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sparksbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Just like the first book, this books ending was somewhat unsatisfying and yet I was completely satisfied. It broke all protocols of giving happiness at the end of the book and for that I loved it. It seems like the author wants to constantly remind you that life is full of disappointment. Yet, Quentin gets through it and keeps going.
alisarae's review against another edition
The world building and how magic works is so amazing and the concepts are cool and creative and full of potential. But this is such a downer bummer of a series.
graciegrace1178's review against another edition
4.0
I honestly didn’t think I would read this. The first book was okay. Not the best thing, not the worst. Solid writing, and interesting story/well-developed characters, but a bit too aloof for me. Apparently I put this book on digital hold when I placed my hold on the first, and it happened to become available when I wanted a fantasy book. So I read it. And dang.
What I liked
1) Better than the first. This is unusual. I liked the second book better than the first. That NEVER happens. So this book is kind of on a pedestal for me as an example of how to write a sequel.
2) Imperfect endings. The tone was aloof but the THEMES were very real and down to earth. Quentin didn’t get the storybook ending he always wanted. Devastating as that was, it definitely drew me into the next book (which I just put on hold) and made me like Quentin even more.
3) Unexpected twists. So I’ve seen the show The Magicians on Netflix. Awesome show, VERY different from the books. (Tbh I don’t remember the show all that well but from what I DO remember, the books seem pretty different.) That made reading the books basically a whole new plot of surprises! Great thing, that. It feels like a continuation of the show’s universe. (Obviously I know the books came first so it should be the other way around, but I saw the show first.)
4) *SPOILERS* Mood disorder association. Oh, Julia. Dearest Julia. Genius but emotional disturbed bean. I just love the arc of her character and her origin story. The guild of mood disorder/genius characters made me feel so warm and fuzzy. Julia found her people!!! She found her family!! Yea, they might be a little messed up, but they’re all messed up in a way that each member of the guild can (mostly) understand. Julia finally had that sense of belonging she had been searching for. And the very end with the tree...god I’m just so happy for her. Things are finally coming up Julia!!!!!
5) MYTHOLOGY!! Rick Riordan better step aside and make way for Grossman’s mythology analyses. BLESS the allusions in this book. Also I LOVE that some of the MCs (especially Troubled Julia TM) have to research mythology for the plot. Like, understanding mythology was really significant to the story!! FANTASTIC. (My time as a humanities major has strongly impacted my review for this book.)
What I didn’t like
1) Tone. This book still had that tone of aloofness, less than the first, but still there like a veil over everything. That’s great for consistency, more power to Grossman for having a very definable writing voice, but I’m not a huge fan of it. It’s starting to grow on me a bit, but I still prefer a less aloof, more *human* and lighthearted tone.
2) The beginning. Maybe I wasn’t fully paying attention (I had, like, a lot of caffeine and was touring Iceland via Google Earth while reading this part) but the beginning just didn’t resonate with me. I couldn’t get into the groove of the story until probably an hour-ish into it.
EDIT: the copy I read from the library didn’t have an orange cover, and honestly I didn’t want to finish this for fear of breaking the orange streak. SO I am VERY excited that the cover in the Goodreads log is orange. I didn’t even know this book came in orange at all!! Wonderful surprise.
What I liked
1) Better than the first. This is unusual. I liked the second book better than the first. That NEVER happens. So this book is kind of on a pedestal for me as an example of how to write a sequel.
2) Imperfect endings. The tone was aloof but the THEMES were very real and down to earth. Quentin didn’t get the storybook ending he always wanted. Devastating as that was, it definitely drew me into the next book (which I just put on hold) and made me like Quentin even more.
3) Unexpected twists. So I’ve seen the show The Magicians on Netflix. Awesome show, VERY different from the books. (Tbh I don’t remember the show all that well but from what I DO remember, the books seem pretty different.) That made reading the books basically a whole new plot of surprises! Great thing, that. It feels like a continuation of the show’s universe. (Obviously I know the books came first so it should be the other way around, but I saw the show first.)
4) *SPOILERS* Mood disorder association. Oh, Julia. Dearest Julia. Genius but emotional disturbed bean. I just love the arc of her character and her origin story. The guild of mood disorder/genius characters made me feel so warm and fuzzy. Julia found her people!!! She found her family!! Yea, they might be a little messed up, but they’re all messed up in a way that each member of the guild can (mostly) understand. Julia finally had that sense of belonging she had been searching for. And the very end with the tree...god I’m just so happy for her. Things are finally coming up Julia!!!!!
5) MYTHOLOGY!! Rick Riordan better step aside and make way for Grossman’s mythology analyses. BLESS the allusions in this book. Also I LOVE that some of the MCs (especially Troubled Julia TM) have to research mythology for the plot. Like, understanding mythology was really significant to the story!! FANTASTIC. (My time as a humanities major has strongly impacted my review for this book.)
What I didn’t like
1) Tone. This book still had that tone of aloofness, less than the first, but still there like a veil over everything. That’s great for consistency, more power to Grossman for having a very definable writing voice, but I’m not a huge fan of it. It’s starting to grow on me a bit, but I still prefer a less aloof, more *human* and lighthearted tone.
2) The beginning. Maybe I wasn’t fully paying attention (I had, like, a lot of caffeine and was touring Iceland via Google Earth while reading this part) but the beginning just didn’t resonate with me. I couldn’t get into the groove of the story until probably an hour-ish into it.
EDIT: the copy I read from the library didn’t have an orange cover, and honestly I didn’t want to finish this for fear of breaking the orange streak. SO I am VERY excited that the cover in the Goodreads log is orange. I didn’t even know this book came in orange at all!! Wonderful surprise.
sarahetc's review against another edition
3.0
Where to start with this one? With the caveats and addenda: it's the second of three, and the third is not out yet, so don't read this without reading the first one. And maybe read it pretty swiftly after you read the first one, because I read The Magicians a few years ago and while I understood what was happening, I think I might have understood more had I not waited so long between installments.
That said, these are some of the same characters and some of the same story, but The Magician King is definitely not The Magicians. And I think, having slept on it, that the story itself is very disappointing. I know that when I finished the book last night, tired enough to want to finish, but unsatisfied with the ending enough to want it to go on, I was deeply disappointed. Yet I would have read another 200 pages if there were that many to read. Grossman is a strangely compelling author that way.
Or to put it another way, I really don't like his universe. It's undefined, reactionary, seemingly incomplete and full of pouty brats that could get a lot accomplished if they just acted like the grown-ups they claim to be. Further, everyone's insistence that Grossman is the new C.S. Lewis just makes me rage. He may be Lewis-adjacent, but there is nothing Narnian about Grossman's agnostic existentialist onanism. I just cannot comprehend how someone can be the thematic heir to something one is so clearly contemptuous of.
And yet, it was still a good book, despite my personal discomfort with it. And that's because Grossman, for all his philosophical defects, is a writer's writer. Dude can find a voice and stick with it. He can find many voices and write them so intricately that they take on their own timbres in your head. His use of filler words in speech, like "like" is so well done it strikes you-- wait, did I just read someone saying something exactly like I would say it? It's the language, and the poor characters and their dire fates, that keep me coming back.
Structurally the book could have used a serious fine tuning, but at the same time, it worked. Grossman parses out Julia's story to create a sense of tension, and it works, but it was two steps forward, one step back, each time. Her story, and the overall story of the Fillorian/Nietherlands/Magic universe were obviously connected, but I think Grossman could have done it a little better, a little more poetically. I'm sure that, because we're largely limited to Quentin and Julia as narrators, we aren't supposed to actually see the whole picture or understand it. Nevertheless, there's a nugget of greatness there that could have really benefited from a serious polish.
Perhaps all will be clear when book three appears. I hope so. I'm sure I'll read it. Because for all my criticisms, it was a nice book I enjoyed reading.
That said, these are some of the same characters and some of the same story, but The Magician King is definitely not The Magicians. And I think, having slept on it, that the story itself is very disappointing. I know that when I finished the book last night, tired enough to want to finish, but unsatisfied with the ending enough to want it to go on, I was deeply disappointed. Yet I would have read another 200 pages if there were that many to read. Grossman is a strangely compelling author that way.
Or to put it another way, I really don't like his universe. It's undefined, reactionary, seemingly incomplete and full of pouty brats that could get a lot accomplished if they just acted like the grown-ups they claim to be. Further, everyone's insistence that Grossman is the new C.S. Lewis just makes me rage. He may be Lewis-adjacent, but there is nothing Narnian about Grossman's agnostic existentialist onanism. I just cannot comprehend how someone can be the thematic heir to something one is so clearly contemptuous of.
And yet, it was still a good book, despite my personal discomfort with it. And that's because Grossman, for all his philosophical defects, is a writer's writer. Dude can find a voice and stick with it. He can find many voices and write them so intricately that they take on their own timbres in your head. His use of filler words in speech, like "like" is so well done it strikes you-- wait, did I just read someone saying something exactly like I would say it? It's the language, and the poor characters and their dire fates, that keep me coming back.
Structurally the book could have used a serious fine tuning, but at the same time, it worked. Grossman parses out Julia's story to create a sense of tension, and it works, but it was two steps forward, one step back, each time. Her story, and the overall story of the Fillorian/Nietherlands/Magic universe were obviously connected, but I think Grossman could have done it a little better, a little more poetically. I'm sure that, because we're largely limited to Quentin and Julia as narrators, we aren't supposed to actually see the whole picture or understand it. Nevertheless, there's a nugget of greatness there that could have really benefited from a serious polish.
Perhaps all will be clear when book three appears. I hope so. I'm sure I'll read it. Because for all my criticisms, it was a nice book I enjoyed reading.
clueless2119's review against another edition
3.0
This was easily my least favorite book in the trilogy. There is so much to dislike about Quentin in this story that it was a struggle to get through it.
ticklemetiff's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual violence
jobryant's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
baby_got_books_22's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rajs's review against another edition
4.0
While the adventures of The Magician King(s) is entertaining, to me the best part of this book is that it answers the question - whatever happened to Julia?
deckerlj's review against another edition
4.0
I love it when the second book in a series actually manages to be better than the first. Now I need to get my hands on the third one.