A review by laurie_n_bookland
The Magicians by Lev Grossman

2.0

I have to mention, before I read the first book in the series, that I watched the first season of the show The Magicians, which inevitably caused me to read this book. I usually don’t, but it was on Netflix, and we were bored one night and decided to start watching it. That being said, what can I say about this book? I can start by saying that this book is the definition of being, "ehh, it was okay." It was not mind-blowingly spectacular, like the premise seems to promise. Quentin Coldwater is in his senior year in high school in the book and he is the typical depressed genius, obsessed with finding a better path for his life then just the usual, which I could relate to, sort of. Then this school of magic, Brakebills, finds him and accepts him into the fold, and he gets to learn magic, and all of that stuff, finding out that it’s harder than he thought it was, but just as rewarding. You’d think he’d start being more happy, and upbeat, riiight? Nope, he’s just as depressed and sad as usual, just with magic involved. I think that’s part of what put me off of this book, is that no matter how good it gets for Quentin, he is constantly depressed, and looking for a different escape route from his current life. I think my favorite character in this book was Eliot, since he put on so many airs to pretend that he doesn’t care about anyone, but you find that he really does he have a heart, and he’s a sarcastic bitch at the same time. I just kind of wish that they have given us more background on some of the characters, like what Julia was doing while Quentin was at Brakebills. I mean I know what happened, because of the show, but had I just read the book, and not watched the show, I would have been wondering the whole fucking time. All and all, I gave this book a 2/5 stars.