The Magicians: A Novel by Lev Grossman
I’m finally all caught up on my reviews and closing in on 60 total books read for 2011. That’s down slightly from my last two years, though this is the first year since I started Ruled by Books that I didn’t undertake a specific reading challenge for the year. I’m not complaining as I am quite content with letting myself enjoy some of my other hobbies while also maintaining an acceptable (for me) rate of reading. Comparisons to my previous years aside, I would like to make a broad comment about The Magicians before I begin my review. I’ve read a lot of books in the last three years and without question have enjoyed the vast majority of them. Most entertained and some changed how I look at writing and reading. I tend to be very liberal in my positive reviews because I look at books simply: did it entertain me? If the answer is yes, I review it positively. If it didn’t, I explain why.
I mention all of this because of how thought-provoking AND entertaining I found this book. I went into The Magicians with the conceit that it was a mix of some very common fantasy stereotypes based on the reviews I read on Amazon and Goodreads. I was so very wrong. This is – hands down – the best book I’ve read this year. I say that knowing that many people will not agree with me. Look at the ratings for this book and you’ll see that it has a bit of a polarizing effect on people, and I would say that in this case it is a good thing. I would suggest that if you are looking for an example of how a genre and well-known archetypes can be turned on their head by a very simple, yet thought-provoking premise, you should pick up a copy of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians immediately. Check out my review below for an explanation why.
What I Liked
The Magicians by Lev Grossman is one of those books that no matter how good the book description blurb is, you’re just not going to be ready for what you’re getting into. Most reviews explain the book’s premise as Harry Potter goes to Narnia, but that falls so short of what this book is really about. Yes, comparisons can be made to both of those series. Quentin Coldwater is a teenage genius who ends out attending a boarding school for magicians, though it is far cry from the magical and mysterious Hogwarts . Yes, parallels can clearly be drawn between Grossman’s world of Fillory and Lewis’s realm of Narnia, but only in superficial ways. This is a dark story that asks some deep questions about life and happiness. At the forefront of the questions this book raises is how does one find a sense of contentment in life when everything is within your reach?
Quentin and his friends become extremely powerful magicians who can – quite literally – make their dreams come true. With the right set of Circumstances and enough calculation, their powers give them the ability to reach out and grab the moon if they so desire. The problem is, this doesn’t make them happy. All that power and prestige, all that know-how and magical ability leaves them empty even when their childhood dreams are brought to life. What is the point in living life when you’ve attained such glorious heights by the age of 25 and there is little left to challenge you and little left to cherish?
Clearly, which such questions as this, The Magicians is not a book for children. Add to this that the characters are indicative of late teen and early twenty-somethings rather than perfectly behaved children. These are characters who fight among themselves as much a they share sexual partners. They are a group of drunkards and fops, deviants and geniuses with some severe social disorders. There is also a sense of entitlement that becomes pervasive as the narrative unfolds that seemed very realistic and well-recognized by Grossman. How else would privileged children act when they find incredible and fantastical powers bestowed upon them?
Lastly, the ever-present sense of melancholy and ennui made this one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read this year. The darkness of this book combined with the very adult questions it asks are likely why this book has been so polarizing among fantasy enthusiasts. People who read The Magicians because they’re looking for a fix akin to Harry Potter or CS Lewis will likely not be very pleased by these adult tones. On the other hand, many who can recognize the questions posed by Grossman through the actions of his characters will likely appreciate the modern-day realness of this story.
I’m firmly in the latter camp as could not put this book down. I’m a long time fan of fantasy. The Chronicles of Narnia were the first books I read that made me realize how much I loved this genre. I spent years reading everything and anything with wizards, knights, dragons and the like. The Magicians made me feel as if I’d come full circle. What once consumed me as a child has been transformed into what entertains me and provokes me as an adult. To put it frankly, I loved this book and rate is as my best read of 2011 simply because it took me away to a place of fantasy and forced me to think about the consequences of those travels.
What I Didn’t Like
I have no criticism of this book. I loved the pacing, the characters and the narrative premise(s). This is a well written book that pushed all the right buttons for me. I can’t recommend it enough.
As a side note, my point in comparing this book to Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia is not to disparage those works. They are all among my most favored reads and my love of them is likely why The Magicians so deeply affected me. It is through my care for those books that Grossman’s alternate vision of power and how it transforms lasting happiness rang so true. It is possible to admire all three works equally and for very different reasons.
Why You Should Read This Book
If you enjoy Harry Potter but wished it had more grown up tones…if you ever dreamed about going to Narnia but wished the experience could be more life-threatening…if you have never considered what having all your dreams come true would do to you, then please spend some time with Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. It’s what you should be reading.
Book Information
Description: 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.
Author: Lev Grossman is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Magicians and The Magician King. He is also the book critic at Time magazine. He’s 42, slightly built and probably wouldn’t last long in a post-apocalyptic, eye-for-an-eye world. [Official Homepage]
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