What happens when the worlds of Harry Potter and Narnia meet? According to this review, you get The Magicians.
Not my cup of tea but I felt it worth mentioning here.
Not my cup of tea but I felt it worth mentioning here.
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Lev Grossman: The Magicians
- Thread starter sparkchaser
- Start date
Anamnesis
Active Member
It was only okay. Grossman doesn't really flesh out the rules of magic. He often writes they're beyond all understanding. I also thought most of his characters were irksome. Basically they were privileged twenty-somethings with special abilities. Yawn. I get what he was going for, but it would've been nice if I found something to like about his heroes. The last hundred or so pages were my favorite part. That was when the book really came alive for me. Still, critics and fans alike seem to think the sequel is an improvement. For that alone I'll give it a try.
Interesting but still not interesting enough for me to pick it up. 
direstraits
Well-Known Member
The Magicians was one of my absolutely favourite reads of 2009. The blurb got to me - something about Harry Potter in an adult setting. I've always loved rite of passage stories ever since Le Guin's Earthsea, so a coming of age story with lots of magic? Hmm, may be interesting.
Because I had absolutely no preparation of what I was going to encounter, and with no expectations whatsoever, I was very pleasantly surprised with it. Razor-sharp, witty and biting, it was so entertaining that the obvious steals from the world of Hogwarts didn't really bother me (well, the bloody Quidditch clone was very irritating). The focus on the relationships between the characters made the story quite unexpected. The world is dark and frightening, and really explores what happens to you when you find that your childhood fantasies are not only real, it's shit-pants scary and liable to kill you.
Very enjoyable, and the ending was better than I had any right to expect.
However, the sequel, The Magician Kings, sucks eggs. It was as if Grossman was caught off-guard that his book, this pet project, something he wanted to put out there but didn't really expect it to catch fire like it did, was ripe for another round or two of sweet commercial success. Something beer good once said to me a long time ago jumped up at me: you have 20 years to write your first novel, but 2 years to write your second. The contrast was embarrassing.
So go read the first book, but forget the second. Seriously - any book that describes badminton being a leisurely sport played in hell should be flogged.
Because I had absolutely no preparation of what I was going to encounter, and with no expectations whatsoever, I was very pleasantly surprised with it. Razor-sharp, witty and biting, it was so entertaining that the obvious steals from the world of Hogwarts didn't really bother me (well, the bloody Quidditch clone was very irritating). The focus on the relationships between the characters made the story quite unexpected. The world is dark and frightening, and really explores what happens to you when you find that your childhood fantasies are not only real, it's shit-pants scary and liable to kill you.
Very enjoyable, and the ending was better than I had any right to expect.
However, the sequel, The Magician Kings, sucks eggs. It was as if Grossman was caught off-guard that his book, this pet project, something he wanted to put out there but didn't really expect it to catch fire like it did, was ripe for another round or two of sweet commercial success. Something beer good once said to me a long time ago jumped up at me: you have 20 years to write your first novel, but 2 years to write your second. The contrast was embarrassing.
So go read the first book, but forget the second. Seriously - any book that describes badminton being a leisurely sport played in hell should be flogged.
direstraits
Well-Known Member
Yeah, it does seem like an annual jaunt, doesn't it? Thanks and seasons greetings to you and Kat!
Thanks and seasons greetings to you and Kat!Blindsided
Member
I liked it, but there are some parts I wish that would have been a little bit different. It was still good and it made it seem more realistic as to what real college/high school aged people would do with that much power ( drinking and screwing).