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The Magicians (2009)

by Lev Grossman(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0670020559 (ISBN13: 9780670020553)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Viking

series

The Magicians

review 1: Really really disliked this book. I heard of it when it was suggested for people who loved Harry Potter - and like many other reviews here said, well I will repeat that this label is wrong. I was intrigued when I started the book - but I never caught on to the story. I was always thinking perhaps at some point it would grip me, but it never did. All it did was disgust and disappoint me. I like literature that inspires me to think or to do, or to dream. This was not a book for that.
review 2: Partly a homage to, and deconstruction of, children's fantasy, partially Harry Potter (a magical school, a three-man band with two men, and a woman far more talented and clever than the guys) but mostly of Narnia, with plenty of references to a series of books involving 4 B... moreritish children who stumbled into a fairy land (this time, through a grandfather clock), defeated a witch, and became kings and queens. Unfortunately, part of that deconstruction includes an unlikeable, and somewhat unremarkable, hero. The books begins with some not-so-subtle brooding by our hero over a female friend choosing another male friend over him; the brooding comes back later, involving another (this time magical) love triangle. Apart from one memorable scene at the South Pole, we are mostly told, and not shown, about our hero's magical ability, and he tends to spend major battle scenes paralyzed, cowering on the floor. This is, as noted above, somewhat a welcome deconstruction, but overall, makes the reader wish they could have spent the book in another character's head. Books like The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. have covered the "Millennial Male Treating Others, Particularly Potential Girlfriends, Like Shit" genre quite well; I'm not sure that it needs to start penetrating the fantasy genre as well. less

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