's point of view.
I did have issue with what I felt was unnecessary sexual assault, since that same thing could have been achieved without it.
I did have issue with what I felt was unnecessary sexual assault, since that same thing could have been achieved without it.
lizpace's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
reginas_books's review against another edition
4.0
New review:
It's interesting what a decade will do to one of my favorite books. I think I was able to read this with a more critical eye now.
A lot of people rate the first book, The Magicians, quite low, so it only makes sense that people going on to read the sequel were tolerant of Quentin being an awful sad sack. Lev Grossman understands the deep, dark trenches that a person's soul can sink into and he puts all of that onto paper without pulling his punches. Quentin is depressed, ungrateful, entitled, and he often finds a way to put the blame on other people. And he continues to be unlikable for most of this one too - I only felt sympathy for him in three brief scenes in this book. Lev Grossman excels at lines that are so blatantly jarring that I kept turning the pages, hoping Quentin would just realize how outrageous and dysfunctional he was being. He only just starts to get there by the end of the book.
For me, The Magician King is largely saved by Julia's backstory, which is told in parallel to Quentin's story. Having also watched the TV show, I wish that Grossman had spent a lot more time fleshing out Julia's character. She goes through a lot, far more than Quentin ever realizes, and the turmoil that she experiences is downplayed a lot due to Grossman's disaffected writing. I think the ending of this book would have felt a lot more powerful and uplifting if readers got more time with Julia.
Unfortunately, I think that the narration is told so solidly from Quentin's point of view that it would feel out of place to have done so.
Old review:
So let me tell you about the way Lev Grossman looks at fairy tales: they're not real. If the ending of the story is happy, it isn't really the end. This is a pretty down-to-earth fantasy writer, and in my opinion, his work blooms all the better for it.
The Magicians was puzzling. It left me confused and hungry for more. I couldn't tell if he was poking fun at the genre, or revolutionizing it. In The Magician King, I think it became a little clearer. The writing is casual, the tone disaffected... Grossman writes in some very meta ways, once commenting that Ember's explanation "closes a plot hole quite neatly,"amusingly self-aware.
But The Magician King does more than just shake up our well-known "Harry Potter grows up and meets the real world" formula. There are real characters that Grossman has written, characters to fall in love with, and cry over. And through all of his haphazard writing comes a very real message: We all want to be the champions of our stories, but what are we willing to give up to get there?
It's interesting what a decade will do to one of my favorite books. I think I was able to read this with a more critical eye now.
A lot of people rate the first book, The Magicians, quite low, so it only makes sense that people going on to read the sequel were tolerant of Quentin being an awful sad sack. Lev Grossman understands the deep, dark trenches that a person's soul can sink into and he puts all of that onto paper without pulling his punches. Quentin is depressed, ungrateful, entitled, and he often finds a way to put the blame on other people. And he continues to be unlikable for most of this one too - I only felt sympathy for him in three brief scenes in this book. Lev Grossman excels at lines that are so blatantly jarring that I kept turning the pages, hoping Quentin would just realize how outrageous and dysfunctional he was being. He only just starts to get there by the end of the book.
For me, The Magician King is largely saved by Julia's backstory, which is told in parallel to Quentin's story. Having also watched the TV show, I wish that Grossman had spent a lot more time fleshing out Julia's character. She goes through a lot, far more than Quentin ever realizes, and the turmoil that she experiences is downplayed a lot due to Grossman's disaffected writing. I think the ending of this book would have felt a lot more powerful and uplifting if readers got more time with Julia.
Unfortunately, I think that the narration is told so solidly from Quentin's point of view that it would feel out of place to have done so.
Old review:
So let me tell you about the way Lev Grossman looks at fairy tales: they're not real. If the ending of the story is happy, it isn't really the end. This is a pretty down-to-earth fantasy writer, and in my opinion, his work blooms all the better for it.
The Magicians was puzzling. It left me confused and hungry for more. I couldn't tell if he was poking fun at the genre, or revolutionizing it. In The Magician King, I think it became a little clearer. The writing is casual, the tone disaffected... Grossman writes in some very meta ways, once commenting that Ember's explanation "closes a plot hole quite neatly,"amusingly self-aware.
But The Magician King does more than just shake up our well-known "Harry Potter grows up and meets the real world" formula. There are real characters that Grossman has written, characters to fall in love with, and cry over. And through all of his haphazard writing comes a very real message: We all want to be the champions of our stories, but what are we willing to give up to get there?
charles_dunham's review against another edition
4.0
I wish 4.5 stars was an option for this worthy sequel to "The Magicians. I'm making an effort to be more stingy with my praise so my favorite books can be distinguished from my almost favorite. This book both subverts and enjoys the notion of a classic quest as Quentin accedes to the demands of talking animals and attempts to save a magical kingdom from collapse. Witty and thoughful, this would be story enough, but the dark elements from the prequel come through in the parallel back-story of Julia, who never had Quentin's cozy experience at Brakebills school of magic, who instead took a more tragic route before rejoining Quentin in Fillory. Any adult who enjoys both Harry Potter and David Sedaris is likely to appreciate both books in the series and hunger for more.
themainplantain's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
2.25
lapislazuli159's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-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
4.0
shybane's review against another edition
4.0
It’s a problem I have; sometimes, when I am so close to the end of a novel, about 100-pages or so, I find myself hurrying through the words just to reach the end. I’ll skip over a verb or adjective, or gloss over a paragraph, something maybe important and thus the impact and the heartache of the characters I grew to love over previous 300-pages is lessened. I act as if the words were some sort of obstacle, slowing me from the resolution, instead of something that should be cherished. Words are meant for lingering and because I failed to linger, I lessened the impact of the story. Damn me.
The Magician King is a good book. Very good even. In some ways, it is even better than the first. The pacing is generally even and the pages practically begged to be turned. Fortunately, it is not a "page turner" ala that horrid Da Vinci Code style, where every chapter ends with a cliffhanger. Perhaps, I just love premise of blending real world elements with those of a fantastical realm. It just made me want to know how it ended.
The novel picks up where its predecessor left off. And, for me, has the same feel of the first. The snark is still there. And frankly, it’s the snark that makes these books what they are. More than a few reviews bash Mr. Grossman for his portrayal of disaffected youth. I say it is spot on. These are privileged disaffected youth. Granted, I don’t know many of the privileged class – well, any. But, it just feels right. Less than Zero or Rules of Attraction, welcome to Hogwarts or Narnia. Heroine? Cocaine? Oh, Aslan won’t much approve. But, here in Fillory, Narnia’s neighbor, hell yeah. If Kim Kardashian had two brain cells, I imagine she’d get along rather well with High King Elliot.
Examples: and forgive me my brazen generalization - it seems that youth don’t fully understand consequence (fuck, I’m beginning to sound old… nay, worse… like my dad). Perhaps it's the power of youth; that indestructible feeling where you go headlong, into something without thought of consequence. Even though two years ago, something so tragic happened it almost crippled you emotionally and physically. Disaffected youth - if something of consequence happens, it sits with them, they’ll moan about it and they’ll continue making the same mistakes. It happens every day and why not portray this in a novel, even if it has fantastical elements.
Alas, I have digressed...
I love The Magician King delves deeper into the magicians of the real world. Not just those accepted into Brakebills or Breakballs as those that were not allowed entrance to the fabled Magician’s University - those underground magicians. It’s actually, pretty fascinating and not something I was expecting. This allows the book to become less Quentin’s story and more Julie’s. Julie was the one character never really fleshed out in the first book. Now you will know, and your heart will weep. These are the parts I loved the most and probably why I enjoyed it a smidge more than the first
It ends on a perfect note and while sad, I was nevertheless happy for Quentin. A sequel isn’t as necessary for this novel as it was with the first, but I’m happy to have learned there will be a third. Don’t get me wrong, there was quite an opening for a third Magician. And, thankfully, with his ability to take the reader along for a thrilling ride, I look forward to getting back into Mr. Grossman’s world.
The Magician King is a good book. Very good even. In some ways, it is even better than the first. The pacing is generally even and the pages practically begged to be turned. Fortunately, it is not a "page turner" ala that horrid Da Vinci Code style, where every chapter ends with a cliffhanger. Perhaps, I just love premise of blending real world elements with those of a fantastical realm. It just made me want to know how it ended.
The novel picks up where its predecessor left off. And, for me, has the same feel of the first. The snark is still there. And frankly, it’s the snark that makes these books what they are. More than a few reviews bash Mr. Grossman for his portrayal of disaffected youth. I say it is spot on. These are privileged disaffected youth. Granted, I don’t know many of the privileged class – well, any. But, it just feels right. Less than Zero or Rules of Attraction, welcome to Hogwarts or Narnia. Heroine? Cocaine? Oh, Aslan won’t much approve. But, here in Fillory, Narnia’s neighbor, hell yeah. If Kim Kardashian had two brain cells, I imagine she’d get along rather well with High King Elliot.
Examples: and forgive me my brazen generalization - it seems that youth don’t fully understand consequence (fuck, I’m beginning to sound old… nay, worse… like my dad). Perhaps it's the power of youth; that indestructible feeling where you go headlong, into something without thought of consequence. Even though two years ago, something so tragic happened it almost crippled you emotionally and physically. Disaffected youth - if something of consequence happens, it sits with them, they’ll moan about it and they’ll continue making the same mistakes. It happens every day and why not portray this in a novel, even if it has fantastical elements.
Alas, I have digressed...
I love The Magician King delves deeper into the magicians of the real world. Not just those accepted into Brakebills or Breakballs as those that were not allowed entrance to the fabled Magician’s University - those underground magicians. It’s actually, pretty fascinating and not something I was expecting. This allows the book to become less Quentin’s story and more Julie’s. Julie was the one character never really fleshed out in the first book. Now you will know, and your heart will weep. These are the parts I loved the most and probably why I enjoyed it a smidge more than the first
It ends on a perfect note and while sad, I was nevertheless happy for Quentin. A sequel isn’t as necessary for this novel as it was with the first, but I’m happy to have learned there will be a third. Don’t get me wrong, there was quite an opening for a third Magician. And, thankfully, with his ability to take the reader along for a thrilling ride, I look forward to getting back into Mr. Grossman’s world.
sugarpop's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
aconnors's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25