Reviews

The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman

kstew1976's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

trnolan's review against another edition

hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A surprisingly good end to the series.  Grossman finally figured out character growth, it just took 3 books. I still think the Syfy series is a better interpretation of the world but this final book isn't as rough as the first two.

thelucindac's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

djmcewen's review

5.0

This was a fun ride. I had no idea where things were going. I could make guesses about certain things but there was so much I couldn't figure out. I think it was tied up in a neat bow where everyone more or less got a happy ending. It was also the only book that gave POV from characters other than Quentin.

If you've seen the show and are looking for details to be fleshed out in the novels, I can tell you that this is so much more. It stands on its own terms. You might find some similarities but the differences far, far out way anything that's the same. If you like the show you will love the novels.

brandidean's review against another edition

4.0

I liked this about as much as the second one. Definitely some things that could have been done better. The part where Quentin turned into a god seemed like a stretch and I still think that Julia's and Penny's characters just didn't make a lot of sense. Also, I'm glad that Alice came back, but ... again, a bit too pat. Or maybe not that she came back, but that she just needed an afternoon to adjust and was fine after that?
But. There were so many great lines in this. I finally had to text one or two to friends because they made me laugh so hard. (I'd been wanting to text more but resisting because I knew it would take some complicated set up. Finally gave up when the unicorns showed up for the final battle: I'm putting down the hearts and fluffy clouds and backing away slowly. Don't want any trouble here. You can have all the rainbows.)
And it's still all swirling around in my head two days later. Enough that I'd read more. Enough that I went to Netflix to check out the TV adaptation. So must have liked it pretty well!

hjswinford's review against another edition

5.0

It's amazing how much better this book was than its two predecessors. The first 100 pages were better than any of the previous books, and it only got better. I don't know if it was the frequent POV shift, the non-chronological storytelling (which wasn't *terrible* in the 2nd book, but it was actively engaging in this book), or if was just that it was get-up-and-go from page one, but I feel like trudging through the first two books was worth getting to this one.

dsloboda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

evoss14's review against another edition

3.0

Although I enjoyed this book, it was my least favorite of the trilogy. I often find this to be the case with trilogies.... The first two books really grabbed me, entertained me and had me hanging on the plot twists. The job of the third book is to tidy up all of the loose ends - which this one did, but the ride is not quite as exhilarating.

toc's review against another edition

4.0

An excellent end to the The Magician's trilogy. Those books kept getting better and better and The Magician's Land is a better ending than any other I anticipated. That's one thing I liked about this series: I kept anticipating the way events would work out and (except in one case) they never worked out that way! Continual surprises were part of what kept me interested. Plus the feeling that "Yeah, if magic were real this is how it would work."

I would jump at any further books in this series with great glee. There's so much left to explore!

pianoman543's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75