The Magician King (The Magicians, #2)

by Lev Grossman

He who completes a quest does not merely find something. He becomes something.”

By now he had learned enough to know that when he was getting annoyed at somebody else, it was usually because there was something that he himself should be doing, and he wasn’t doing it.

“I am the hero of this goddamned story, Ember! Remember? And the hero gets the reward!” “No, Quentin,” the ram said. “The hero pays the price.”