The Magicians

The Magicians is an interesting book - a postmodern take on Harry Potter and the Narnia books. The main character is highly intelligent, but depressed and lonely. Even when his dreams come true, and he gets to attend a magical school for potential wizards, he discovers that it isn't what he would hope it would be. The main theme of the book seems to be that contentment won't be handed to you, and you should make your own happiness. Or perhaps the theme is ‘wherever you go, there you are'.
Several reviews I've seen complain that despite the book telling us how academically clever Quentin (the protagonist) is, he doesn't seem especially intelligent. However I think Q is very much like some of the super-intelligent people I've met, brilliant at learning, lousy at reading people, social interaction and understanding subtext, and therefore is quite a unusual character in this kind of book.
I liked this book a lot, although occasionally I felt like it was giving me a kicking. Some of it is a bit predictable, but it was an enjoyable read that posed some fascinating questions and successfully brought a level of adult sophistication to an area that seemed to not mesh with that kind of Chabon-esque literature.
8/10