The Magicians

As much as I enjoyed the first part of the book when the characters were at the school, I have to give this book a lower rating because the second half of the book just didn't cut it for me. As unexpected as the twists were it still wasn't enough to satisfy my want for the second half to match the first part of the book in quality.

The story of a quasi-sociopathic high school cretin who mouth-breathes his way into an exclusive fantasy club of anhedonic wizards - replete with bad writing and worse story-telling.

Enjoy.

In the beginning I really enjoyed it. But it got to be a chore. It was unrelentingly depressing. The main character went from quirky to downright unlikable. (The supporting characters weren’t much better.) Kind of like Harry Potter from the POV of alcoholic Slytherins. (Though, to be honest, there was very little Harry Potterish about this story.) It did, however, seem to have a VERY heavy helping of Narnia. The story just sort of meandered through the increasingly depressing life of Quentin Coldwater with very little direction. I may give the next one a try, I haven’t really decided. Might have to cleanse my palate with something less depressing first.

****3.5****

First in the series "

The Magicians" by Lev Grossman is often compared to Adult Harry Potter. If you like HP, then you will definitely love Magicians. I was hugely disappointed by this book, maybe whoever publicized this book, did a very wrong job. You can't compare something with exceptions. Harry Potter is an exception , a stand-alone series, which cannot be even copied or get influenced. So please stop comparing these series with HP.

“It's time to live with what we have and mourn what we lost. ”

The Magician's is in it's own a good book. It was average read for me. Quentin Coldwater is plucked from his normal-boring-teenage life to Brakevilles, the magic school in the vicinity. He as child had always loved the idea of magic and was a huge fan of "Fillory", a fantasy world from the story books. His days in Brakevilles teaches him magic and he also makes friends, Eliot (snobbish), Janet( Gossipy), Alice(Knowledgeable/awkward), Josh(Comic), Poppy(secretive) etc etc. Their days together is just like any YA novel, except there are some incidents that has the mention of magic in it, but nothing much. By the end of this book, Quentin knows that Fillory is real, and he is one of the Kings.

“The truth doesn't always make a good story, does it? ”

There are so many problems in this books, the reasoning is bad. No connection between certain events and no proper explanation. As per the blurb, Quentin is a big-great magician, but he is more ordinary. Everything is a bit unclear.

“The problem with growing up is that once you're grown up, the people who aren't grown up aren't fun anymore.”

As the concept of the book was not new to me but the author, his style was new. Characters were ok, not so strong. Good StoryLine. But a bit messy narration. This book did NO magic on me. But maybe it might for you :)

Happy Reading!!

I thought it was ok. I liked the plot but at the same time it was like he took a bunch of popular kids stories/ideas (ie Narnia, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings) and added emo kids, and sex. I mean I enjoyed the story but I kept getting bogged down in the language and the depression. On the whole it was ok.

The main problem I have had with this book is that I was in a mood for something much lighter, brighter and easier and not so dark and serious. Otherwise, it is a really good reading.

The book is recommended as Harry Potter for adults. But really, I don't see the similarity. Oh, of course, the main character is Quentin, a young boy who discovers that the magic exists and he starts to attend a secret school of magic. But that's all in fact.

First, Quentin is much older than Harry, and his thoughts and problems are completely different. He is also a pessimist or even deals with depression. That makes the whole story quite sombre. Also, the story is lacking action. There is a plot but there is no action except for the last few chapters. It doesn't meant that the book is boring, it's just that there is no purpose behind many of the events.

I will probably read the other books in this series one day but definitely not now.

I was 4 hours in and bored to death. Absolutely nothing happening. So boring & disappointing because I need to find a new urban fantasy series that is interesting.

The writing style is very good. But sadly the other books in the series become boring after a while.