The Magicians

A Novel

By: Lev Grossman

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

A thrilling and original coming-of- age novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world.

Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he's still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn't bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation, he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin's fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.

At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren't black and white, love and sex aren't simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.

©2009 Lev Grossman (P)2009 Penguin

Critic reviews

"This is a book for grown-up fans of children's fantasy and would appeal to those who loved Donna Tartt's The Secret History. Highly recommended." ( Library Journal)
"Provocative, unput-downable....one of the best fantasies I've read in ages." ( Fantasy & Science Fiction)
" The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea." (George R.R. Martin)

Great story, great reader

The language of the story is muscular are poetic...perfect for the tragic tale. Highly recommend.

Sardonic Narnia for adults

This book is like a distorted combination of Narnia and Harry Potter.
It has a cast of characters easy to both detest and love.
I delighted in this wonderfully narrated book because it made the world magic so real and attainable. It made me want to believe there are colleges for magicians all over the world. It made me want to go there.
But this is not a child's fantasy book. It's filled with sex, alcohol and infidelity.
There's also love, a parade of magical creatures and other worlds.
Don't expect good magicians doing uplifting work for the betterment of others. This mismatched bunch are mostly self-serving with the odd exception.
Despite that Lev Grossman has created a story filled with powerful magic and a plot as twisted as his cast.
I loved every moment and magician.

Slow starter book

Any additional comments?

I bought this book because I love magic books, and it had excellent reviews. But the book itself was disappointing. Had a couple interesting parts, but all in all, the book just dragged on and on without really going anywhere. However I had already bought the series, so I decided to finish it out. So glad I did! Book 1 may not have been all that, but book 2 and 3 were amazing. So just stick with it and you'll be glad you did. A fun read, with excellent narration.

Fantastic listen!

I loved this book so much, I don't even know where to start.

I'll start with the narrator. In a word: amazing. He did the voices of the different characters SO WELL. I often find myself forgetting which tone of voor goes with which character in audiobook but not with this reader. I haven't looked at the next book yet, but if he isn't the narrator, I'm going to set something on fire.

The author did a great job with character development (which the narrator took a step further with his voices). I felt like I knew all of the main protagonists personally.

I loved the world of Breakbills magical school, and the writing provided imagery that allowed me to immerse myself in their surroundings.

This is definitely a book that I can see myself listening to again. I don't say that lightly; I've been an audible member for ten years, and there are only a handful of books I've listened to multiple times.

I will leave you with my favorite line from the book. It was near the beginning, and the narrator was talking about Quentin, the main character, and his general unhappy nature, and he had just met Eliot, who might be even more unhappy than he was... "... Quentin liked to think of himself as a sort of regional champion of unhappiness, but he wondered if Eliot has him outclassed on that score, too."

Regional champion of unhappiness. Love it!

You won't regret spending a credit on this book. It's great all the way to the last word.

Strangely Unlikable

I went into this one open minded and ready for a bit of escapism. But ended up being disappointed by the overall messy plot and unlikable characters.

The main protagonist has very few redeeming qualities, which makes it hard to care for him even well in to the book.

The story never really decides what it wants to be. And the world never seems fully realised. Instead it flits back and forth between interesting ideas, without ever capturing the reader with any of them.

Not really an adventure, more a misadventure. It's full of angst and lacks any real heart.

The narration on the other hand was fantastic. With clear personalities and voices for each character which soon become familiar.

Kind of depressing

While the story does have its good sections, the overall feeling is kind of depressing. The main character is a whiny unapriciative youth. who can never seem to see the light at end of the tunnel.

Meh

I was pretty excited to give this a listen. All I can say is it borrows heavily, but poorly, from Harry Potter and Narnia. I manages to borrow without achieving any of the wonder of either.

It was ok.... Not terrible but not especially interesting

I like it

I like it, but I found that some part of the TV series was a little better than the book.

Mediocre Book with Great Potential

I had heard nothing but good things about this book before I read it, but I must say I am a bit disappointed. The book had much potential and I really did enjoy the magic system when it was described. The first flaw came in the author's expansion of the setting and description of the story itself. Everything seemed rushed in the book, especially the time the characters spend at magic school, wich interested me greatly. Don't get me wrong the author's writing was lyrical and the prose was beautiful. However, the story could have been expounded on a little. The second problem was that the characters were very difficult to like. They are all very self centered and absorbed in their own troubles. The constant whining and unhappiness takes away from the plot. I understand this is supposed to be a book about people and there emotions, rather than a story directly about magic, but it just didn't flow for me. All of the characters have gaping flaws and nun of them seem to change and evolve as the story goes on. It is almost like the author makes you think they are changing for the better then drops them back to square one all of a sudden. Overall, I had trouble staying engaged with the story and the characters were par at best. The narrator did a good job differentiating characters and giving life to this story. At some point I will probably buy the next installment in this series, only because I want to figure out what the author is doing next with the story, it doesn't seem like he has much room to work with.

excellent writing, mediocre plot

delivery was perfect, very vivid relatable descriptions put you right in the moment. wish the main character didnt complain so much -he is never happy despite getting everything he wants. highly suggest reading despite this and if you can get past quentin's ill manner then enjoy the richness of this authors writing