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The Magicians/ part III only (chapters 19-22)
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Melanie
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Jul 01, 2016 04:57PM
Taking Rinn's suggesting and starting a few early threads for those (like me) who don't want spoilers for later parts of the book.
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Fillory is a real place! I had kind of given up on that being real. I figured it would happen way sooner in the book if it was going to happen. I have noticed that all of the seemingly dull details from earlier in the book are cycling back in importance in someone. Which leaves me with this question: whatever happened with Julia?
Melanie wrote: "...whatever happened with Julia?"That is answered in the second book. It is actually the more interesting part of the second book.
I'm partway into the Fillory caper?/ invasion? and their quest has begun. The story definitely picks up here. I hope to finish today.
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In the TV show, Julia's story is told parallel with Quentin's so you find out sooner what she is doing. I thought that was actually a good choice.
I'm halfway through part III, and I think this part of the book is completely fantastic! I love the queasiness and reality of the battle with the rabbit & ferret where it seems Quentin is finally coming to terms with the fact thst this isn't a game. I love the way that battle turns the genre on its head, approaching the brutality of the battles not as a fantasy but with the proper amount of disgust & horror.
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Robin wrote: "In the TV show, Julia's story is told parallel with Quentin's so you find out sooner what she is doing. I thought that was actually a good choice."I agree completely Robin, a very good choice in the adaption.
I actually think the TV show made numerous other improvements to the story too - tightening the plot, differentiating the characters and making some of them more sympathetic, adding some great humor elements, etc. The story added with Quentin's dad was really touching too - it explained a lot. Not faithful to the book at all but quite a satisfying show if you consider it an entirely different work.
Lel wrote: "I thought that this was well done as well. How many of us love a good battle in our books? Would you ever actually want to see one or be in one? I think I would run screaming in the other direction..."Exactly Lel!
I haven't been all that impressed now that the group has gone to Fillory, maybe because I think this group is totally undeserving of being able to go there. Then there is the super obvious similarity to Narnia, that annoys me. Lastly, I just don't think that trudging through 98% of tedious story while following a group of whiny, self-important brats is worth 3% of mildly interesting at the tail end. Not enough of a payoff IMO.
Veronica wrote: "I haven't been all that impressed now that the group has gone to Fillory, maybe because I think this group is totally undeserving of being able to go there. Then there is the super obvious similari..."Veronica, only read this comment after finishing part 3:
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I think the similarity to Narnia is not laziness but deliberate. It seems to be a comment on the dream of Narnia, what it really means and costs to have an idealized world like that to escape to, the price of accepting that dream as an exchange for the real world, something like that.
I pray the other two books don't have such an extended lead-in, but if they pick up where I think this one is going, I might continue with the trilogy.
I also don't think being able to go to Fillory is the gift they think it is. They're getting not their dream of Fillory but the Fillory they deserve.
I loved part III! My overall rating is still probably going to be middling (3 stars), but I can see now what the critics saw in the book when they wrote all their glowing reviews.
Mod
Ouch! But part of me is in agreement. The comparison to Narnia is annoying but I got the impression it was because the author thought so much of Narnia rather than could'nt be bothered to make up a new world.
I found the Shannara series more offensive and annoying for its rip off of LOTR.
Greg wrote: "Veronica wrote: "I haven't been all that impressed now that the group has gone to Fillory, maybe because I think this group is totally undeserving of being able to go there. Then there is the super..."Yes! Children's books always portray these fantasy worlds as wonderful places, even when an occasional bad thing happens. In children's stories the protagonists get to be kings and queens and everything is happy. But would it really be?
I think the problem that many fantasy readers have with this book is that at it's heart it's really not a fantasy book at all. It's more a literary fiction book with a fantasy world as it's setting. It's about growing up and what that looks like. It's about about how we see the adult world as this magical, powerful place that will solve all our problems, but it won't. We have to get over our own self-centeredness, go thought times where we mess up relationships and our lives until we come out at the other end of with a more healthy, realistic view of what being an adult really means. And I think this is probably the direction this series is taking. The fact that there are so many fun fantastical elements to the plot makes it that much more of an enjoyable read for me!
Christina wrote: "I think the problem that many fantasy readers have with this book is that at it's heart it's really not a fantasy book at all..."Yes to all of that! That is why I liked this book even though the characters can be rather unlikable because I like that message of getting over our own self-centeredness. Stop hopping from one "goal/quest" to the next thinking "oh when I am skinny/done with college/have a boyfriend/etc. everything will be perfect!"
Great points Dani and Christina! I definitely agree!I'm still not very hot on the first part though. I think if you judge it by a literary fiction standard, the depth of character in part I and the first half of part II isn't really that remarkable - several of the characters seem to blur together with similar attitudes and behaviors.
But I do 100% agree about the transition that happens in the later parts and in the growing up, the getting over of self-centeredness. I very much liked the book starting in the middle of part II.
What do you make of the final 2 pages though? Did Eliot really learn anything in the end based on what he's recruiting Quentin to do at the very end? He talks so flippantly. And did Quentin really learn anything if he agrees to go with them out of mere boredom? Have they backslid right back to where they started?
I would definitely say that they, at least Quentin, backslid.I actually read the second book a few months ago though so that could be why I think that. :)
Dani wrote: "I would definitely say that they, at least Quentin, backslid.I actually read the second book a few months ago though so that could be why I think that. :)"
That's what it sounded like in the final pages. Hmm, I think I will still continue on with the series. I just hope there's not too much retreading along the lines of part I of the book.
I don't think there is too much retreading but it definitely continues the theme. I have not yet read the third and final book so I do not know how it finishes up, but I felt that the best parts of the second were what happened to Julia during the first book.
Dani wrote: "I don't think there is too much retreading but it definitely continues the theme. I have not yet read the third and final book so I do not know how it finishes up, but I felt that the best parts of..."Thanks Dani! I will continue I think. One of my offline friends said that if I liked Part III I should definitely keep going, and I usually do share her taste in books. So I think I'll give the rest of the series a try.
Oh yeah, definitely read the 2nd book for the Julia's story. It's fascinating and horrifying at the same time.
Just finished the 3rd and final book of the series last night - having stayed up to 1.30am because I couldn't put it down, despite having a bedtime of about 10pm on most work nights! It seems the book has marmite syndrome, in that you either completely love it or can't stand it.
I think what dragged me in was the empathy with the characters. They may be a little mentally dented and not the most appealing of people but I see a lot of my younger self in Quentin and a lot of younger versions of my friends in Elliot, Janet and Josh.
Quentin struggles with many of the larger "life lesson", "meaning of life" issues that I have struggled with. I was able to completely overlook the fact that they aren't heroes, or even likeable, for how the book captured the emotional issues faced by nerdy university graduates like myself, who are suddenly thrown out of the structured world of education into the real world with an intense passion to do something, but nothing really to do.
I must have tabbed at least 50 quotes in the book that resonated with me for the reasons above, including:
“[F]or just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there's nothing else. It's here, and you'd better decide to enjoy it or you're going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever.”
“That was the thing about the world: it wasn't that things were harder than you thought they were going to be, it was that they were hard in ways that you didn't expect.”
It's quotes like this that made the whole thing worth reading for me.
The 2nd and 3rd book are definitely more on par with part 3 of The Magicians, if not better; so I would say they're worth a read if you enjoyed part 3 at all.
