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A review by tenasadie
The Magicians: Alice's Story by Pius Bak, Lev Grossman, Lilah Sturges
4.0
Quentin, your average, depressed, college-bound young man, suddenly gets zapped into the fantastic world he's always dreamed existed. It's wonderful, but wait, it's not! Just kidding, it really is wonderful. And then, two sentences later, it's not.
I won't lie - I really did enjoy this novel. Grossman pulls everything together so neatly, sends you down all the right paths to get all the best endings, and gives us characters with so much potential. Some characters do end up achieving this: Alice and Eliot are given epic, larger-than-life roles. Grossman pushes poor, pathetic Quentin out of the way, and at times, I'm really glad he did. I found myself comparing Quentin to Holden Caufield on multiple occasions, and every time, regretting it more and more. This isn't "Harry Potter" for adults. This is Harry Potter for all those completely disillusioned with their world and can find no way to escape it. Well, that may be a lie. Physically, they can, but mentally, they can never escape it. Hence my enjoyment - Grossman's commentary on the human condition is superb. His execution of this, however, falls short. In my (unprofessional) opinion, Quentin was not the right vehicle for this, or was written to be far more miserable than was required of him.
I also really, strongly disliked how hard he seemed to be beating down on J.K. Rowling's interpretation of magic. Both Lewis' and Tolkien's are deemded acceptable, but hers is always a second-rate show. Magic wands are training wheels? Phony Latin spells? Need I say more? He even undermines this through Quentin's epiphany that magic is whatever you make of it, and whatever you want it to be. Heh?! This bore so many similarities to "The Chronicles of Narnia", but I found that they were refreshing updates and added to the "Narnia graduates" that this novel has been heralded as. The Neitherlands are a brilliant contrast to the pleasant forest we find ourselves in in "The Magician's Nephew", and Eliot's snarky remarks about kindly fauns made me giggle. Penny's fate and the Neitherlands left me perfectly content and almost wishing that Penny were, in reality, naught but a hamster wearing a yellow ring around his middle.
The story of the Chatwins was such a marvelous addition to this novel as a whole. I want to read these "Fillory and Further" stories for myself! Their connections to the story only serve to give it a painful reality that magic isn't always for the betterment of society, and it can corrupt even the best of persons. Martin's story line and Jane's meta-role made me smile at how perfect they were; how perfectly flawed every bit of their characters was. I ache to find out more about them. Martin marks the first character in a very, very long time that legitimately creeped me out; every bit of him was so unsettling and wrong that I love Grossman for it.
My final problem lies in the last chapter. Suddenly, everything is okay again! Huzzah! I had to re-read the last chapter a second time to properly follow the sequence of events. So much was shoved into those last few pages! I know that no one wants the curse of something being long and drawn out past its welcome, but with all of Quentin's previous moping sessions, I would have liked to see some more depth to our parting with him. But, alas, we'll have to wait. And Julia! I cannot help but be annoyed at her sudden reappearance. How did Eliot and Janet track her down? What purpose does she serve, aside from something else for Quentin to sing the blues about? (The answer: none; she's apparently the only person in the world more miserable than he!) Oh well.
All in all, this was worth the read. I'm excited to see what comes in "The Magician King"; if this was was the first installment, I have no doubt that the second will only build on its excellence. Well done, Grossman, well done. (Now, if you could write the Fillory books, we'll all be squared away!)
I won't lie - I really did enjoy this novel. Grossman pulls everything together so neatly, sends you down all the right paths to get all the best endings, and gives us characters with so much potential. Some characters do end up achieving this: Alice and Eliot are given epic, larger-than-life roles. Grossman pushes poor, pathetic Quentin out of the way, and at times, I'm really glad he did. I found myself comparing Quentin to Holden Caufield on multiple occasions, and every time, regretting it more and more. This isn't "Harry Potter" for adults. This is Harry Potter for all those completely disillusioned with their world and can find no way to escape it. Well, that may be a lie. Physically, they can, but mentally, they can never escape it. Hence my enjoyment - Grossman's commentary on the human condition is superb. His execution of this, however, falls short. In my (unprofessional) opinion, Quentin was not the right vehicle for this, or was written to be far more miserable than was required of him.
I also really, strongly disliked how hard he seemed to be beating down on J.K. Rowling's interpretation of magic. Both Lewis' and Tolkien's are deemded acceptable, but hers is always a second-rate show. Magic wands are training wheels? Phony Latin spells? Need I say more? He even undermines this through Quentin's epiphany that magic is whatever you make of it, and whatever you want it to be. Heh?! This bore so many similarities to "The Chronicles of Narnia", but I found that they were refreshing updates and added to the "Narnia graduates" that this novel has been heralded as. The Neitherlands are a brilliant contrast to the pleasant forest we find ourselves in in "The Magician's Nephew", and Eliot's snarky remarks about kindly fauns made me giggle. Penny's fate and the Neitherlands left me perfectly content and almost wishing that Penny were, in reality, naught but a hamster wearing a yellow ring around his middle.
The story of the Chatwins was such a marvelous addition to this novel as a whole. I want to read these "Fillory and Further" stories for myself! Their connections to the story only serve to give it a painful reality that magic isn't always for the betterment of society, and it can corrupt even the best of persons. Martin's story line and Jane's meta-role made me smile at how perfect they were; how perfectly flawed every bit of their characters was. I ache to find out more about them. Martin marks the first character in a very, very long time that legitimately creeped me out; every bit of him was so unsettling and wrong that I love Grossman for it.
My final problem lies in the last chapter. Suddenly, everything is okay again! Huzzah! I had to re-read the last chapter a second time to properly follow the sequence of events. So much was shoved into those last few pages! I know that no one wants the curse of something being long and drawn out past its welcome, but with all of Quentin's previous moping sessions, I would have liked to see some more depth to our parting with him. But, alas, we'll have to wait. And Julia! I cannot help but be annoyed at her sudden reappearance. How did Eliot and Janet track her down? What purpose does she serve, aside from something else for Quentin to sing the blues about? (The answer: none; she's apparently the only person in the world more miserable than he!) Oh well.
All in all, this was worth the read. I'm excited to see what comes in "The Magician King"; if this was was the first installment, I have no doubt that the second will only build on its excellence. Well done, Grossman, well done. (Now, if you could write the Fillory books, we'll all be squared away!)