The Magicians
Author Name: Lev Grossman
Age Rating: Adult
Star Rating: ✦✦✦✦✦
Genre: Fantasy, Magic, Adult Fiction
Summary
Quentin Coldwater has it all. He is a math genius about to interview for admission to Princeton University, he has two great friends, and his future seems to be ironed out for him already. But all that doesn’t make Quentin happy. Quentin is a dreamer, shown by how he’s always been attached to his favorite childhood series: Fillory & Further. When Quentin’s Princeton interview goes horribly awry, Quentin comes face to face with the possibility that magic is real. In the face of this revelation, how will he deal with the fact that the world is so different from what he thought it was?
Favorite Character
My favorite characters were definitely Janet and Eliot. From far away they represented an untouchable clique, but once Quentin joined their group he realized how they were also broken in some ways because through proximity he got to know them as people rather than the cool images they projected to the world. I think Quentin’s view of those around him paints Janet and Eliot as people who he thought were stars but eventually ended up being painfully human. Quentin doesn’t seem disappointed by how real they are, in fact he seems to like that by knowing them, he has a real friendship with them. Eliot’s past is shrouded in mystery, and so is Janet’s. The two of them are very flawed but hold a dark glamor about them that makes you want to be their friend.
Storyline Development
Quentin is a loser. He has everything and still manages to find a way to be unhappy about it. This is not a slight against his character. In fact, everything felt so gritty and realistic because of Quentin’s perpetual disappointment. Once Quentin excelled, he felt like there was nothing left for him to do. I watched all five seasons of the tv show before ever reading the book. I’m really surprised by the differences between the two. In the book, I could completely understand Quentin’s depression. He would put himself into everything, really focus himself on magic because it felt like the solution to his emptiness and disappointment with the world, but magic couldn’t cure the emotions that he felt. After reading the book I sympathized with Quentin as a character so much more than I did whilst watching the tv show.
Overall, the story’s development felt very fast. We spent a good beginning chunk of the book focusing on Quentin’s school years, but the main conflict of the book did not come until much later, until after Quentin had already graduated. The antagonist of the book felt very mysterious throughout the first book and I hope to see more in the next book.
Worldbuilding
Grossman’s worldbuilding is great! I loved how detailed and real Brakebills felt. In fact, I’ve realized that since i’m too old to ever receive a Hogwarts letter or admission to Ilvermorny I shall wait for the day I get to take the entrance exam at Brakebills. The Physical Kids’ Cottage sounded so homey and nice, I would love to live there! Fingers crossed I get a physical discipline!
My Thoughts
Grossman’s pacing feels perfect. His writing has an acerbic wit that makes him very readable. I could barely put the book down because Quentin’s thought process felt so intriguing to me. The worldbuilding was so familiar because it capitalized off of every person’s nostalgia for the series they read as kids and wished were real. This book made me feel really nostalgic about my younger years reading the Narnia novels and the Harry Potter books. I recommend that every fantasy fan read this amazing book.