A review by erikaq
The Magicians, by Lev Grossman
4.0
The book is very much a coming of age story. It borrows heavily from Narnia and yet twists that into something darker and more interesting. The idea of magic school obviously has some conotations of Harry Potter and all of that is fine because by being aware of that, it informs how the book is read and I can see why it's called the adult Harry Potter. It shines in that it is a realistic take on magic and on the consequences that it can have and it doesn't shy away from showing that just like real life, fantasy can have flaws.
Quentin is depressed and listless and his coping mechanism is the Fillory and More books and when it turns out that he can do magic that changes his world and yet it doesn’t thrust him into a different land or world where he can actually do anything with those powers past learn how to use them which in a way makes the whole thing pointless and yet that's exactly what the book is pointing out. We get to see Quentin have the typical college life and after he’s done with school, he really does nothing except to hang out with his friends and get drunk and high. Until Fillory turns out to be real and that changes things.
But going to Fillory and going on a quest is nothing like what he could have expected and the reality is that he and his friends are not prepared to face that but somehow they do and there are concequences to that.
The book does so well at establishing interesting and relatable and broken characters. It deals with an adult take on what it would be like if a fantasy world were real and what that would actually be like especially taking into account the difficult and often complex relationships that adults have with both friends and lovers.
Overall I enjoyed it and I'll check out the sequels.
Quentin is depressed and listless and his coping mechanism is the Fillory and More books and when it turns out that he can do magic that changes his world and yet it doesn’t thrust him into a different land or world where he can actually do anything with those powers past learn how to use them which in a way makes the whole thing pointless and yet that's exactly what the book is pointing out. We get to see Quentin have the typical college life and after he’s done with school, he really does nothing except to hang out with his friends and get drunk and high. Until Fillory turns out to be real and that changes things.
But going to Fillory and going on a quest is nothing like what he could have expected and the reality is that he and his friends are not prepared to face that but somehow they do and there are concequences to that.
The book does so well at establishing interesting and relatable and broken characters. It deals with an adult take on what it would be like if a fantasy world were real and what that would actually be like especially taking into account the difficult and often complex relationships that adults have with both friends and lovers.
Overall I enjoyed it and I'll check out the sequels.