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A review by theanitaalvarez
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
3.0
3.5 stars. It was a nice, entertaining read, but I missed a few details. Some parts of the plot were way too fast, and I’d liked the plot to develop more on them. But I guess that it comes from putting five years of education in less than four hundred pages.
This is slightly like Harry Potter, only that the main characters are college students and there’s a lot of sex and drugs around. Actually, there’s a lot of sex and drugs in this book. Maybe that’s why The New York Times called it “an adult Harry Potter”.
Quentin Coldwater is a regular senior living in Brooklyn, NY. He’s hopelessly in love with his friend Julia, and hopes to go to college after graduating. The day he’s scheduled for an interview with the college of his choice (I think it was an Ivy League school, but I’m not sure), the interviewer dies of a heart attack. Somehow, both Quentin and Julia are swept away to a mysterious place where time and seasons are completely different.
There, they learn that the place is called Brakebills, a college for magicians. Yes, magicians. Julia and Quentin have been selected to take a test to get into the school. Quentin passes, Julia doesn’t. This special college doesn’t begin its classes in September, as normal schools in the Northern Hemisphere, but around November or so. So, Quentin decides to remain there until the classes begin (his parents get an explanation, of course, just not the truth). There he meets a guy called Eliot, who is very mysterious and cool. He’s a sophomore in Brakebills, and has a very complicated relation with his family.
When the course begins, Quentin gets quickly used to this new and strange place. Not only that, he excels at it, and some of the teachers use him as an example to his classmates. But there’s also another girl, Alice, who is very proficient at magic.
Quentin, Alice and Penny (a male student who befriends them at school), are set to advance a year in school, if they complete a test. While they study together, Alice and Quentin become closer, and he learns that, unlike him, she wasn’t invited to Brakebill, but found her way in to be tested. That is, apparently, because her brother died there. The three of them talk about the Fillory books (which seem to be somewhat similar to The Chronicles of Narnia, which are Quentin’s favorites. Alice and Penny have also read them, and enjoy them. But Quentin appears to be obsessed with them, believing that there is some truth in them. In the end, both Quentin and Alice pass it, but Penny doesn’t. The poor fellow doesn’t take the whole affair very well and fights with Quentin, saying that he thinks him and Alice are a couple.
One day, while Quentin and Alice (and the rest of their class) are on a lecture, the professor messes up a spell in Ancient Dutch (or something along that line), and a strange creature appears in the classroom, paralyzing the whole class. It eats a girl, Amanda, who tried to fight back, and disappeared.
Later on, Alice and Quentin join a group of specialized magicians, the Physicals (who appear to have powers related to the external world). Alice is part of them (she can control light), and Quentin is sent with them because he doesn’t fit anywhere else. But they get on with the others in the group: Eliot, Janet and Josh, and are close friends with them.
Aftewards, the school sends the whole class (one half goes on the first semester, the second goes the next one) to a branch of the school in the South Pole. There, they learn the true origin of magic (or something like that). And Alice and Quentin begin an actual relationship.
After graduation, Janet, Eliot, and Josh (who have graduated the year before), arrive at school and invite Alice and Quentin to live with them in New York. Sometime after, Penny appears again. This time, with the key to the mysterious kingdom of Fillory. Yes, it exists.
Shortly before he arrives, Quentin and Alice break up. Why? Because Quentin is pretty much a fool and doesn’t think much. So he sleeps with Janet (who’s an interesting character, I’ll say), and of course Alice is having none of his shit.
I think Alice was all in all my favorite character. She was smart, compassionate and very sensible in everything she did. Despite how crazy and messed up her world is, she always acts logically and makes the right choice.
Quentin was a mess overall, but he was quite endearing. There were a few moments in which I wanted to kick his ass, but the crowning moment was when he had sex with Janet. I almost threw my kindle away.
So, they go to Fillory and, of course, they find out that it isn’t such an idyllic country as they thought it was. And that’s all I’m saying about this, because I have already given away too much of the plot.
I enjoyed the book, overall. There are several references to Harry Potter made by the characters, and I had a few laughs. Of course, this is not much like Harry Potter, neither because of the themes, or the tone of the story. The Magicians doesn’t work like you standard heroic fantasy, which I feel is a good change from the usual stuff we get of heroes destined to become so. I like the fact that Quentin has to be stuffed into this new position. I feel that Grossman did a good work with working out young adults issues (sex, university, identity, studies, relationships, future) in a fantastic setting. The world created was smooth and interesting, and I think I might read the rest of the trilogy if I manage to get them. Most of the mysteries were developed and resolves throughout the novel (well, most of them), which is something I’m thankful for. No loose threads here. Nevertheless, the ending has quite a big cliff-hanger, so it’s kind of inevitable to want to keep on reading the series.
I’d totally recommend it, especially if you like fantasy.
This is slightly like Harry Potter, only that the main characters are college students and there’s a lot of sex and drugs around. Actually, there’s a lot of sex and drugs in this book. Maybe that’s why The New York Times called it “an adult Harry Potter”.
Quentin Coldwater is a regular senior living in Brooklyn, NY. He’s hopelessly in love with his friend Julia, and hopes to go to college after graduating. The day he’s scheduled for an interview with the college of his choice (I think it was an Ivy League school, but I’m not sure), the interviewer dies of a heart attack. Somehow, both Quentin and Julia are swept away to a mysterious place where time and seasons are completely different.
There, they learn that the place is called Brakebills, a college for magicians. Yes, magicians. Julia and Quentin have been selected to take a test to get into the school. Quentin passes, Julia doesn’t. This special college doesn’t begin its classes in September, as normal schools in the Northern Hemisphere, but around November or so. So, Quentin decides to remain there until the classes begin (his parents get an explanation, of course, just not the truth). There he meets a guy called Eliot, who is very mysterious and cool. He’s a sophomore in Brakebills, and has a very complicated relation with his family.
When the course begins, Quentin gets quickly used to this new and strange place. Not only that, he excels at it, and some of the teachers use him as an example to his classmates. But there’s also another girl, Alice, who is very proficient at magic.
Quentin, Alice and Penny (a male student who befriends them at school), are set to advance a year in school, if they complete a test. While they study together, Alice and Quentin become closer, and he learns that, unlike him, she wasn’t invited to Brakebill, but found her way in to be tested. That is, apparently, because her brother died there. The three of them talk about the Fillory books (which seem to be somewhat similar to The Chronicles of Narnia, which are Quentin’s favorites. Alice and Penny have also read them, and enjoy them. But Quentin appears to be obsessed with them, believing that there is some truth in them. In the end, both Quentin and Alice pass it, but Penny doesn’t. The poor fellow doesn’t take the whole affair very well and fights with Quentin, saying that he thinks him and Alice are a couple.
One day, while Quentin and Alice (and the rest of their class) are on a lecture, the professor messes up a spell in Ancient Dutch (or something along that line), and a strange creature appears in the classroom, paralyzing the whole class. It eats a girl, Amanda, who tried to fight back, and disappeared.
Later on, Alice and Quentin join a group of specialized magicians, the Physicals (who appear to have powers related to the external world). Alice is part of them (she can control light), and Quentin is sent with them because he doesn’t fit anywhere else. But they get on with the others in the group: Eliot, Janet and Josh, and are close friends with them.
Aftewards, the school sends the whole class (one half goes on the first semester, the second goes the next one) to a branch of the school in the South Pole. There, they learn the true origin of magic (or something like that). And Alice and Quentin begin an actual relationship.
After graduation, Janet, Eliot, and Josh (who have graduated the year before), arrive at school and invite Alice and Quentin to live with them in New York. Sometime after, Penny appears again. This time, with the key to the mysterious kingdom of Fillory. Yes, it exists.
Shortly before he arrives, Quentin and Alice break up. Why? Because Quentin is pretty much a fool and doesn’t think much. So he sleeps with Janet (who’s an interesting character, I’ll say), and of course Alice is having none of his shit.
I think Alice was all in all my favorite character. She was smart, compassionate and very sensible in everything she did. Despite how crazy and messed up her world is, she always acts logically and makes the right choice.
Quentin was a mess overall, but he was quite endearing. There were a few moments in which I wanted to kick his ass, but the crowning moment was when he had sex with Janet. I almost threw my kindle away.
So, they go to Fillory and, of course, they find out that it isn’t such an idyllic country as they thought it was. And that’s all I’m saying about this, because I have already given away too much of the plot.
I enjoyed the book, overall. There are several references to Harry Potter made by the characters, and I had a few laughs. Of course, this is not much like Harry Potter, neither because of the themes, or the tone of the story. The Magicians doesn’t work like you standard heroic fantasy, which I feel is a good change from the usual stuff we get of heroes destined to become so. I like the fact that Quentin has to be stuffed into this new position. I feel that Grossman did a good work with working out young adults issues (sex, university, identity, studies, relationships, future) in a fantastic setting. The world created was smooth and interesting, and I think I might read the rest of the trilogy if I manage to get them. Most of the mysteries were developed and resolves throughout the novel (well, most of them), which is something I’m thankful for. No loose threads here. Nevertheless, the ending has quite a big cliff-hanger, so it’s kind of inevitable to want to keep on reading the series.
I’d totally recommend it, especially if you like fantasy.