The Magicians
Lev Grossman
August 2009
416 pages
Publisher Comments:
A thrilling and original coming-of-age novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world.
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.
He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.
At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.
I’m having a hard time figuring out how I feel about this one. For the first third I felt like I was revisiting Hogwarts. Only it was a Hogwarts where the kids were edgier and liked to drink. Then the last part of the book was highly reminiscent of Narnia. Only in this Narnia, sex happened. So it ended up being kind of like children’s fantasy for adults. You know…you’ve read the G version of the story and you suddenly discover that there is an R version, too.
Also, I found Quentin’s self-absorption a bit tiresome. The dude managed to place blame everywhere but on himself.
Despite all this, I will confess to a tiny, silent *squee* when I found out that Grossman is writing a second book. Maybe because Quentin was just starting to come to his senses and I’d like to see him make something of himself?
I just realized I have similar feeling about Gregory Maguire‘s books. You know the ones? The retelling of the Wicked Witch’s story, Snow White’s story, and various other fairy tales. On the one hand, kudos for their and success and creativity. On the other, can’t you make up your own world?
What do you think? Is it a cop-out to co-opt another author’s world? Or do you think it’s a way of honoring what has already been done?
I think it’s a way of honouring it more than a cop-out. I haven’t read this yet, but in the case of Maguire’s Oz, re-imagining it probably took as much creativity as imagining a world from scratch would – with the added effort of dealing with the all expectations and cultural associations surrounding Oz. That can’t have been easy. But yeah, in case you can’t tell, I really really loved Wicked
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I typically would not read fantasy, however, this book really appealed to me for some reason. Good to hear there will be a sequel. thanks for the review.
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I think it’s a way of honoring a big source of income.
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I just got this book and hope it doesn’t leave me feeling like that. I’m hoping to love it!
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I got this one…started reading it…then put it down :/ I’m really hoping that it picks up because the first 20 pages really just didn’t grab me at all. I’m going to go back to it and hope that it does though. If you let out a tiny squee about a sequel, even with a few complaints it can’t be all that bad
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If it is done well, it can be a form of honor I suppose. It’s interesting that you got excited about the upcoming book.
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Just like with movie re-makes it’s too hard to generalize. I think you have to read/watch both the originals and the re-imaginings and judge each movie/book separately. Sometimes they feel like total rips, but other times you can almost feel that the more modern author is styling themselves after something beloved.
Anyways, I like your review and how you say it’s an edgier Hogwart’s. I’m one of the very few people who disliked the Potter books (good story, but the characters were too peachy-keen), so I can see that I would probably enjoy this book.
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THE MAGICIAN’S is on its way to me … I’ll let you know how I feel about the book after I read it.
As far as imitation/based-on books … I think it’s flattering, and honoring. Look at all the books/movies based on Jane Austen’s work.
Imitation is not always bad — a gazillion romances have the exact same plot and they sell like hotcakes! Anyway, I’m holding off offering an opinion until I read it. My book club is reading it in November, so you’ll see a handful of reviews about then.
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I’ve been really curious about this one. I heard an interview with the author on NPR where the author mentioned that his two main influences for this book were The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. From your review, I see it shows.
I probably will read this one at some point. Thanks for the great review!
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I really want to read this… I might buy it during my next visit to the bookstore!
I echo the others; I think it’s more of a honour. And, I love fairy tales retellings!
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I can’t seem to make up my mind about the retelling of stories. I am not particularly crazy about them on one hand but on the other hand I think it all depends not on what story you write about but on how you write about it. Sometimes the retelling might be better than an original, although I can’t exaclty come up with any instances right about now Lol!
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I see your point … why not create your own world instead of “borrowing” anothers tried and true success? Unless the writer does a really bang-up job of creating fresh characters and a new spin, I’m not down with that. And I love a good “squee.”
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This sounds like an interesting read!
I was so excited about reading this book, but have since seen several average reviews for it. I can’t decide whether to give it a go now. I don’t mind the author adopting worlds from other books as long as the plot holds it all together. Your “squee” makes me sway towards picking it up though.
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