A review by csmall73
The Magician King by Lev Grossman

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

The magician king 

 

Once again the breakbills are experiencing boredom. Even as kings and queens of Fillory, there is no challenge there is no economic crisis to rectify or classism. Effectively landing in a utopian system. 

 

Julia seems to have replaced Alice in the group. Still going through a bit of a mental breakdown even after going to breakbills later on. After becoming a mad hedge which first. Some ongoing depression from hell. 

 

Julia and Quentin stumble back into Jersey blindly. How to get back? Why were they returned? 

 

A strange back and forth between the present pursuit of a route back to Fillory and Julia’s flashbacks to what happened to her off page in the first book. Her spin into loosing her mind and finding the second class magicians that don’t get into breakbills. 

 

Penny resurfaces in the neither land and we meet some new characters. Learning the structure of the worlds and working to keep the loophole in the universe that’ allows them to have magic in the world. 

 

Frustratingly nonchalant throughout. Existential crisis through out. The title seems misleading in how things played out with the magician king.