The Magicians, Lev Grossman

[Steerpike]

I picked this up after seeing another member (Ireth?) mention it in a forum discussion. I like to have more than one book going at a time. About a third of the way in, I have to say it is very good indeed. Has shades of Narnia and Potter, both, but in a grownup fashion, not in the context of a children's book.

Another thing I note is that Grossman does a lot of "telling" in his writing of the story, and it is very effective. Goes to show that despite the "show don't tell" absolutism writing forums and writing books sometimes adhere to, you can not only write a great story with a good deal of telling in it, you can even get it accepted by editors at the major publishing houses (Viking/Penguin, in this case).

 

[Amanita]

You're post made me order that book. I've been looking for a college age magic school story for quite a whilte.
And I think I can trust in your judgement where books are concerned.
Comments after reading.

 

[Aosto]

It's actually a very good book. I haven't brought myself to read the second installment just yet though. I do have some issues with it, but will hold comment to prevent spoilers.

 

[Ireth]

(Ireth?)

Nope, can't have been me. I've never heard of that book until reading this post. Might see if I can find it, though.

 

[Butterfly]

'I found it! I found it!' I say in my amazing singing voice.

http://mythicscribes.com/forums/novels-stories/254-best-novels-no-one-has-heard-9.html

'twas Aravelle - post 88

 

[Steerpike]

'I found it! I found it!' I say in my amazing singing voice.

http://mythicscribes.com/forums/novels-stories/254-best-novels-no-one-has-heard-9.html

'twas Aravelle - post 88

Ah, Aravelle. Thank you

And thanks to Aravelle for the recommendation!

 

[Steerpike]

Nope, can't have been me. I've never heard of that book until reading this post. Might see if I can find it, though.

It's a good one.

 

[ThinkerX]

Read both books.

They seemed a bit 'off' to me throughout.

A bit like 'Harry Potter' having a head on collision with 'Narnia' with adult themes.

Parts of the books were very good, but I had difficulty with some of the underlying elements.

 

[Steerpike]

I haven't had that issue yet, ThinkerX. We'll see how it progresses. A number of adult themes have presented, but given the age of the characters and that the institution essentially covers "college years" I haven't found anything that was out of bounds or even unusual. But I'm not all the way through it.

 

[Zander]

This book was good. Found it a little bleak though. I thought it had a sort of pessimistic tone. I mean, the death and loss is part in parcel with a novel, but it was the protagonists outlook generally seemed sort of depressingly nihilistic. But then again, i liked it for the cynical tone.

 

[Aravelle]

You are more than welcome Steerpike.

I lovelovelove The Magicians. It breaks the rules of show don't tell, and pays homage to Harry Potter and Narnia. It has my respect and I highly recommend it.

I was lucky enough to meet Lev. He's a charming fellow, looks not unlike someone who belongs in his story.

 

[ThinkerX]

I haven't had that issue yet, ThinkerX. We'll see how it progresses. A number of adult themes have presented, but given the age of the characters and that the institution essentially covers "college years" I haven't found anything that was out of bounds or even unusual. But I'm not all the way through it.

Ok...hopefully, I'm not giving away too much here, but

my single biggest gripe was...

call it the 'business casual' mentality expressed by several of the characters: something would happen, and the character would 'think' in 'business speak' for a moment, or devise the sort of plan of action you'd expect from a business major. This mentality sort of took over the second book: the title is 'the magician king' but they didn't do much magic wise. The 'business casual' mentality sort of took over. (There was more than one king and queen, aka Narnia).

There was also the way the inhabitants of this 'Narnia' type place blithly accepted these outworlders moving in and taking over. The whole kingdom had a sort of 'false front' feel to it.

And there is the situation with the 'rogue' or 'other' magicians back on earth. Turned out there were quite a few of them, rough guess...possibly into the five digit range just in the US. Now...most of them, well, nearly all of them are pathetic as mages go, but having *that* many mages, even wimpy ones, running around loose? I found it straining credibility. (Then there is the way the best of these rogue magicians screwed up - but that gets into major plot elements).

These comments are mostly from book II. book I was much better, but there were still things I found myself wondering about.