The Magician’s Land is the epic conclusion to The Magician’s series, and it was epic. Warping time and space, all of our favorite characters get their time in the spotlight during the span of this final installment. The spend time in New York, Fillory, and some other places in between. Grossman does excellent work of wrapping up this series and leaving me feeling fulfilled for the first time throughout the three novels.
Finally, the only real complaint I’ve had with this series was solved. Grossman furthered his character development with all of the ladies in the series, giving them some real depth and strengths. Grossman’s storytelling truly shines in this book. More than in either of the first two books, Grossman lets his writing center around sensations and emotions, and those are beautiful ways to tell a story. I was able to sink back into this story like it was a comfortable old friend telling me about her emotions and perspective of some very sad and very wonderous events.
***SPOILERS BELOW***
Alice’s rebirth was miraculous. I loved how it unfolded, I loved that she stayed true to her character and that Quentin stayed true to his character. I loved that it wasn’t perfect, but it worked. I love that they both had to put more effort in than they wanted to. I loved that the thing that truly brought her back was her sensations rather than Quentin’s words. He wasn’t her hero, but he tried the best he could for her. It was beautiful.
I loved that Quentin let go of Fillory in the end. So often people have regrets and are angry about not being in the places the originally want to be in, even if they’ve outgrown those places. I loved that Quentin had a come-to moment of realizing that many of the places he had once found to be home and wanted to be his no longer fit him. So Quentin moved on. He found what was important to him and was able to continue building his journey forward towards some of his goals.
One tiny detail that irked me was how Plum and Quentin’s relationship was always questioned to be romantic, or at the very least sexual. Why does everyone always assume that Quentin’s relationship with women was purely sexual? It irked me that Grossman continually returned to asking that same, unnecessary question. Plum had more to offer than just that.
The conclusion truly felt appropriate, as though all the conflict that had been introduced was now resolved, all loose character ends relatively wrapped up. Thank you for that, Grossman.
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