The Magicians
(Book 1)
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3.7 • 111 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. Obsessed with the fantasy novels he read as a child, he finds the real world just doesn't compare.
Then one day it happens: he stumbles unexpectedly into a hidden world and is invited to join a very exclusive college, where he will learn the secrets of magic.
But something is still missing.
And now Quentin will do anything to find what he's always been looking for.
Praise for The Magicians Trilogy
'The best fantasy trilogy of the decade.' Charles Stross
'The most entertaining and compelling fantasy I've read in a long time.' The Times
'Lev Grossman has conjured a rare creature: a trilogy that simply gets better and better as it goes along... Literary perfection.' Erin Morgenstern
'May just be the most subversive, gripping, and enchanting fantasy novel I've read this century.' Cory Doctorow
'Dark and dangerous and full of twists. Hogwarts was never like this.' George R. R. Martin
'Sad, hilarious, beautiful, and essential to anyone who cares about modern fantasy.' Joe Hill
'A darkly cunning story about the power of imagination itself.' The New Yorker
'The Magicians ought to be required reading... a terrific, at times almost painfully perceptive novel of the fantastic.' Kelly Link
'Brilliantly explores the hidden underbelly of fantasy and easy magic, taking what's simple on the surface and turning it over to show us the complicated writhing mess beneath.' Naomi Novik
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Harry Potter discovers Narnia is real in this derivative fantasy thriller from Time book critic Grossman (Codex). Quentin Coldwater, a Brooklyn high school student devoted to a children's series set in the Narnia-like world of Fillory, is leading an aimless existence until he's tapped to enter a mysterious portal that leads to Brakebills College, an exclusive academy where he's taught magic. Coldwater, whose special gifts enable him to skip grades, finds his family's world "mundane and domestic" when he returns home for vacation. He loses his innocence after a prank unintentionally allows a powerful evil force known only as the Beast to enter the college and wreak havoc. Eventually, Coldwater's powers are put to the test when he learns that Fillory is a real place and how he can journey there. Genre fans will easily pick up the many nods to J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis, not to mention J.R.R. Tolkien in the climactic battle between the bad guy and a magician. 5-city author tour.
Customer Reviews
Borderline
I bought this book after watching the TV series. I really enjoyed the character of Quentin and his vulnerability in the show, however, his character in the book is very different and I found it hard to connect.
The pacing of the story is challenging, lingering on events that are not engaging and glossing over the times that are actually providing growth for the characters.
There is little comment on the development of the characters as individuals, and many marginalised characters that are unnecessary additions. This book discusses fantasy in both a ‘fantastical’ way and a ‘scientific’ way, which is an enjoyable take on magic.
I don’t know if I would recommend this.
I’d say if you love the TV series, it might be best to leave the books.
A truly terrible book
“You can’t just decide to be happy” is one of the lines people quote from this book- but you can! Choose to be happy by never reading this novel. Save yourself.
Appallingly twee writing, lousy characters, circuitous and ultimately pointless plot line... The author constantly calls people's expressions 'arch', which shows what a wonderful impression he has of his abilities in that regard.
It’s not 'like' an adult Harry Potter, unless Draco is your new hero. And they don't visit a 'Narnia-like' land. The Narnia plots are pretty much stolen and mucked about, but only about half of the theft is acknowledged openly.
The only mystery is how it got published and promoted so extensively - let alone picked up a tv deal. I read it like I was watching a bike racing crash - it was so awful I couldn’t believe it was happening and I kept hoping something would happen to save it.
Ultimately, it’s unpleasant and miserable people being unpleasant to each other and making each other miserable with no real reason and not the slightest bit of charm in language or story to make any of it worth enduring.
If Apple Books offered a once-a-year change of mind refund, this would be my pick.
Ok🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
Saw some very bad words and my kid was reading it next to me don’t want to teach them bad words do we!!!!