The Magicians Land

Title: The Magician's Land
Author: Lev Grossman
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Ebook
Rating: 3 out of 5 paws


This is the third book in the Magician's trilogy.  Quentin is cast out of Fillory and working as a teacher at Brakebills, until he gets cast out of there as well.  After being cast out of Brakebills he joins a quest to steal back a chest with some things in it, what the things are he doesn't know.  While on the quest he meets Plum who was a wonderful student at Brakebills but was also cast out.  Their quest takes them back to Brakebills South, but what they discover about the box changes things.  Quentin tries even more to bring Alice back from being a niffin, but in the process he discovers how to create a magical utopia.  Meanwhile, Fillory is dying.  Eliot and Janet are trying to find a way to save Fillory from dying and Quentin just might be their answer.

I must preface this by saying I accidently borrowed the wrong book.  I meant to borrow book 2 "The Magician's King" but the library system had the book labeled wrong and I read out of order so for a while I was VERY lost in what was happening or what had happened.  Despite not reading the second book, this one felt....bland and unpleasant.  I kept saying I wanted to quit reading but my friend insisted that I finish reading it.  There were parts of the story that felt like it could have been way more exciting than it was such as the suitcase quest, it could have been way better, but it fell short of expectations. 


The only parts I did enjoy involved Fillory, Eliot and Janet, granted they are my favorite things about the series as a whole (including the television show).  Janet really stepped up in her bad-assness with her kick ass weapons and really taking on the role of High Queen of Fillory.  Eliot I felt fell a little flat In his awesomeness, maybe I am too used to the actor who plays him.  That is part of the downfall of reading a series after beginning to watch a movie or tv show based on the series.  You already gain an image in your head of that character and for this series they don't add up.  I prefer the TV show actors to the characters described in the book.   


The ending is almost predictable in what would happen.  While the story itself built up to the end, it was predictable from the beginning and left me feeling unsatisfied.  I wanted something more from the end, something grander.  What I think I should do is read the series when I am NOT watching the tv show so I am not as bias.   Overall I would recommend it.  Grossman is a great storyteller and has created an interesting world that I wish I could escape to sometimes.  If you enjoy fantasy definitely pick this series up but if you enjoy the show, maybe wait til later to read it.

The Magicians

Title: The Magicians
Author: Lev Grossman
Genre: Fantasy
Source: eBook
Rating: 4 out of 5

Quentin is your typical high school student who loves a series of books call "Fillory and Further."  On the day he is supposed to have an interview for college, he enters to find his interviewer laying dead. As he walks in a daze he finds himself on the campus for a different school and takes an odd series of entrance exams for what he finds out later is for a school called Brakebills.  What is different about Brakebills is that it is a school for magic. Quentin finds out magic is a lot harder than he has anticipated.  During their third year, students find themselves separated into Disciplines and Quentin finds himself in with the Physical Kids even though he technically does not have a Discipline.  Upon graduation the students find themselves striving to find a purpose and stumble upon Fillory.  There they discover "The Beast" and find themselves in an epic battle for survival. After the fight Quentin's love Alice sacrifices herself to kill the Beast, Penny loses the use of his hands and an injured Quentin is under the care of some centaurs.  All the while Eliot and Janet become the king and queen of Fillory.

I had a little bit of a harder time getting into this one because I have seen the show on sci-fi, and while I know the show is nothing like the book there are some similarities and the expectations I had for some characters were skewed by how the show portrays them.  That being said, I did enjoy the book, there were many things that were different or portrayed differently.  Grossman took magic and gave it and adult feel, while i have read this book described as a very adult version of Harry Potter, I would say it is VASTLY different from that series and would not compare the two. Each book addresses magic differently.

Quentin was rather boring and difficult to like in the book, he came off as a dumbling fool who just kind of stumbled into magic.  Granted his character gets better as the novel progresses, but it's far easier to like other characters better such as Eliot or even Penny once he returns to the story.  Q didn't have much depth to him at first or even halfway through novel. The story itself seemed to drag on about the activities of school and the years the group spends there.  It isn't until book 2 which is a little over halfway through the novel that it begins to pick up and some action begins to happen.  It took a long time to build up to the ultimate battle and discovery of Fillory. 

It is defintely a novel that portrays wanting something badly, building a grand idea of it and never being able to fully reaching it or finding it and discovering the disappointment of it not being what you have built it up to be.  If you are going into this book thinking it will be a light and airy series, don't it is darker than expected.  Regardless it was a good read.  If you have seen the show, it may be difficult to read but still worth it.  I recommend it.