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A review by acton
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
4.0
This story gets off to a slow start, but I didn't mind, because Grossman's writing style is very pleasing. Also, he did need to make clear that the main character, Quentin, was bored and depressed, as well as very bright and academically ambitious.
Without rehashing the the synopsis already provided, I'll say that Grossman's novel does stand on the shoulders of earlier fantasy works, but with a difference: this tale has an existential message. Quentin thinks that certain things will bring him happiness, but he discovers that life is not so easy.
As a young boy, Quentin becomes obsessed with a series of fantasy books about a land called Fillory, an allusion to Narnia. I was once attached to those books, and really enjoyed this nod to C. S. Lewis. (I, too, wondered why Lucy, Susan, Peter, and Edmund couldn't stay there forever.)
Since this is not a young adult book, sex, alcohol, and violence do happen.
Just a note: late in the book, Grossman used the expression "howling fantods." I like to think this is a nod to David Foster Wallace.
I enjoyed this quite a bit, and would certainly recommend it.
Without rehashing the the synopsis already provided, I'll say that Grossman's novel does stand on the shoulders of earlier fantasy works, but with a difference: this tale has an existential message. Quentin thinks that certain things will bring him happiness, but he discovers that life is not so easy.
As a young boy, Quentin becomes obsessed with a series of fantasy books about a land called Fillory, an allusion to Narnia. I was once attached to those books, and really enjoyed this nod to C. S. Lewis. (I, too, wondered why Lucy, Susan, Peter, and Edmund couldn't stay there forever.)
Since this is not a young adult book, sex, alcohol, and violence do happen.
Just a note: late in the book, Grossman used the expression "howling fantods." I like to think this is a nod to David Foster Wallace.
I enjoyed this quite a bit, and would certainly recommend it.