Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman

4 reviews

madmadmaddymad's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-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

Excellent and well worth the read. I’m a big fan of the Syfy show, and I was expecting some of the beats in this book, but it still had enough twists to surprise me. 

We kind of don’t get to hang out at Brakebills as much, but I kind of like that. This book lets its magical boy grow up. This book lets college be just a small part of life’s adventure. This book really encompasses the whole life of a magician, and made me feel like I was along for the journey. 

I especially liked this book’s treatment of Quentin’s minor mending speciality - and how it turned out to be more essential and meaningful to him than the way the show treated it. Both are emotional moments, but the book really had me on my toes! 

Killing a god has no consequences in the novel. In fact, killing god is the right thing to do - and I wonder, did Asmodeus go on to inherit divine powers? Did she join Julia on the other side of the world? I like that it was left a little up in the air. Hell yes. 

Oh, and Julia? You’re still my favorite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

Moderate: Violence

Minor: War

starsnotshadows's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.5

Maybe I've just got rose colored glasses on, but this book wraps up the story so well that I almost want to go increase my ratings on the first 2 books. Like, the story had to start as it was to get to this point so now I get why things had to be a certain way. The character definition and development is incredibly amazing. Grossman's character definition has always been pretty good, but now at the end of it all, I feel like I can really appreciate it better. The book was still a bit too violent at some points for my taste. But I think I don't care for really any violence, so that's not saying much. I just really liked it! I don't know what else to say, I think the pacing was great, the characters were great, it was all great.

This book splits the storyline between Fillory and Earth a bit, and I think Grossman wove them together brilliantly. I would be getting to the end of a chapter and thinking "please God let the next chapter follow this plot line, I really don't want a cliffhanger right now" and the book seemed to always follow what I was hoping for, so I think the arrangement was handled perfectly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Grief

Minor: Fatphobia, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Animal death

on the fat phobia, there's just a lot of jokes in an internal monologue at the expense of a fat character. and one comment made out loud

lauralintunen's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Grief, Death, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pedophilia, and Rape

ashlightgrayson's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It has been a long journey with all of these characters and I have to say that I am proud of the extent of their character growth and how much I enjoyed this last book. These characters that were so unlikeable and flawed at the beginning of the series, and yet, I can't help but feel proud of them for how far they've come. They all had complete character arcs where they became better people through their experiences. Quentin started off being a selfish and depressed young adult who grew up to be a mature adult willing to make sacrifices for the sake of others. In this last book he finally understands that the things he thought he wanted in life when he was younger are not what would actually fulfill him as a person. We also got more backstory on Janet and it was about time. Despite her tough outer layer she has vulnerabilities and weaknesses and comes off as way more relatable and human this time around. I also love that Janet, Elliot, Josh, Poppy, Julia and Quentin really feel like friends by the end. The ending was also fitting for the world and story and I wouldn't change anything about it. This series definitely stands best when read back to back and together as a whole rather than individual installments. However, the payoff by the end is totally worth it and I highly recommend this series to anyone who is looking for a story with dark magic, realistic flawed characters, and amazingly well done character development.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Death

Minor: Rape

Alice's character arc in this book was probably my favorite part even though it wasn't a huge portion of the story. I think it helped showcase how much pain she underwent while she was gone. I also appreciate that despite this book not being super long, Grossman wrote this subplot in a way that allowed for an adequate amount of time for Alice to experience a fulfilling grieving process. We also got to see how much Quentin has grown as a person while she was was undergoing this moment of vulnerability. Quentin gave Alice space to express her bitterness and anger, but it was also clear that as a man in his 30s Quentin had the emotional maturity to be emotionally supportive for Alice in a way that he would have been incapable of being when he was younger. It's amazing that they get to a place where they have forgiven each other for hurting the other and have a hopeful future together, at the very least as friends with the possibility of being a couple once again.