A review by nytephoenyx
The Magician King by Lev Grossman

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really, really enjoyed this (as expected). It got its hooks into me because I finished this over a week ago and I am *still* angry about the ending. It's a great ending in a writing sense - I was so wrapped up in everything else the possibility didn't occur to me. But it's strong and dramatic and sets up *so many* questions for the next book and in that way, it's brilliant. I haven't seen much of the show, so the content is still new and exciting for me!

My biggest qualm is the way Julia's story was handled. There's an aspect to the general journey that I understand, but her critical moment was absolutely unnecessary and could have been handled without sexual violence.

Otherwise, this book had a great sense of urgency, a lot of appropriately frustrating moments that kept me engrossed as a ready, and the right balance of magic and not to be compelling without feeling impossible (in its setting).
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