The Magicians

2.5. People seem to have very mixed views on this book. The first part of the book is reasonably ok, but the latter part of the book descends into a rambling plot, full of holes, and dull as a dull thing. The writing is mediocre, and the characters all seem to be maladjusted without anything going for them. Particularly the hero Quentin, who is a miserable, odious git.

Ho. Hum. The copy I'm reading is trilogy omnibus edition. Do I carry on and see if it gets better - or worse.

It's hard to know where to start with a book like Lev Grossman's The Magicians. I have never read a book that has given me such mixed feelings. And by mixed feelings, I don't mean “meh, it was ok”. I mean parts of it were absolutely brilliant, so brilliant that I find the main character Quentin is still hanging around in my head. And parts of it made me so mad that I wanted to put the book down and never pick it up again.

The people and relationships that Grossman describes are probably the most realistic I've ever seen in the context of a fantasy novel. The main character, Quentin, is moody, depressed, selfish, and a genius who gets to fulfill the average fantasy reader's greatest dream: Attending a school for magic in place of a normal college. Make no mistake, this is no harry potter tale, because the twist (which isn't really a spoiler to anyone who is old enough to have graduated from college) is that even though his most secret and unrealistic dream comes true, Quentin is still depressed moody and selfish thereby exposing the myth that circumstances can dictate long term happiness.

Grossman subverts the standard “going to magic school for training” narrative in a way that can only be compared to what Alan Moor to does to the standard super hero narrative in The Watchmen. That is, Grossman flips it on its head a tells it in a way that fulfills a lot of the tropes associated with the narrative but because Quentin is so very opposite of Harry Potter a weird upside down sort of tale forms that in the end feels way more realistic. Quentin finds all the magic he could possibly dream of, and it still he can't be happy, or not for long, then he finds his way into the secondary fantasy world he has always dreamed of, and after the shine wears off he is still not happy, not fulfilled, feels a lack of purpose. The hero is supposed to live happily ever after, not get everything he/she ever wanted and then be unsatisfied. It is made even worse from the reader's perspective because you can see the real, meaningful things in his life that Quentin just cannot, or will not, recognize. The unwritten refrain in Quentin's head through the whole novel is “this is not how the story is supposed to go” so he continues searching, thinking there has to be more somehow, somewhere there must be a place where the world is not screwed up, or where Quentin has not screwed it up himself. But by waiting and hoping for that single non-existent something, everything else slips quietly away from him in a bleary haze of booze, and self-pity.

There are a number of brilliant scenes interspersed throughout the novel that show just how deep Quentin's issues go. These scenes, most times, depict Quentin catching one of his friends or acquaintances in their own moments of quiet despair, wrapped in their own self centric narratives. But Quentin is so inwardly focused that he cannot see it. It would force him to recognize that he is not the center of every story. I think these few scenes carry an extra emotional punch because other than this, they seem to have no purpose in the book whatsoever. And so the reader reacts in the same way Quentin reacts, with a little bit of confusion and a lack of understanding, until of course, unlike Quentin, the reader does eventually understand if they are paying attention.
This strikes a number of personal chords with me, and maybe that is why I think this novel is so brilliant. I could almost forgive any writerly sin (and there a few in this book) for the unexpected vitality, and sheer weight and realness of the characters. However, I am not sure I can forgive him for the simple, unsubtle way he has ripped out some major chunks of The Chronicles of Narnia's world and to a lesser extent the Harry Potter universe and plunked them down in his story barely altered. I won't go into too much detail here, but basically Brakebills is the same as Hogwarts with less of a sense of wonder about it, and Fillory basically is Narnia. I would say Fillory is Narnia, but darker, however I think the actual Narnia can be pretty dark on its own in places.

In speculative fiction, it is an often used practice to pull bits and pieces of setting or world building from The Greats and twist them around a little bit before use by an author in a new story. This is fine because usually you can sense that the authors have treated the source material with reverence, and by doing so treats the fandom with respect as well. This comes off to the average genre reader as a nod of respect and gratitude to “those who have gone before”. I can't count how many times I have found references to Kurt Vonnegut, or Harlan Ellison, or any of a hundred other men and women who have made genre what it is today, hidden in some new book that I have recently picked up. And I love it when I find those Easter eggs. It gives me sense of belonging in a way.

I say all of this I guess because if giving a nod to Harry Potter and Narnia is what Grossman did, I would have been absolutely fine with it. Instead, especially with Narnia, Grossman made a blatant copy of it. Right down to the “in between” place as a stopping point on the way to “Fillory”, and only two girls and two boys from our world can be kings and queens of “Fillory”. Fillory just feels very irreverent to the original Narnia, and for some reason makes me feel very protective of the original. I get what Grossman is doing, at least I think I do: If you went to Narnia, it wouldn't be at all the way you imagined it would be. However, I feel that he could have shown this just as easily by making up a world that diverged from Narnia in a significant way.

Anyway, in summary: It's easy for me to see why most of the reviews for this book are either five stars or one star. I am on the fence as well, but I think that in the end, Grossman's skill as a writer wins out.

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.

(Very general spoilers)

“The Magicians” was an interesting twist on portal fantasy. Ordinarily, I don't like the genre because it has been done so many times and I can never stand how the hero always has to, or even wants to, go home at the end of the story. This book uses the “be careful what you wish for” trope in a unique way. I enjoy how Quentin gradually gets all the things he never thought possible, up to and including the portal fantasy of his dreams, and finds all of them eventually give way to the mundane. While Quentin is frequently an unlikable character and untrustworthy point of view, I did identify with his drive to succeed even if he wasn't particularly passionate about the avenue of success. He's driven, but every destination he reaches just drives him right back out. I've heard some people call it an allegory for academia, but I think it's a broader metaphor than that. To me, it's the idea that anything, no matter how wonderful, unique, or unbelievable, can become mundane with enough time.

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.

I really enjoyed this story. I have to admit, instead of finding it charming I was distracted every time another fantasy book was referenced, for me it was a little too blatant to be funny.

But, by the end I was very interested in the story and invested in the well-being of the characters.

Update for second read through

Magicians is exponentially better the second time. Being able to expect the overt fantasy references I was not distracted by them and was instead able to enjoy them.

This was genuinely one of the most grotesquely horrid things I could have picked up to read.
I really love the original series. It's innovative, it's weird. It has a ton of soul. It takes a group of incredibly flawed, unpleasant people and then it manages to break them and build them up and by the end I couldn't help caring about them. It was good. It had this defined mood. Something that worked for me.

This one, though. It feels like the writer only read some sort of a short summary without understanding what the hell the original was doing. One thing about the novels was that magic is hard work. You can't just wing it. It's boring and painful and it kill your soul a little. You grind, you make an effort. You have to be precise. You have to be a genius. Yes, even hedge witches.
Here we have a group of hedges just being allowed in to Brakebills. Why? Dunno. They don't have to take the exam, which was a crucial point in the novels. They don't have to take endless classes, they don't have to study patiently. They don't get sent to some Arctic hellhole to make them even more miserable.
Nah. They “just learnt Latin at a homeless shelter”. They just FEEL magic.
It looks like a spit in the face for the whole idea of how they gain true power in the books.

The magical protection on Brakebills just isn't a thing. Nothing exists. They literally teach battle magic to kids who don't even have the basics, because why not? Especially smart throwing in some kid who supposedly hates that they are even there. “Oh, you hate each other? FIGHT.” Brilliant.

The relationships between people are laughable. The whole thing starts with people kissing each other's ass and telling each other how lovely they are. Fuck off. The Magicians, the REAL ones had complex ways people related to each other. This one has “yassss, you are so GOOD, YAAAAS”.
Also insta love left and right. Two seconds of conflicts about it. Which gets resolved like nothing with 2 lines of dialogue.

What is pacing? We don't need no pacing.

Nor do we need art that looks good in any way. This was unpleasant to look at. The covers made me think this was going to at least be visually okay. Nah, mate. HORRID.

So basically shitty characters, done ugly, doing random illogical things, not following the in universe rules, the conflicts get left at nothing, nothing matters, the mood is ass...

I wouldn't recommend this to any living being.

2.5 stars. I watched the first episode of The Magicians on SyFy - and was really intrigued. A story about adult magicians fighting a terrifying evil. So I immediately stopped watching the series and picked up the book. Well, I was disappointed to say the least. While there were brief instances of adventure and intrigue, the majority of the novel focused on a group of spoiled, ungrateful, morbid group of twenty somethings and how nothing ever made them happy. This is one of those very rare cases where the show is better than the book. I'll stick with that then.

The Magicians is the story of Quentin Coldwater, a Brooklyn native who, instead of going to a prestigious Ivy League, finds himself able to attend Brakebills, a college for magicians. There he meets other young magicians, learns how to use his abilities, and searches for a purpose in life. After finishing school he and his classmates look for a purpose in the wider world, and end up going on a fantastical adventure.

I'd often heard The Magicians described as “Harry Potter for adults.” Well, maybe if Harry Potter were emo. And if Harry Potter wasn't quite so focused on what he was learning at school. And if Harry Potter didn't have really awesome friends. Then sure, maybe. Except not really. Because Harry Potter had a purpose in life - to defeat Voldemort. Quentin doesn't really have a purpose. He wants one, but he can't quite figure out what it is. And, as with many talented people who have skills but no way to use them, he looks for distractions. So, no, it's really not at all like Harry Potter. More like a story about a random Slytherin extra who isn't cool enough to hang out with Draco.

It's funny because the book tends to generate very polarizing reviews, but I somehow seem to fall squarely into a middle ground. There are moments when I completely identify with the characters:

The room filled with the collective rustling of paper, like a flock of birds taking off. Heads bowed in unison. Quentin recognized this motion. It was the motion of a bunch of high-powered type-A test killers getting down to their bloody work. That was alright. He was one of them. p.22

Fantastic. Such a wonderful critique and send up of fantasy classics like C.S. Lewis, T.H. White and obviously newer fare like J.K. Rowling. It seems to answer the question of what people today would do if they were confronted with classical magical worlds. This is a modern book by far but e love of lore shows through in every curse word and every disdainful ennui filled sigh of its very modern characters.

4.5 *

I found the book quite sad and Quentin a very flawed, even unlikeable protagonist. It portrayed the pain of growing up and trying to find your place in the world beautifully, though.
I love the contrast between Quentin's idealized, childish vision of Fillory (from the kid's books he worshipped) and the real Fillory, a dangerous place in the midst of chaos.

Executive Summary: It almost felt like two different books, but I generally enjoyed both of them. I can understand why a lot of people don't however.

Audio book: Mark Bramhall is excellent. This is my first time encountering him, but he's definitely on my short list of great narrators. He does voices and has great inflections when he reads, making me really glad I opted to go the audiobook route despite also owning the ebook.

Full Review
I love the magic school trope. I can't seem to get enough of it. About all I knew coming in was this book had to do with a magic college, and that many people didn't like the protagonist.

I guess I should have read the description. I tend to avoid it though because too many of them seem to provide too much detail about the plot. Really this could be two books.

The first half is totally the magic school trope I was hoping for. The second half is more “traditional” fantasy. I would definitely have liked more of the school. More detail about the magic, the school, etc. What there was I enjoyed however.

Then the book took a turn. The protagonist I was kind of indifferent towards, but was far from hating suddenly became extremely unlikable. And so did the plot. It really makes me wonder a bit about Mr. Grossman. Maybe he could use a hug?

Things got REALLY depressing. If I wasn't doing this in audio, I might have put it down. I'm glad I didn't though. Thankfully this sort middle transition period was fairly short and the second half picked up.

The second half feels like an homage to The Chronicles of Narnia. I know I read some of them when I was a kid, but I was never enamored with them the way Quentin is with Fillory.

I found this second half good, though not as much as the first half. Part of that was how generally unlikable Quentin becomes. I still don't really get why Mr. Grossman felt the need to do do that. Some sense or reality? The popularity of dark fantasy?

I don't need everything to be shiny and happy, but it wasn't even like Quinton is someone you love to hate, or some kind of lovable anti-hero. Really he just depressed me a lot. This book could really stand to be a whole hell of a lot less depressing.

There is a great story here, but it gets bogged down in places that will likely turn many people away from it. For me it was enough to jump right into the second book, which seems to be largely better received than this one is.

2.5 stars God, this was such a disappointment. I picked this book up expecting to love it, and well that did not happen. The characters were flat (and pretty much all depressed and alcoholics. oh joy); there was nothing likable about any of them, the plot was pretty much non-existent. NOTHING HAPPENED, though it picked up a little towards the end. This book was basically a wannabe Harry Potter/Narnia/Lord of the Rings without the awesome.George R.R. Martin described this book as: “The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea.” Um, sure George... If you meant Harry Potter is the shot of Whiskey and The Magicians the glass of weak tea... It makes me angry that people compare it to Harry Potter or describe it as ‘Harry Potter for adults'. Please don't.