sleepylea 's review for:

The Magicians by Lev Grossman
4.0

***SPOILERS***











This book was borrowed from my aunt. It was the copy my parents used to own. My dad never read it, so it must've been my moms. So from the start I was invested just from a personal standpoint .It grabs your attention by starting with weird stuff from the beginning. Slowly easing you into the weirdness that is to come.

I loved the beginning and the end. The school part was very fun to read, and could have been longer in my opinions, just a tad. The part where they go to Fillory was very exciting. Finally learning how the book that seemed so important fit in with the story. I did not like the part where they lived in NYC and just partied and did drugs. It was kinda boring and made the whole world lose its magic. I do understand it though, it makes the change to Fillory even more exciting.

Book one seemed mostly like a setup for the trilogy. An introduction to the world and its magic system, this lacked a lot substance though. The magic system is intense and intricate. But how you learn and become better OA the whole school part is kind of a mystery. It was a lot of ups and downs getting to the resolution, but it did make me curious for the next book. The ending I would have predicted halfway through the book. But you take so many different paths to get there than I expected. That by the end I wasn't sure how it was going to end anymore. But it did make sense. No matter how hard you would try. Keeping himself away from Fillory was never going to work

Most of the main characters were pretty well rounded out. And most of them changed throughout the book.

I sympathized with Quentin part of the time, but most of the time I found him quite insufferable and wanted to beg him to just enjoy the moment or whatever.

Being truly free and happy only as animals.

It was quite fast paced which kept it interesting. I missed a chunk of world building though. I have a good idea on what it looks like, and who the people are. But how the magic system in the world works is still a bit of a mystery.

I love old boarding schools and doorways to magical worlds.