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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
I started reading Lev Grossman’s The Magicians a month ago and gave up, convinced Chuck Palahniuk had taken a penname in order to rewrite Harry Potter for a generation of post-adolescence men who liked the idea of untapped magical powers but couldn’t abide the wide-eyed wonderment of those kiddie tales.
I should have given it a longer look, though, because it turns out The Magicians was actually fine with wonder thank you very much, and was simply trying to preserve its dignity: Potter is the kid running ahead of everyone at the tour of the chocolate factory, pointing at things and shouting joyous descriptions of them. The Magicians is the slightly embarrassed older sibling, wondering if he is too old to be there, hoping he doesn’t see anyone he knows, and in spite of himself still pretty taken by the surroundings. (I’m not sure who Palahniuk would be on this tour, but afterward he’d smoke cheap cigarettes in front of people and leave a Hunter S. Thompson book lying somewhere conspicuous) Anyway, the point is it’s impossible to separate The Magicians from Harry Potter, because they’re on the same tour – they’re both modern novels about a young man suddenly attending wizard academy. Plus, Grossman invites the comparison, first with allusions and then eventually, as though bored with the games, having characters just talk about quiddich and compare one another to Hermione.
On occasion, this works to The Magicians’ advantage: Grossman seems to take issue with fantasy’s sometimes ironic lack of imagination – Potter, after all, is a series where characters can do almost anything but are generally happy to remain teachers and bureaucrats – and counters with a world that is far stranger, far more miserable and probably more realistic. More often, the referencing underscores just how heavily The Magicians leans on its predecessor. Grossman is able to breeze through four years of wizard school in half a book because we already know what wizard school looks like (a lot of dotty old men animating household objects, The Magicians confirms). To a degree, The Magicians is a vine that ascends to the canopy only by winding itself around the trunk of some sturdy nearby tree.
But that’s selling the novel a little short, because there are some wonderful scenes, including a particularly unsettling one in a classroom that surpasses anything I’ve previously read depicting the frightening bizarreness of a world in which magic exists. Most astonishing is how compelling the characters are, since, on paper, they ought to be the opposite. Grossman (essentially) ponders what would happen if you granted sorcery unto the drama kids at a bourgie New York City prep school. Well, they’d probably mope a lot and have sex and drink things like grappa and sherry while sniffing about having finally escaped their uncultured, beer-swilling Oregonian relatives. Even so, you are invested in them. By page 70, I was worried about Julia who (I checked) had accumulated a total of five lines of dialogue to that point. You can hate them if you want; Quentin seems to have been written for that. But if you don’t feel something toward him and Alice, well, this is where we part ways.
I should have given it a longer look, though, because it turns out The Magicians was actually fine with wonder thank you very much, and was simply trying to preserve its dignity: Potter is the kid running ahead of everyone at the tour of the chocolate factory, pointing at things and shouting joyous descriptions of them. The Magicians is the slightly embarrassed older sibling, wondering if he is too old to be there, hoping he doesn’t see anyone he knows, and in spite of himself still pretty taken by the surroundings. (I’m not sure who Palahniuk would be on this tour, but afterward he’d smoke cheap cigarettes in front of people and leave a Hunter S. Thompson book lying somewhere conspicuous) Anyway, the point is it’s impossible to separate The Magicians from Harry Potter, because they’re on the same tour – they’re both modern novels about a young man suddenly attending wizard academy. Plus, Grossman invites the comparison, first with allusions and then eventually, as though bored with the games, having characters just talk about quiddich and compare one another to Hermione.
On occasion, this works to The Magicians’ advantage: Grossman seems to take issue with fantasy’s sometimes ironic lack of imagination – Potter, after all, is a series where characters can do almost anything but are generally happy to remain teachers and bureaucrats – and counters with a world that is far stranger, far more miserable and probably more realistic. More often, the referencing underscores just how heavily The Magicians leans on its predecessor. Grossman is able to breeze through four years of wizard school in half a book because we already know what wizard school looks like (a lot of dotty old men animating household objects, The Magicians confirms). To a degree, The Magicians is a vine that ascends to the canopy only by winding itself around the trunk of some sturdy nearby tree.
But that’s selling the novel a little short, because there are some wonderful scenes, including a particularly unsettling one in a classroom that surpasses anything I’ve previously read depicting the frightening bizarreness of a world in which magic exists. Most astonishing is how compelling the characters are, since, on paper, they ought to be the opposite. Grossman (essentially) ponders what would happen if you granted sorcery unto the drama kids at a bourgie New York City prep school. Well, they’d probably mope a lot and have sex and drink things like grappa and sherry while sniffing about having finally escaped their uncultured, beer-swilling Oregonian relatives. Even so, you are invested in them. By page 70, I was worried about Julia who (I checked) had accumulated a total of five lines of dialogue to that point. You can hate them if you want; Quentin seems to have been written for that. But if you don’t feel something toward him and Alice, well, this is where we part ways.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really liked this book but the main character is kind of terrible. Also I really like the writing but there are some phrases that really come across as “written by a man”, which is why I gave it a lower rating. The audiobook narrator is phenomenal!
adventurous
dark
funny
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-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
I think this book was better than I'm giving it credit for. It just had the very bad luck to enter my life at the worst possible time
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pretty good novel about magican-academy students in which everyone has flaws and the "hero" has a fair bit of douche in his psyche. Can't wait to read the rest....
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really wanted to like this more than I did. I like the idea and might pick up book two to see if I like it any better.