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)

A rocky start to a great trilogy

This book has issues, but I think it's well worth the listen for the sake of the trilogy.

The main issue I have is with the very clear lack of focus in the narrative. There are several times where a main character is introduced or reintroduced out of nowhere, arbitrarily, and mentioned as if they're a background character.

Plot points are dropped and picked up so frequently that it doesnt even feel like it's all one cohesive story. Perhaps this was intentional, so the reader couldn't pick up on clues for some twists at the end, but the effect of it is pretty jarring.

Maybe this is just because I come from loving the Harry Potter books so much, where almost every detail of their lives are described, but the perspective feels so distant from the characters, to the point where I can't tell what their motives are or feel connected to them.

On the other hand, towards the end of this book, things start coming together. The world building is given genuine time to flourish, and I found myself getting very wrapped up in the story by the final few chapters.

I hesitantly went through with listening to the sequel, and found it so much more focused, compelling, and exciting that I was eager for the third, which didn't disappoint. If you find yourself even slightly enjoying this book, I recommend continuing, because it only gets better.

My new favorite book

This book over came Ender’s game as my favorite book. I loved all the characters and the series overall. This is a great starting point where you learn about magic and this whole new world and leads the way to a great adventure. I felt I easily slipped into the main character’s role and loved that he made a lot of the same decisions that I would have in his spot. There is nothing more to say than this is my new favorite book.

Not very good writing or character development

I didn't even finish the book. If you flip the story and writing style of CS Lewis so that instead of it being a children's book with adult writing, it's an adult book with children's writing. There's a lot of telling and not showing, poor description of the scenery, and no process of character development. Suddenly so-and-so and so-and-so are said to have formed a close bond, but you never hear the process of how that bond formed.
The narrator is good and the book has potential but it's just not there. I kept reading to see if anything would happen and it appears that nothing ever really does :(

awesome

i've watched the show for some years and tbh while i loved the show, i honestly think the book might be better <3

Wow. Absolutely awesome story.

Story was 10/10
Narration was 10/10
I was so impressed by Bramhal, from emotion to attitude to sass to accents to suspense building and everything I between this guy has it. Very well done. 10/10 would recommend.

The book dragged along but I managed to finish it

I listened to the whole book and kept hoping it would improve. It didn't. Some of the magic spells were cool though as was the world that the author created. Some of the plot twists caught me by surprise though some foreshadowing had been present.
This story was about coming of age and the quest for happiness and meaning. Unfortunately, Quentin never seems to find happiness or his meaning and purpose in life. I don't really want to have to listen to the next two books to find out what makes him happy.

entertaining

this book was good, not great. Definitely no HP, but a decent replacement if you are itching for some fantasy.

fantastic story, performance only Okay

this book was great, it is more of a descriptive writing style and the performance was not great but the story just sucked me in. book full of emotions

A wonderfully written tale.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listened to this book in two eight hour chunks over two days,

Any additional comments?

This book is Harry Potter, Narnia with the most flawed human characters imaginable at some points during this book I was absolutely disgusted by the choices of the main characters. This made certain sections really hard to get through. Other sections flew by with an amazing pace that only a well written book can produce.

Good Read

I'm planning on getting the next book in the series. This is worth the credit.