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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
I’m not a fan of the writing style. There were a few instances where two of the characters would be in an argument, and then without explanation they’re making out or making up without context of how they got there.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
[Review contains spoilers]
This book killed me. I've never struggled so hard with reading a book. I already bought it so abandoning it wasn't possible for me. And I was hoping it would get better.
I have to preface this by saying I LOVED the TV Show and that's why I wanted to read the books in the first place. But let me tell you: The show took everything that was good and interesting from the books and made it better and everything that was shit they just cut out, good for them! Don't read this book, especially if you're a woman, you will get annoyed to no end, believe me. Just watch the TV show.
Onto the book... Let's start with the positives! I LOVE "The Beast" what an interesting villain, though again the TV show did him better, especially with the moth design. The book has a... uh... tree branch. Unfortunately he only appeared shortly in the beginning and at the end. But the end fight was really good and Alice redeemed herself in my eyes, though I'm still flabbergasted that after everything she took Quentin back... Girl... Love yourself. Anyways, that was all. Now onto everything else...
I hate Quentin. And I'm sure that's not a controversial take, but I don't think it's Quentin's fault. TV Quentin was fine and book Quentin IS relatable at times especially when it comes to his depression, BUT... The absolute obsession with tits is ridiculous. This man mentions breasts at the weirdest fucking times and I'm 98% sure this is not a Quentin trait, this is an author trait. Believe me, you'll get an eye for this, the classic game of: The authors barely disguised fetish. When Quentin had to talk about how Alice's mothers breast popped out of her shirt and she tucked it back in............ I died. I closed the book and just wanted to be done with it! I have never taken so long to read a book, but this author mentions tits at an alarming frequency and it took me out of the book every time. And please don't try to cope for the author by saying "waah it's an ADULT book and Quentin is a man so it's just realiiistic". Yeah, yeah. Miss me with that bullshit. Quentin is also incredibly hypocritical and maybe that trait was more deliberate but annoying nonetheless. He was the first one to cheat but whinged about Alice sleeping with Penny like a damn toddler. And then after the fight where he called her a little mouse and whatnot he KISSES HER LMFAO? And the book has the audacity to cut away from the scene and never speak of it again. So Quentin behaves like a goddamn incel and Alice takes him back off screen.
Alice did surprise me when she stood her ground and called Quentin a pussy lol and then beat him up. Alice quickly rose from a spineless pick me to a formidable foe, especially at the end with her fight against The Beast. Kind of funny how Alice is a much better and more interesting character than Quentin.
I also have to mention the pacing was somehow... off for me? It was very slow in the beginning and not much happened and I was wondering damn when do we get into the actual story. About halfway into the book we finally slowly got into it, THANK YOU PENNY. Also the antarctica incident...... Alice and Quentin as foxes having their first time? Which was kind of not really consensual since they were animals with base instincts... and afterwards Alice just says "You deserve nice things to happen to you, Q". GIRL WHAT DO YOU MEAN. CAN WE PLEASE TALK THIS OUT? No? Just... Gonna ignore it... Like everything else.
All I'm saying is: Quentin gives big incel vibes, Alice deserves better, Eliot and Janet were criminally underused, and I shudder to think what poor Julia will go through in the next book. I'm warning you Quentin, leave Julia alone with your creepy little hands.
This book killed me. I've never struggled so hard with reading a book. I already bought it so abandoning it wasn't possible for me. And I was hoping it would get better.
I have to preface this by saying I LOVED the TV Show and that's why I wanted to read the books in the first place. But let me tell you: The show took everything that was good and interesting from the books and made it better and everything that was shit they just cut out, good for them! Don't read this book, especially if you're a woman, you will get annoyed to no end, believe me. Just watch the TV show.
Onto the book... Let's start with the positives! I LOVE "The Beast" what an interesting villain, though again the TV show did him better, especially with the moth design. The book has a... uh... tree branch. Unfortunately he only appeared shortly in the beginning and at the end. But the end fight was really good and Alice redeemed herself in my eyes, though I'm still flabbergasted that after everything she took Quentin back... Girl... Love yourself. Anyways, that was all. Now onto everything else...
I hate Quentin. And I'm sure that's not a controversial take, but I don't think it's Quentin's fault. TV Quentin was fine and book Quentin IS relatable at times especially when it comes to his depression, BUT... The absolute obsession with tits is ridiculous. This man mentions breasts at the weirdest fucking times and I'm 98% sure this is not a Quentin trait, this is an author trait. Believe me, you'll get an eye for this, the classic game of: The authors barely disguised fetish. When Quentin had to talk about how Alice's mothers breast popped out of her shirt and she tucked it back in............ I died. I closed the book and just wanted to be done with it! I have never taken so long to read a book, but this author mentions tits at an alarming frequency and it took me out of the book every time. And please don't try to cope for the author by saying "waah it's an ADULT book and Quentin is a man so it's just realiiistic". Yeah, yeah. Miss me with that bullshit. Quentin is also incredibly hypocritical and maybe that trait was more deliberate but annoying nonetheless. He was the first one to cheat but whinged about Alice sleeping with Penny like a damn toddler. And then after the fight where he called her a little mouse and whatnot he KISSES HER LMFAO? And the book has the audacity to cut away from the scene and never speak of it again. So Quentin behaves like a goddamn incel and Alice takes him back off screen.
Alice did surprise me when she stood her ground and called Quentin a pussy lol and then beat him up. Alice quickly rose from a spineless pick me to a formidable foe, especially at the end with her fight against The Beast. Kind of funny how Alice is a much better and more interesting character than Quentin.
I also have to mention the pacing was somehow... off for me? It was very slow in the beginning and not much happened and I was wondering damn when do we get into the actual story. About halfway into the book we finally slowly got into it, THANK YOU PENNY. Also the antarctica incident...... Alice and Quentin as foxes having their first time? Which was kind of not really consensual since they were animals with base instincts... and afterwards Alice just says "You deserve nice things to happen to you, Q". GIRL WHAT DO YOU MEAN. CAN WE PLEASE TALK THIS OUT? No? Just... Gonna ignore it... Like everything else.
All I'm saying is: Quentin gives big incel vibes, Alice deserves better, Eliot and Janet were criminally underused, and I shudder to think what poor Julia will go through in the next book. I'm warning you Quentin, leave Julia alone with your creepy little hands.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
The Magicians reads unfortunately like a pastiche of the Narnia and Harry Potter worlds. It is unfortunate because Lev Grossman is not an unskilled writer, and the narrative does hold your attention. But ultimately this attempt at mature fantasy is doomed by its lack of originality.
The Harry Potter reference was made soon after publication, by Michael Agger in the New York Times in a review titled "Abracadabra Angst":
And that, perhaps, is the novel's biggest disappointment. The Narnia stories are charming, as they're written as fables for children that can still be appreciated by adults. The Harry Potter books are enjoyed by millions of all ages. But Grossman's world, though ostensibly more "adult" (his Brakebills school is for college-age kids), relies on the same types of childish fantasy as the childlike Narnia, and his protagonists seem hardly more mature than Harry and his friends.
In short, it would have served the story better if both the protagonists and the magic world were more mature.
The Harry Potter reference was made soon after publication, by Michael Agger in the New York Times in a review titled "Abracadabra Angst":
Grossman has written what could crudely be labeled a Harry Potter for adults. He takes the rudiments of that story — an alternate society of magicians bumpily coexists with our own — and injects mature themes.The Narnia parallels involve the world of Fillory, which is replete with anthropomorphic animals (including god-like creatures). The comparisons to Rowling and Lewis are inescapable, and Grossman does little to differentiate his world from theirs.
And that, perhaps, is the novel's biggest disappointment. The Narnia stories are charming, as they're written as fables for children that can still be appreciated by adults. The Harry Potter books are enjoyed by millions of all ages. But Grossman's world, though ostensibly more "adult" (his Brakebills school is for college-age kids), relies on the same types of childish fantasy as the childlike Narnia, and his protagonists seem hardly more mature than Harry and his friends.
In short, it would have served the story better if both the protagonists and the magic world were more mature.
It makes me sad that all the reviews of this novel refer to it as "Harry Potter for maturer audiences."
Yes, there are magicians, and yes, they are trained at a magical school. But what saves this from Harry Potter's shadow is a) that it is set in a modern world where the Harry Potter books exist, and the author and the characters are aware of Harry Potter's existence ("Drawn by thestrals." "Where are the broomsticks?"), and b) that this book is far more concerned with a pseudo-Narnia book series known as Fillory and Further, than it is with anything else. This book reminded me more of a modern, twisted [b:The Chronicles of Narnia|11127|The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)|C.S. Lewis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1449868701s/11127.jpg|781271] or [a:Raymond E. Feist's|8588|Raymond E. Feist|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1190654917p2/8588.jpg] [b:Magician|2417730|Magician|Raymond E. Feist|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|2960376] than it did of Harry Potter.
The beginning chapters also reminded me of [b:It's Kind of a Funny Story|248704|It's Kind of a Funny Story|Ned Vizzini|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420629730s/248704.jpg|240980], as main characters in both are depressed genius-level high school kids that live in Brooklyn, with a pair of best friends that are dating, the female of which the main character has a crush on.
Yes, there are magicians, and yes, they are trained at a magical school. But what saves this from Harry Potter's shadow is a) that it is set in a modern world where the Harry Potter books exist, and the author and the characters are aware of Harry Potter's existence ("Drawn by thestrals." "Where are the broomsticks?"), and b) that this book is far more concerned with a pseudo-Narnia book series known as Fillory and Further, than it is with anything else. This book reminded me more of a modern, twisted [b:The Chronicles of Narnia|11127|The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)|C.S. Lewis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1449868701s/11127.jpg|781271] or [a:Raymond E. Feist's|8588|Raymond E. Feist|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1190654917p2/8588.jpg] [b:Magician|2417730|Magician|Raymond E. Feist|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|2960376] than it did of Harry Potter.
The beginning chapters also reminded me of [b:It's Kind of a Funny Story|248704|It's Kind of a Funny Story|Ned Vizzini|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420629730s/248704.jpg|240980], as main characters in both are depressed genius-level high school kids that live in Brooklyn, with a pair of best friends that are dating, the female of which the main character has a crush on.
a clever but problematic book. the main topic/idea of the book deals with the paradox of power. it’s a fast paced book with lots of stuff happening. lots of adversities and adventures. unfortunately, every single character in this novel is abysmal, disgusting and horrible. and not in a ‘you love to hate’ kind of way. but rather a capricious/annoying child kind of way. the characters have bizarre reactions to events that are incongruous to the story. it all felt like a horrible parody and distortion of a fantasy adventure.