From the Bookshelf of The Alternative Worlds…

The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

Lev Grossman

Start date: April 15, 2010

Finish date: May 14, 2009

Why we're reading this: Members Choice read for April, chosen by Sarah Pi
[close] Members Choice read for April, chosen by Sarah Pi

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Dec 13, 2012 Maree rated it liked it

Wow this was a long one. I'm not sure if it was just because I got it as an audio book and it took many, many car rides to complete or what. I probably would have been happy with the length if it wasn't so off or on. There were times when what was happening was completely compelling, and other times when I was thinking 'meh' and being bored.

The author of Game of Thrones says on the cover that this book is a shot of whiskey to Harry Potter's cup of weak tea. I can agree with that. There's sex, ad Wow this was a long one. I'm not sure if it was just because I got it as an audio book and it took many, many car rides to complete or what. I probably would have been happy with the length if it wasn't so off or on. There were times when what was happening was completely compelling, and other times when I was thinking 'meh' and being bored.

The author of Game of Thrones says on the cover that this book is a shot of whiskey to Harry Potter's cup of weak tea. I can agree with that. There's sex, adult situations, and alcoholic levels of drinking that HP would never touch. I can also see why Martin would love this book. It's got a plethora of characters and enough pages to fix a seriously wobbly table. But at least in this book, the characters are easy to follow.

I have to admit to being unsure why this book wasn't broken into more books. In HP, we get a book a year. This novel has the entirety of a magician's schooling on top of a lot of testing nonsense to get into the school, summer and winter vacations, and a long time of depression after graduation, followed by adventure and dead end jobs. But apparently there is a series after this as well, so maybe epics are just Grossman's style. But I wouldn't say he's a Rothfuss--the style just doesn't flow to where you get to the end and want more. I don't want to be relieved at the end of the book like I was at this one.

But like I said, there were sparks of genius in the stories. I truly enjoyed the young Alice and Quentin, before they become teenagers and messy. I appreciated the problems they faced as graduated wizards, because really, what would you do once you're thrust back into the real world but have such a serious magical advantage? The analogy applied by Alice's parents was interesting food for thought. And all the magical learning was interesting to hear about, to see the struggles in progress and see Grossman's ideas for enchantments.

I did end up being disappointed in Fillory. I guess I forgot to mention how seriously this book mirrors the Fillory books as Narnia in so many ways. I've read the entire Narnia series, and Grossman obviously has too in the way he's written Fillory to be exactly the same, but with maturity differences and whatever minor changes that are needed to perhaps keep away from copyright infringement (though maybe it was long enough ago it doesn't matter anymore?). I appreciated how the fighting was much more serious than they imagined, having gotten their impressions from a children's book, after all. And while it lost its magic of Quentin and the others, it also lost its magic for me, in that it did all seem like a pointless adventure.

Because really, how great would it be to learn that our favorite fantasy world really exists? That magic is real, and we're one of the chosen ones to learn it? I'm all for those hopeful thoughts, but Grossman moves beyond that in this book, saying that those discoveries don't last long enough to delight for a lifetime. It's a little depressing. ...more

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