The Magician King

A Novel

By: Lev Grossman

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Return to Fillory in the riveting sequel to The New York Times best-seller and literary phenomenon of 2009: The Magicians.

The Magicians was praised as a triumph by readers and critics of both mainstream and fantasy literature. Now Grossman takes us back to Fillory, where the Brakebills graduates have fled the sorrows of the mundane world, only to face terrifying new challenges.

Quentin and his friends are now the kings and queens of Fillory, but the days and nights of royal luxury are starting to pall. After a morning hunt takes a sinister turn, Quentin and his old friend Julia charter a magical sailing ship and set out on an errand to the wild outer reaches of their kingdom. Their pleasure cruise becomes an adventure when the two are unceremoniously dumped back into the last place Quentin ever wants to see: his parent's house in Chesterton, Massachusetts. And only the black, twisted magic that Julia learned on the streets can save them.

The Magician King is a grand voyage into the dark, glittering heart of magic, an epic quest for the Harry Potter generation. It also introduces a powerful new voice, that of Julia, whose angry genius is thrilling. Once again Grossman proves that he is the modern heir to C.S. Lewis and at the cutting edge of literary fantasy.

©2011 Lev Grossman (P)2011 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“[A] serious, heartfelt novel [that] turns the machinery of fantasy inside out.” (The New York Times [Editor’s Choice])

“[The Magician King] is The Catcher in the Rye for devotees of alternative universes. It’s dazzling and devil-may-care.... Grossman has created a rare, strange, and scintillating novel.” (Chicago Tribune)

“Fabulous fantasy spiked with bitter adult wisdom—not to be missed.” (Kirkus Reviews [starred review])

Great narration, terrible timelines

This book, like the previous one, jumps all over the place. Multiple storylines, timelines and plots skipping all over the place make this book almost impossible to follow and even harder to enjoy. Sad, because I absolutely fell in love with the tv series and even then if you blinked you missed an important plat twist. This book leaves you wondering, “ Wait, what? I thought we were talking about ….” Quite frustrating.

great story

love the story but I'm sorry the person reading the story I personally did not like his voice.

Great book, weird narrator

Great book, only criticism is the narrator pronounces a lot common words in correctly. Kept calling a "sloth" a"slowth"

A fun twist on CS Lewis for Adults

I quite enjoyed these books. They were fairly well written and very well read. I gave the story a 3 because I felt that although "narnia" isn't mentioned in this story it is very obvious that that is where the inspiration came from. I just wished that the author didn't rely so heavily on the narnia series for plot lines as I feel that with a bit more thought these books could have been excellent. Would I recommend this book, yes and I would listen to them again. All in all it was fun and enjoyable.

The accent...

Bramhall's narration is good, but the Australian accent he uses for Poppy was so bad that it was distracting.

Excellent

Great second installment to this trilogy. Quinten learns yet again that curiosity can kill a cat. Julia's thirst for magic grows more insatiable as she recounts what was happening with her informal magic education while Q undertook more formal study at Breakbills. And oh yea, there are gods and there are gods. Grossman delivers some excellent writing and doesn't hit the reader over the head with the lessons his tale provides, not the least of which is being a hero may not be all it us cracked up to be. Excellent book.

2n! book not bad

it was a solid follow up . It did take a little longer to get in to though.

Great continuance

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Great if you like the magicians.

Any additional comments?

The book wasn't as much about the King as it was one of the Queens...I thought that was the only disconnect.

Brilliant

The characters are incredibly real, bringing the whole world to life. I loved this series.

Performance

The Australian female accent was horrible! Very goo story line. Tied in well with previous book. Looking forward to next