Book Review: The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of The Magicians
Publisher: Viking (August 11, 2009)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Self-absorbed, annoying, moody, smug, dissatisfied, spoiled, fake, maudlin, insecure, aimless, whiny, stupid, pampered, emo, vain, egotistical, small-minded, excessive, inconsiderate, thankless, pretentious, snobby, entitled, mercurial, immature, depressed, hypocritical, mean-spirited, cynical, clueless – just a small sample of the words I could use to describe the characters in this book.
No, The Magicians isn’t going to your big smiling ball of sunshine no matter how many Harry Potter comparisons you see slapped on it. Instead, you have a book featuring a much darker, grittier and almost satirical aura, a “New Adult” urban fantasy about letting the unhappiness of wanting something you can never have consume you. We follow disillusioned Quentin Coldwater, a high school student who never really grew out of his love for a series of novels he read as a kid about the adventures of five siblings in a magical land called Fillory. Compared to that, what can the real world offer him?
Imagine how he feels then, when he discovers that magic is real. And not only is it real, Quentin himself is a promising young magician, accepted into very secret and highly exclusive Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy in upstate New York. It should have changed everything. Quentin should have been ecstatic.
But he is not. But of course he’s not. Magic isn’t going to make Quentin happy. Neither is finding out that Fillory actually exists. It’s a sad moment when the realization hits. There’s really no cure for what ails Quentin, except one thing and one thing only: a few years of life experience and a whole lot of growing up. Well, that or maybe a swift and forceful kick in the seat of his pants.
Thing is though, you can write a miserably unlikeable character for the sake of writing a miserably unlikeable character. I don’t mind. Not even if your character is an insufferably whiny little ingrate. You just have to give me a reason – any reason – to make me care about what happens to him. That’s not too much to ask, is it? My issue with this novel wasn’t so much with the mopey protagonist than it was with the directionless storytelling. In fact, I was quite excited for the first part of this book. I couldn’t get enough of the magical school idea the author’s jabs and funny references to Harry Potter and other humorous injections. That there was no sign of a main conflict didn’t bother me at this point either, as I was relishing the setting and enjoying myself too much.
Around the midway point was when the book started to lose me, coinciding with Quentin’s graduation and life after Brakebills. Until then I never really bothered asking where the story was going, and hadn’t felt the need to – but eventually there was a creeping sense that giving Quentin and his magician friends “real life” problems like relationship hang ups and dismal prospects for the future just wasn’t going cut it. Like, dudes, I get that y’all are bored with life. But I’m bored with you too now. Sorry. Worse yet, there is absolutely no development in their characters or personalities (unless you count decline as growth) and that’s absolutely mind boggling when you consider how a person’s time at college should have been the most formative years. I don’t know anyone who left college the same person they were when they arrived.
Admittedly, the final handful of chapters about the discovery and exploration of Fillory had their charm. Possibly enough to salvage my feelings for this book for a solid rating. And I suppose the conclusion, while incomplete and flinging the doors wide open for a new adventure, also manages to offer a sense of closure and satisfaction in its own unique way.
This book isn’t bad, apart from the pacing issues. The ending gives me hope for Quentin, and the promise of more Fillory makes me feel very optimistic about the next book.
The BiblioSanctum 
I think you’re spot on here. The Magician King is a vast improvement over its predecessor.
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I’m really hoping so! There was headway on Quentin’s character by the end and there were major things opening up, so I’m pretty optimistic.
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Ah yes it must be difficult to see that magic can make happy. I love the adjectives for the characters lol. Great list! I haven’t tried a NA UF yet but I should, it’s intriguing.
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Haha, I don’t know if I’ve tried much NA either. I think this book was published before the usage of the NA category really started taking off, but the age of the characters and topics definitely fit.
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Hmmm . . . this is on my summer reading list, but now I’m leery. I’m having trouble meshing your issues with your rating. Maybe it’s that I have bigger problems with those specific issues than you do, so I can’t reconcile you still liking the book as much as you did. Whiny, maudlin characters who digress, rather than grow . . . I have a hard enough time dealing with that type of character when they DO grow. But that’s my issue, not yours. Again, hmmm . . .
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My bad, I accidentally put up the image for 4 stars instead of 3 stars – the written rating at the top is correct. Solid middling rating from me, didn’t love it but I didn’t think it was a bad book either. It had its issues for sure, but there were some really great parts! I honestly did love the first bit when he arrived at the school, it wasn’t until later on it started falling apart.
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Much the same thoughts as my own, but with less desire to read on from me. I liked many of the ideas here; magic is hard and doesn’t really make anything better. But Fillory is still stupid and the book really lost me with its inclusion.
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Yeah, I’m probably feeling a lot more tolerant because I was intrigued by Fillory. The school parts and the Fillory parts were the only bits I truly enjoyed, it’s the long and aimless section that was sandwiched in the middle that sucked all the energy out of the book, whatever was left that the characters didn’t kill already.
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As I’ve mentioned on several other blogs (why is everyone suddenly reviewing this book? Is a sequel coming out or something??), this was a DNF for me. I was bored bored bored and I never even made it to the midway point that seemed to lose you. I agree, a character can be super bad and annoying, but there has to be a reason for that behavior, otherwise you’ve lost the reader. I have to throw in THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS as an example, some characters that I would consider “bad” and who I totally fell in love with by the end of the book. It can be done, and it can be done WELL.
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Yeah, the final book is coming out next month! I wanted to catch up with the series before that happened. Quentin truly is a horribly annoying character. The school section and the Fillory section pretty much carried the book, but without anything interesting happening, I could barely force myself to tolerate him.
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I think there is part of me more interested in this because so much of the magic comparisons are still in some form of Hogwart’s school and this being New Adult piques my curiosity. This keeps popping up and I think I might need to give it a try,
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I can see why there would be the Hogwarts comparisons, but it definitely is no Harry Potter, lol. As a friend and I were discussing on Goodreads today, I don’t know if anything out there is like it. HP along with A Song of Ice and Fire are in their own leagues 😀
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Hah, yeah, doesn’t matter what Quentin gets or does, he is just an unhappy camper. But I still liked it, even if it was also a bit scattered at times. Great review!
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Haha, you see what I mean about my review having a split personality? 😛
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I read a short story set in the world, not impressed, but then short stories can be meh
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Oh, I had no idea there was a short story!
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Some anthology, somewhere, I think it was him
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It’s in the “Dangerous Women” anthology, edited by GRRM and Gardner Dozois. Nice story. I absolutely loved The Magicians, but I can understand why some people wouldn’t like it. I have a long rambly article about it over on my site: http://farbeyondreality.com/2012/02/13/the-magicians-by-lev-grossman/
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This is certainly a marmite book! I did have a copy – from the library, but didn’t read it before it was due back. I have mixed feelings on whether to try again or not! Maybe, if it’s sat looking forlorn on the shelf one time when I visit – I probably won’t reserve it.
Lynn 😀
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Yeah, it seems like people either love it or hate it! Never seen such a polarizing book. I grabbed my copy from the library too – they have the audiobooks, so I’ll probably reserve #2 from there as well.
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Sounds like your prescription of a kick in the butt is exactly what Quentin needs. I appreciate an author who’s daring enough to write about an unhappy young man whose life *isn’t* improved by an introduction to the world of magic and power, but that only goes so far. Honestly, after the first paragraph of this review, I feel very skeptical about this one. I own a copy and will eventually try to read it, but my expectations are definitely lowered.
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oh man you’re pretty much falling into the hate camp. Duly noted by every negative adjective you could find to describe people. Well ok so not a happy bag of sunshine but I must must wipe my brain clean of all that because everyone seems to either hate it or love it. I think you are cutting it some slack and likely dislike it more then the rating lets on.
I’m glad some of the later bits salvaged it for you (but I daresay not overall really) because I figure if an entire reading experience is like pulling teeth a few pages at the end aren’t going to change the feel you have for it.
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