The Magician's Land - Lev Grossman

#Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 Okay, I'm not totally sure if this is just because I'm such a fanboy of Grossman, or because it really is that good (most likely both!!!), but I really love The Magician's Land.

 This is the conclusion to The Magicians series. I don't totally know how to comfortably describe this series other than that it seems to be a combination of Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia, only with more swearing, sex, and raw magic. I think that sounds like a good thing. Right? In any case, I mean it to sound like a positive thing!!
Quentin Coldwater has lost everything. He has been cast out of Fillory, the secret magical land of his childhood dreams that he once ruled. Everything he had fought so hard for, not to mention his closest friends, is sealed away in a land Quentin may never again visit. With nothing left to lose he returns to where his story began, the Brakebills Preparatory College of Magic. But he can’t hide from his past, and it’s not long before it comes looking for him. Meanwhile, the magical barriers that keep Fillory safe are failing, and barbarians from the north have invaded. Eliot and Janet, the rulers of Fillory, embark on a final quest to save their beloved world, only to discover a situation far more complex—and far more dire—than anyone had envisioned.
To me, Quentin Coldwater is a character who, unlike Harry Potter, I can actually feel connected to, as he is completely flawed, misunderstood, and entirely held accountable for his own actions. Quentin, Plum, Alice, Eliot, Poppy, Penny, and Josh, are wonderfully realized characters throughout the series and are no less integral to the plot of this final instalment than they were in the first two novels in the series. Quentin's character development is fully fleshed out over the course of the series, and the realization of his flaws and his ability to move beyond these flaws really shines in this novel.
Even though he was almost thirty he was a lot younger than most of the faculty, and he was having a hard time connecting with them. Maybe it was the age things, or that he hadn't properly paid his dues yet, which was true. Maybe they figured he wouldn't be here that long, so what was the point. The politics of the senior common room were byzantine and involved a lot of power struggles to which he, as low man on the the totem pole, just wasn't very relevant.
Grossman's writing style is complex and intricate, combining elements of a thriller, a mystery, a fantasy, and a science fiction story. Though there are magical elements to the story, Grossman does his best to bring the magic to life and explain it as much as is possible throughout the course of the trilogy. The magical creatures, the land of Fillory, and the land of Brakebills are beautifully realized in such a way that readers will find themselves just as invested in the world of The Magicians as they may have ever felt with Harry Potter or The Chronicles of Narnia.
Fresh tobacco. Black currants. God, it was so good. She kept it in her mouth for a count of ten before she swallowed. If there was any magic in this world that was not magic, it was wine.
This is a stunning conclusion to the series, and Quentin's magical prowess shines through with unimaginable depth and radiance so that Grossman's audience will be unable to forget the series for a very long time to come.

Highly Recommended

P.S. I love this line: "It didn't matter where you were, if you you were in a room full of books you were at least halfway home."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Living - Matt De La Peña

Image
The Living  recently received an Honor from the Pura Belpré committee. The award recognizes of a work which best portrays the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for children or youth. As I was at the awards announcements, and having known people who served on the committee in the past, I was intrigued. I had read the winning title and the other honor titles, and was impressed with the choices. So here's my review of The Living : The novel begins with Shy, a young guy working for a snazzy cruise line, offering water to people on the Lido Deck of the ship to combat the heat. Everything is going pretty well until an older gentleman comes out and starts spouting of weird, disconcerting phrases: "You have seen the face of evil."Shy doesn't quite know what to think, so he moves on to a couple of ladies on the other side of the deck. Just as he's handing them their water bottles, he sees movement out of the corner of his eye and realizes the old guy h...
Read more

The Music of What Happens - Bill Konigsberg

Image
Max: Chill. Sports. Video games. Gay and not a big deal, not to him, not to his mom, not to his buddies. And a secret: An encounter with an older kid that makes it hard to breathe, one that he doesn't want to think about, ever. Jordan: The opposite of chill. Poetry. His "wives" and the Chandler Mall. Never been kissed and searching for Mr. Right, who probably won't like him anyway. And a secret: A spiraling out of control mother, and the knowledge that he's the only one who can keep the family from falling apart. Over the course of one summer, two boys will have to face their biggest fears and decide what they're willing to risk -- to get the thing they want the most. This is a phenomenal book, in my humble opinion. There aren't too many books dealing with male sexual abuse, particularly in YA. Sex and sexuality are messy parts of young adulthood, but what this book does really well is discuss consent and the ways in which physical cues can be misinte...
Read more

Girls Like Us - Gail Giles

Image
I have now gone out and made sure that I have all of the books longlisted for the National Book Award. I read and reviewed a number of these previously, so now I have five left to read and review. This is one of those five (but would I expect anything less from the fabulous team at Candlewick?) Girls Like Us  is a unique novel in a number of respects, most notably in the fact that both protagonists are identified (and self-identified) as mentally disabled in some way. Biddy has a learning disability that she was born with, while Quincy is a young girl who is disabled due to the fact that her mother's boyfriend hit her in the head with a brick, disfiguring her and damaging her brain. Once the two girls graduate from school, they move into a house together, becoming caregivers for both each other and an older woman, Elizabeth. The two must rely on each other for comfort, knowledge, and emotional strength, and Elizabeth manages to help them along the way. While I had moments of wo...
Read more