A review by katreadswaytoomuch
The Magicians by Lev Grossman

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I was really excited to read this because I love the SyFy series, but I was sadly disappointed. 

This book is full of misogyny, racism, and ableism. AND IT WAS PUBLISHED IN 2009. It suffers horribly from man-writes-woman.

I also found the MC more unlikeable than he was in the SyFy series. I can’t figure out if that was by design and genius or if it was how the author thinks and distasteful.

I’m so glad SyFy got a hold of this. They really improved the story overall. Don’t bother with the book. Just watch the show.

I still gave it 50/100 because I do like the concept. The characters are meant to be flawed; I love that, but I couldn’t stand the descriptions of female, POC, and plus-sized characters. The plot was really all over the place too.

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