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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
dark
Wasn't the biggest fan of this book, but it had a good beginning and at least brought up interesting topics to discuss among my friends.
I have tried to read this twice and both times it’s lost my interest halfway through. For some reason, I can’t make myself push through.
I finally gave up on trying to finish this book. The characters are insufferable and there are several passages that actively made me feel insufferable for the sole purpose of reading them. I think the best part was when they all turned into geese and started honking and shitting on people
adventurous
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
Loved it! Takes the fantasy genre in a new direction. Unique story telling with a Catcher in the Rye kinda feel.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As much as I hate to admit it, I missed the Harry Potter boat. When the first book came out I remember seeing a news story about it and buying it. I read it, passed it on to my kid brother and eventually read the second novel as well. By then, however, I was graduating high school and starting college and there were other things to read and lots of things to do. I have always felt like Hogwarts came along just as I outgrew it. Now, I know that adults everywhere love Harry Potter, and I too am a fan of the characters (even though I haven't read any more of the series). I still feel, however, that if it had just come along at a different time...
Maybe that's why I felt so drawn to the characters in Lev Grossman's The Magicians. What Grossman gives us is a fantasy novel where reality breaks through at every seam. The protagonist, Quentin, is whisked away to a school for magic called Brakebills where he meets other magical students and spends the first half of the book exploring the campus and magical-arts. Sound familiar? Brakebills, however, and its students, are a far cry from the whimsical world of Hogwarts. There's sex, drugs, booze, and depression mixed in with the fact that magic is f*$#ing hard! Quentin goes through the same things all students go through when they realize that Animal House was just a movie (for most of us anyway...or at least those of us who graduate) and that college takes some work and certain sacrifices.
Animal House, however, was never Quentin's fantasy. What fuels his opinion of what magic should be is a series of Narnia-like books called Fillory and Further. The second half of the novel explores some very interesting points largely having to do with what real life is like for characters who have spent the past five years at a magical school. Turns out that there are not very many jobs like the Weasley's have in the Potter books. Quentin and his friends face the shock and disappointment that many college graduates do when they leave the hallowed halls of academia and find a very different world that they must now inhabit.
Fortunately...or perhaps unfortunately for Quentin, the real world is soon spiced up by the discovery that Fillory is real - and he and his friends have a way to travel there.
Written in a clear and innovative voice, Grossman's novel is a wonderful read and made me think long and hard about fantasy and reality and the danger of getting what one wishes for. The mixture of Harry Potter and The Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caufield is as natural as it is unexpected. With a sequal to be released in the next month, I look forward to catching up with these characters and finding out just where life has led them.
Maybe that's why I felt so drawn to the characters in Lev Grossman's The Magicians. What Grossman gives us is a fantasy novel where reality breaks through at every seam. The protagonist, Quentin, is whisked away to a school for magic called Brakebills where he meets other magical students and spends the first half of the book exploring the campus and magical-arts. Sound familiar? Brakebills, however, and its students, are a far cry from the whimsical world of Hogwarts. There's sex, drugs, booze, and depression mixed in with the fact that magic is f*$#ing hard! Quentin goes through the same things all students go through when they realize that Animal House was just a movie (for most of us anyway...or at least those of us who graduate) and that college takes some work and certain sacrifices.
Animal House, however, was never Quentin's fantasy. What fuels his opinion of what magic should be is a series of Narnia-like books called Fillory and Further. The second half of the novel explores some very interesting points largely having to do with what real life is like for characters who have spent the past five years at a magical school. Turns out that there are not very many jobs like the Weasley's have in the Potter books. Quentin and his friends face the shock and disappointment that many college graduates do when they leave the hallowed halls of academia and find a very different world that they must now inhabit.
Fortunately...or perhaps unfortunately for Quentin, the real world is soon spiced up by the discovery that Fillory is real - and he and his friends have a way to travel there.
Written in a clear and innovative voice, Grossman's novel is a wonderful read and made me think long and hard about fantasy and reality and the danger of getting what one wishes for. The mixture of Harry Potter and The Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caufield is as natural as it is unexpected. With a sequal to be released in the next month, I look forward to catching up with these characters and finding out just where life has led them.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated