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A review by cjcrowbro
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This book is trying so hard to have a school of magic without being Harry Potter that it forgot to be an enjoyable book to read. Like I get what Lev is going for with this edgy take on magical fiction, but I just simply didnt enjoy it. It isn't necessarily a bad book, I just rank things by whether I enjoy them.
This book has a zany cast of absolute poopheads. Each incredibly unlikable in their own special way. Except maybe Alice. Alice is fine I guess. Quentin is the worst. He's not the worst because he's flawed or depressive, those things are fine, he's the worst because he's a complete a**hole.
My main issue with this book is that it creates an interesting and and wonderous world, and then proceeds to not explore the world really at all. Instead having us explore the mind of a main character who's basically Holden Caulfield but without any of the charm.
Anyways, I can see why people would enjoy this. It subverts a lot of tropes in magical fiction and is very well written. I just didnt like it.
Last thing: this book has the ABSOLUTE WEIRDEST sex scene I've ever read. Like maybe the books I read just keep it real vanilla, but good gravy this one is a doozy. I was wildly uncomfortable.
This book has a zany cast of absolute poopheads. Each incredibly unlikable in their own special way. Except maybe Alice. Alice is fine I guess. Quentin is the worst. He's not the worst because he's flawed or depressive, those things are fine, he's the worst because he's a complete a**hole.
My main issue with this book is that it creates an interesting and and wonderous world, and then proceeds to not explore the world really at all. Instead having us explore the mind of a main character who's basically Holden Caulfield but without any of the charm.
Anyways, I can see why people would enjoy this. It subverts a lot of tropes in magical fiction and is very well written. I just didnt like it.
Last thing: this book has the ABSOLUTE WEIRDEST sex scene I've ever read. Like maybe the books I read just keep it real vanilla, but good gravy this one is a doozy. I was wildly uncomfortable.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content