The Magicians
Books | Fiction / Literary
3.7
(43.4K)
Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman’s new novel THE BRIGHT SWORD is out now!The New York Times bestselling novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world, now an original series on SYFY“The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea. . . . Hogwarts was never like this.” —George R.R. Martin “Sad, hilarious, beautiful, and essential to anyone who cares about modern fantasy.” —Joe Hill “A very knowing and wonderful take on the wizard school genre.” —John Green “The Magicians may just be the most subversive, gripping and enchanting fantasy novel I’ve read this century.” —Cory Doctorow“This gripping novel draws on the conventions of contemporary and classic fantasy novels in order to upend them . . . an unexpectedly moving coming-of-age story.” —The New Yorker“The best urban fantasy in years.” —A.V. ClubQuentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A high school math genius, he’s secretly fascinated with a series of children’s fantasy novels set in a magical land called Fillory, and real life is disappointing by comparison. When Quentin is unexpectedly admitted to an elite, secret college of magic, it looks like his wildest dreams have come true. But his newfound powers lead him down a rabbit hole of hedonism and disillusionment, and ultimately to the dark secret behind the story of Fillory. The land of his childhood fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. . . .The prequel to the New York Times bestselling book The Magician King and the #1 bestseller The Magician's Land, The Magicians is one of the most daring and inventive works of literary fantasy in years. No one who has escaped into the worlds of Narnia and Harry Potter should miss this breathtaking return to the landscape of the imagination.
Fantasy
Magic
Urban Fantasy
AD
More Details:
Author
Lev Grossman
Pages
416
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2009-08-11
ISBN
1101082283 9781101082287
Community ReviewsSee all
"Harry Potter for adults! "
M Y
Meghan Young
"When the magical world of your childhood turns out to be much darker than you originally thought. But who would not want to realize that they have magic powers "
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Nicole Sinders
"Would rather have a cup of tea (read Harry Potter) but a magical book that ultimately left me interested in reading next book in series. "
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Melanie Schmitz
"This series is so underrated!!! The show adaptation + the books are fantastic and the MC is super relatable. The main cast of characters are fantastic and the dialogue is funny and it's just great. Def reccomend to fans of Harry Potter and other fantasy series!"
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Faye
"This book is the best combination of the utterly magical and entirely relatable! "
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Mel
"Brake bills probably "
L W
Logan West
"I will say that I prefer the television show. "
M J
Meghan Jordan
"High school overachiever Quentin, derailed en route to his Princeton interview, finds himself at an entrance exam for the mysterious Brakebills College instead. Brakebills is a school for magicians, but not the Harry Potter variety. "It's not what you think. You don't just wave a wand and yell some made-up Latin", an older student helpfully explains. Think Hogwarts with sex, drugs and undergrad angst. Most magicians, Quentin learns, lead pointless, unfulfilled lives; one of his professors muses that only the fundamentally flawed have magical ability. As Quentin and his classmates mature and graduate to aimless young adulthood in New York, they find themselves drawn to their childhood fantasies of Fillory, a magical kingdom (not unlike Narnia) which may hold the answers to their purposeless existence. Or not.<br/><br/>Grossman is an engaging, often funny writer, his dialog crackles with the undergraduate snark and philosophical b.s. you'd expect from a Harvard comp lit major. There is little wide-eyed wonder at the beauties of magic; but rather a sense of the terrible damage that gifted, highly intelligent people can do to themselves and each other."
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Lesley Williams
"The proganist was totally insufferable. Otherwise a captivating story, but the main character makes it a painful read."
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zelia913
"Rec: Amelie"
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Sophie