The Magicians (The Magicians, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Nov 02, 2018 Debbie rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

A coming of age story targeted to adults that is obviously inspired by Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia. I’ve been waiting to watch the TV series until I could read the book, but I think this might be one of those rare cases where I prefer the show to the book.

Though the writing is good, the main characters (brilliant and rich, we are told) are pretentious little shits who spend their time getting drunk and bitching about how miserable they are.

I already borrowed the next two books, s ...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Julia rated it did not like it

Shelves: ya, scifi-fantasy, audio-books

Whiny anti-heroes bemoan their magic fate. It could have been good, it should have been good, but for me at least it was a dissappointment.

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Jan 31, 2018 Angie rated it it was ok

Oh boy. I'm not even totally sure how to rate or review this one. It kept me up reading late. But I'm not sure it's because I really liked it. I couldn't stop reading it, I think I was hoping for something redeeming in it? But it was just... huh. I don't even know. I read the most succinct and accurate synopsis that went something like "this book was like Harry Potter and Narnia had a baby and sent it to a party college". It really was only similar to Harry Potter in the sense that it was people Oh boy. I'm not even totally sure how to rate or review this one. It kept me up reading late. But I'm not sure it's because I really liked it. I couldn't stop reading it, I think I was hoping for something redeeming in it? But it was just... huh. I don't even know. I read the most succinct and accurate synopsis that went something like "this book was like Harry Potter and Narnia had a baby and sent it to a party college". It really was only similar to Harry Potter in the sense that it was people who could work magic going off to a secret school of magic - but the school was college, and there were no endearing professors, no heroic friends or lovable underdogs, and no butterbeer - just lots and Lots and LOTS of alcohol. And sex. (And ugh why did I keep reading it?) It was only like Narnia in the sense that they went to a strange magical other world where there were talking animals.

The characters were, for the most part, sulky and depressed and selfish and more or less awful. The magical adventures weren't fun or even exciting or scary. The relationships were fluid, interchangeable and icky, and the only one you sort of root for is a bust. There's a story within a story that doesn't feel like it's really important (seems like just a magical pop culture reference) until it's REALLY important to the main story and then you realize you've skimmed through all the earlier references and kind of have no idea what's going on. The book is long. And it's not great. And somehow you just keep reading.

And then there's the language. R-rated to the extreme. But honestly, in this case, even worse than the foul language, I found the vocabulary used throughout the book to be absolutely ridiculous. The author uses words like "obstreperous" and "palimpsest" and "excoriates" and "avuncular" and "confabulated" and "persiflage" and "aeruginous" (and about 30 or 40 more words that I rolled my eyes and kept track of) as if they're just normal, everyday words. And phrases like "back on forth" and "inspite of" made me cranky. The language was PAINFUL.

And still I read it. Somehow the story was engaging enough for me to just keep plugging along, overlooking all the weirdness and awfulness. I can't give it one star because weirdly I didn't hate it, I was just annoyed by it and confused by it yet somehow still engaged. I understand there's a tv show adaptation? I guess the positive takeaway is that I will never be tempted to spend time watching that. ...more

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