The Magician King

This book was much improved over the first ([b:The Magicians 6101718 The Magicians Lev Grossman http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1313772941s/6101718.jpg 6278977]) by moving away from solely following the story of Quentin. In the first story he moped the whole way through even as he was granted whatever he wanted, time after time. This time out, we still follow Quentin in the present but are given the story of Julia in alternating chapter flashbacks which truly create the backbone of the story. Julia is a much better formed character than Quentin and she doesn't make the nonsense life choices that plague Quentin's arc. I'm sure that there's probably another book on the way to tell us more about how Quentin will continue to pout his way through life, being handed everything he wants on a silver platter and finding it all wanting. Unless he becomes a changed character following the final scenes from The Magician King it will fall back to the bland story arc that marred the first book.