From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

Lev Grossman

Start date: March 2, 2013

Finish date: March 31, 2013

Discussion: Books of the Month

Why we're reading this: To get to the discussion, ClICK HERE.

You voted and this won for March's Adult Paranormal/Urban Fantasy/Sc…more
[close] To get to the discussion, ClICK HERE.

You voted and this won for March's Adult Paranormal/Urban Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Fantasy BOM.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 163 topics — 23,383 comments total

Books of the Month

* The Names by Florence Knapp - Sep 25 Adult / Non-Fiction BOM (starts 16 Sep)
By Moderators of… , Challenger-in-Chief · 15 posts · 89 views

last updated 2 hours, 13 min ago

* The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese - Sep 25 Theme BOM - South and South East Asia (Starts 5 September)
By Moderators of… , Challenger-in-Chief · 39 posts · 74 views

last updated Sep 16, 2025 09:01PM

showing 10 of 96 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Dec 22, 2010 Kevin Xu rated it it was ok

Shelves: re-read

I feel like this book has too many tropes and cliche of all the mainstream fantasy books all wrapped up in one. I hope maybe the sequel will be better. Overall, the book was not worth the time to read it. First, the author comes from this high New York mind set that only New Yorkers are better than others, even better, add both Harvard and Yale into the mix. (one of the reason the New York Times and the media love this book) To me what I hate most about this book is that he had to copy from Harr ...more

63 likes · Like · see review

May 11, 2011 Morgan rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, fiction, witches-and-wizards

This should be entitled:

FIRST WORLD WIZARD PROBLEMS (THE WHINY LITTLE BITCH CHRONICLES #1)

Oh I'm so ~*~speshul~*~ and smarter than everyone, but it's not enoughhhhhh why isn't magic reeeeaaaalllllll? I want to go to ~~NARNIA~~ Fillory!

Followed by:

Oh I'm so ~*~speshul~*~ and magic is real and I'm a unique snowflake that defies classificationnnnnn, BUT IT'S STILL NOT ENOUGH THIS MAGIC IS NOT THE MAGIC THAT I WANTEDDDDDDDDDD. WHYYYYYY IS EVERYTHING SO LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME?

You can't see me, but I'm m ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Jan 02, 2016 Michelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, 2016, audiobook, science-fiction, fantasy

Brakebills. It's like Hogwarts, but for college students. And less fun.

Quentin, who grew up obsessed with the magical land of Fillory (*Narnia*), is suddenly whisked into Brakebills College to develop his unknown skills in magic. Quentin is a magician--not the greatest wizard who ever lived, but he seems to do a fair job once he's had some training. But he's insufferable and I hate him. He is the poster child for poor decisions. Every time I thought I couldn't hate him more, he does another bon ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Apr 24, 2012 Vicky rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, series-maybe-finish, setting-united-states-ne, zz-cover-color-green, zz-cover-color-grey, z-author-american-usa, own-ncc-overdrive-ebook

The Magicians is an interesting book and, to be honest, I've tried to write this review about five times and haven't quite figured out what to say about it.

If I had to sum it up, I would say that The Magicians is a more realistic take on a magical world. Often times in fantasy we see happy places, heroes and heroines that are chosen ones, good overcoming evil and everyone living happily ever after. Not unlike the saying money doesn't buy happiness, The Magicians is a fable-like tale that teaches ...more

1 like · Like · see review