The Magicians

Fantasy is typically a genre of escapism—the author creates a little world full of adventure which we, the readers, escape to from our otherwise monotonous, boring lives. The Magicians rejects this premise. Grossman creates a world with parallels to Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia, but this fantasy world fails to relieve the emotional insolvency of the characters and therefore of the reader putting themselves in those characters' shoes. People talk about Harry Potter being a “dark” series towards the end, but this darkness was epic tragedy, a fight to preserve the very fabric of the characters' world. This is unlike the darkness that the average person faces in his/her everyday life. While the struggles of death and destruction are real, the day-to-day struggle of humans is much more basic, much more personal: to find happiness. Quentin, the protagonist, embodies this plight. He grapples with finding happiness, despite being able to literally change the fabric of his own world through magic. These themes resonated with me personally, and I suspect that they will for many other readers as well. This is a different type of fantasy. Readers looking for escapism may not find it here.