The Magicians (The Magicians, #1) in Overdue Podcast

Oct 03, 2016 Hannah rated it liked it

I thought this book started great. You meet Quentin Coldwater, an aloof genius who has never quite fit in. On his way to his college interview, he stumbles onto a school for magic and is told that he is going to take the entrance exam. He gets in and what follows is a great description of magic school, meeting different types of magicians, and adapting. It's like a Harry Potter for adults.

I didn't really care for Quentin and that did make it harder to read. He spent a lot of the book being unhap ...more

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Jun 28, 2018 Jaime Leigh rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooks

3.5. While I really enjoyed the story and writing, I just feel like the story progression worked better in the show. It slows it down and works Julia and Penny's stories into the timeline at the same time as the others. Still, I'm reading the second one. ...more

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Dec 12, 2015 Jason rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own

Even in the world of magic practitioners you can not outrun yourself.

Grossman does something that I have never seen before, he introduces realistic, if somewhat depressingly so, human nature to a world of fantastical magic. This story is dark and messy. All parts of life go on at the same time in fits and starts whether you want it to or not. This story does bring the reader to some places that are predictable, but the routes that it takes to get there and the internal conflicts are repeatedly ...more

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Sep 08, 2019 Jenny rated it did not like it

Nearly DNF @ 35%, but stuck with it out of stubbornness. I can appreciate what Grossman was trying to do with this book, and he brought a lot of interesting different threads and ideas together in this novel, but it really did not work for me. Just too much going on plot wise, and way too long to be forced to spend in the POV of shitty, annoying characters who, 25 chapters later, continued to be the worst.

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May 10, 2015 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015

I've listened to this book twice now and enjoyed it both times. I think if I'd read it, I would have quit halfway through because Quentin is so insufferable, but listening to the story, the dark humor of his self obsession is clearer. I plan on listening to the rest of the trilogy soon! ...more

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Oct 31, 2023 Valerie Brett rated it it was ok

Ugh! Such potential but such an awful book. Horrible misogynistic main character with no redeemable qualities. I guess I get the idea of realistically portraying the horror a magical/fantasy world would be like but no thank you

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