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A review by justliketitanium
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
3.0
So I watched and even started rewatching the show first (I prefer to read the book after seeing the adaptation these days), and it was really interesting seeing how fundamentally differently the book is structured, as well as the big changes that were made, like casting characters who are white in the books as people of colour.
There’s some outdated/offensive language in the book, e.g. the r-slur appears a couple of times. I didn’t start noticing until halfway through the book, and I’m not sure if it’s to demonstrate that the protagonist is an asshole, or if the author didn’t know any better or didn’t care (it was published in 2009, and I feel like he should have known better). I don’t know enough about the author to make that call, so my assumption is the latter. And also, book Quentin is SUCH an asshole! Like, such a raging asshole that it was straight up unpleasant to read at times.
I know this has been a super negative review, so I do want to say that there’s a lot of really neat stuff in the book, especially for folks who grew up on Narnia and Harry Potter and are interested in a more adult take on magical school and portal fantasy.
This is one of those times I think the adaptation actually surpasses the original (though I should note that I have some not insignificant complaints about the TV show). While I’m eager to continue rewatching the show, I’m not sure I’m going to continue reading the trilogy.…
There’s some outdated/offensive language in the book, e.g. the r-slur appears a couple of times. I didn’t start noticing until halfway through the book, and I’m not sure if it’s to demonstrate that the protagonist is an asshole, or if the author didn’t know any better or didn’t care (it was published in 2009, and I feel like he should have known better). I don’t know enough about the author to make that call, so my assumption is the latter. And also, book Quentin is SUCH an asshole! Like, such a raging asshole that it was straight up unpleasant to read at times.
I know this has been a super negative review, so I do want to say that there’s a lot of really neat stuff in the book, especially for folks who grew up on Narnia and Harry Potter and are interested in a more adult take on magical school and portal fantasy.
This is one of those times I think the adaptation actually surpasses the original (though I should note that I have some not insignificant complaints about the TV show). While I’m eager to continue rewatching the show, I’m not sure I’m going to continue reading the trilogy.…