The Magicians

A young man, a senior in high school, is on his way with a friend to an interview for admission to Princeton when he is diverted to a different sort of interview: an entrance examination for Brakebills College, a school of magic. With his acceptance into the college, Quentin Coldwater leaves behind an unsatisfying life where he felt like a misfit and enters a life where he is surrounded by magically talented oddballs like himself. The first half of the book deals with Quentin's time at the college, and the second half involves a magical land called Fillory, which Quentin and his friends thought was only a fictional land from a series of childhood fantasy books.

This is a coming of age novel, but it is not uplifting or heartwarming the way many coming of age novels are. Quentin is a bit world-weary and the atmosphere is dark. Magic does not automatically bring happiness. The challenge Quentin and his friends deal with is to find a meaningful life in spite of not needing to work hard for the basics. In the course of the book they contend with actual monsters and interpersonal relationship problems, and things don't always turn out well.

I enjoyed this and will probably read more of the series.