The Magicians (The Magicians, #1) in NBRC: Tower Teams Read 2013, Round II

Aug 29, 2015 Carrie rated it liked it

Shelves: library, witches, fantasy, urban-fantasy, magic, wizards, magicians, magic-school

I strongly hoped I would fall in love with this book, as I had heard it was like Harry Potter only more adult. I will give it a hat tilt, it did have some comparisons. We have a magical school, a school sport (no flying brooms mind you.) It even had different "houses", so to speak. These being the groups you wind up in after your discipline is figured out.

What I hadn't heard about The Magicians was the Narnia aspect of it. Because Fillroy = Narnia.

So like I was saying, my hopes were high. But s I strongly hoped I would fall in love with this book, as I had heard it was like Harry Potter only more adult. I will give it a hat tilt, it did have some comparisons. We have a magical school, a school sport (no flying brooms mind you.) It even had different "houses", so to speak. These being the groups you wind up in after your discipline is figured out.

What I hadn't heard about The Magicians was the Narnia aspect of it. Because Fillroy = Narnia.

So like I was saying, my hopes were high. But sadly love did not come to me. That feeling of warmth and tingles failed to make an appearance. I did however like and enjoy aspects of the book.

I was turned off at times, one of these times was all the swearing. I can't say all but some of it. Don't get me wrong I've read many a tale with cursing, heck I can swear like a sailor myself at times. My point is that it didn't feel right. The flow, it felt fake at times.

Another turn off was Quinton, our main dude. He at first I found likable but then as the story continued on he just got on my nerves. I kept on thinking okay he'll redeem himself now....pages after pages later, I was still holding on to that hope. There's always book 2? Right??

While I'm on a roll, let's continue. For sure I thought there was going to be storyline and characters just forgotten about, and to some degree they were. They were bloody well just left simmering in the back, meanwhile I was thinking, gah did the author forget? Apparently he never, but I'm still in the dark. Book 2 will light my way? Right??

Now don't get me wrong I did say I liked and enjoyed aspects. I'm a sucker for magic schools, I love the magical world, I'm drawn to the mage class. So of course I would at least like the book. The storyline was able to hold my attention disbite any of the negatives I have pointed out. So for the better part of it I was happy. I will read book 2, I have to, unanswered questions and the what not.

3 star rating:
-.5 stars for the fake feel of the swearing.
-1 star for the my unhappiness with Q
-.5 for almost letting things simmer away to nothing. ...more

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Jan 21, 2010 Michael rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2010, read-in-2017, re-read

For most of his life, Quentin Coldwater has used the Fillory (think Narnia) books to escape the doldrums of his everyday life. Now at the age of seventeen, Quentin has been given a chance he never dreamed he had -- magic is real and he can become a magician.

Instead of heading to a mundane, normal college, he enlists at Brakebills, a university of magic and begins training. The one thing the books never included was that becoming a Magician is difficult, tedious work and nowhere nearly as excitin For most of his life, Quentin Coldwater has used the Fillory (think Narnia) books to escape the doldrums of his everyday life. Now at the age of seventeen, Quentin has been given a chance he never dreamed he had -- magic is real and he can become a magician.

Instead of heading to a mundane, normal college, he enlists at Brakebills, a university of magic and begins training. The one thing the books never included was that becoming a Magician is difficult, tedious work and nowhere nearly as exciting as depicted in the novels.

Lev Grossman's The Magicians follows Quentin and a group of students during the course of their studies at Brakebill's. Rather than having one book equal one year of Quentin's life, we're treated to the highlights of his magical training -- from the semester spent in Antartica to the rather odd magical game played among his school and others. The episodic nature of Grossman's novel ensures that Quentin and the reader never get entirely comfortable with how things are going, including when Quentin and his love interest Alice test out of some of the first year and are moved up to second year early.

The Magicians is an homage to the epic fantasy novels, shows and movies of the past all while throwing in a bit of subversion along the way. I've seen the series described as Harry Potter for adults and, I suppose, that's true. But only at the most superficial level. Grossman clearly knows and has respect for her predecessors, even as he's subverting our expectations at every turn and taking the mickey out of multiple fantasy series and tropes all at once. (I'd love to see him take a swing at Robert Jordan or George R.R. Martin).

The world of The Magicians is easy to get lost in, though I can't necessarily say that I have much desire to enter the pages of the book like Quentin would love to jump into his beloved Fillory novels. And if you're looking for a book where you'll adore all the characters, you'd better keep on looking. Most of our heroes aren't exactly likeable -- they're flawed, warped and utterly human. And maybe that's what sets this book (and hopefully series) apart from other entries in the fantasy world. ...more

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Jan 06, 2017 Kim rated it did not like it

I've had this book for a while now, and for some reason just never picked it up. I was bored one day and surfing netflix, I found that season 1 was on for viewing, I started watching and got sucked into it. I'm patiently waiting for season 2 to start now. In the meantime, why not read the actual books?

This is the one and only time you will probably ever, EVER see me write this. The tv show was a bajillion times better.

This book was nothing but depression and unhappiness and almost seemed like i ...more

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Apr 30, 2015 Jane rated it liked it · review of another edition

I liked the magic part of this book. That doing magic is a lot of hard work and repetition upon repetition. What I didn't like is that it seemed that drinking excessively and doing drugs is not a huge problem and the main character is more or less unhappy about his life the whole way through. Also it got on my nerves all the mentioning of other books and films. To mention some: Of course Harry Potter but also Karate Kid, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. I have not quite decided if I will continu ...more

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Jun 24, 2013 TheCuriousDeer rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2013-tower-team-challenge, dull-as-dishwasher, paranormal-fiction

I had high hopes for this book but I have to say it just didn't do anything for me.

I found the storyline tedious and I just wasn't thrilled with the pace. It started off ok and then just went from bad to worse!! ...more

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Nov 05, 2010 Suzanne rated it liked it

Shelves: books-that-i-have-on-audio, kindle-books, audible-book, read-in-2010, author-terry-brooks-guide-for-fan, imcpl-news-fantasy-sci-fi, goodreads-choice-award-2009, bookriot-50-portal-fantasy-books

There were places in this book where they storyline came to a complete halt and I had a hard time getting make into it again. If you can get past the stops, it's a pretty decent book. I really hope the author will learn how to keep the momentum going in his next book because I think this storyline is very promising! ...more

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