The Magician King

Executive Summary: A few minor complaints, but overall another enjoyable entry in this series, and far less depressing. If you enjoyed the second half of [b:The Magicians 6101718 The Magicians (The Magicians, #1) Lev Grossman https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1313772941s/6101718.jpg 6278977], you'll likely enjoy this.Audio book: Mark Bramhall once again does an excellent job narrating, making this a perfect choice to do in audio. Great inflection, and pretty good accents.Full ReviewThis one started a bit slow for me. I wasn't really sure where it was going to go. Once it got going, it didn't slow down again.I think my favorite part of this book was the flashbacks catching us up on what Julie had been up to during the first book. I really like her alternate to Breakbills. It gave me a bit of that “magic school” trope that I love so much despite being essentially the complete opposite.Once again though I think Mr. Grossman takes this a bit too far for a sense of realism or something? Some details of the story would have been better off edited out as far as I'm concerned. I don't feel like they added anything to the story, but that sense of gloomy malaise that bothered me in the first book.Thankfully it's not nearly as constant or as thick. I think Quinton is much more likable in this book than the first. Or at least as likable as he was in the first half of that book. He does seem to have grown up a bit, and be a little less mopey. He still struggles to be happy throughout though.I really like the world building here. I would have liked more detail on things. We still don't really get a good explanation on magic as I prefer. We do get some more background on the universe and magic though.I generally found this book more fun than the first, though I wouldn't go so far as to call this a fun book. This series has definitely gone a different direction than I originally expected from this series, but that's not a bad thing.I'll be curious to see things where Mr. Grossman takes things for the final book of the series.