Reviews with content warning for Cannibalism - The Magicians

Parts of this book are strange, parts are not fun, but overall? I had a great time listening to this first installment. The audiobook is really good; the narrator is sarcastic and doesn’t take much too seriously, which fits the tone. Quentin is kind of insufferable, but I ended up rooting for him and especially his friends. I’m excited to read the next one; I think it’ll be stronger. I really enjoyed the pacing of the book, and the different places the story went. I also appreciated the way the author didn’t shy away from gory descriptions and intense emotions when necessary. Overall, it’s a lot of fun.

Content Warnings

ambient's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

lauralintunen's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

katreadswaytoomuch's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

More...