The Magician's Land

I found The Magician's Land not just a satisfying end to the Magicians trilogy, but the best book in the series: this final puzzle piece made sense of the story Grossman was telling all along. Those who can get past jaded protagonist Quentin's growing pains in the first two novels deserve this book as a reward. Ousted from the lush fantasy land of Fillory, Quentin begins to strive toward a new and singularly fantastic purpose, actualizing more than himself in the process; in the meantime, the Fillorian royalty struggle to save their land from a looming apocalypse. Grossman's worldbuilding in this series was both comforting in its evocation of Harry Potter and Narnia nostalgia and innovative enough that it deserves to be celebrated. He has built his own magician's land.

Wow. What even was the ending of this book. Ugh.

Good end to the trilogy. I didn't need the bring the team back together again at the end though.

This has easily become one of my favorite series. This book wraps up the trilogy rather nicely. While it keeps the story open ended as to what happens, you also get a sense that the story has come full circle. It's been extremely satisfying watching Q and the gang grow throughout the trilogy into adults that have conquered/accepted their deepest issues.

Une très belle fin à la saga, extrêmement intéressante et complexe et qui apporte énormément en profondeur à l'ensemble du récit. Des personnages qui ont murit, changé et évolué, pour un mieux.

Really lovely and a perfect ending to Quentin's journey.

Fantastic.

I just loved how quentin character developed later in the story.
An amazing job done by Lev Grossman to complete the series

You can call me an angsty, pretentious fuck and I won't even argue with you, but I did love this series. It surprised even me that I did, but something about certain situations in life, certain ways the characters related to the world really worked with me. It was probably partly the fact that I managed to read it at the right time, I don't know. It's just what I needed and I am not ashamed to say that.

In this last book the characters need to save Fillory yet again, while their group comes together once more at the end to do whatever it takes. I wouldn't want to say too much, as you need to read the previous book to make it make sense and that would be spoiling. Basically everyone finds their footing, in one way or another and they manage to reach their best self they could be at this point.

In my review of the second book I mentioned two things in connection with liking the characters. First of all, I said I liked the characters better, either because they developed or because having something to do made them less angsty. By now I realized it's both; the things to do and their trials and tribulations simply made them develop.
Another thing was not having Janet around too much, and how I liked that because she was such a horrible person without any real redeeming qualities. In this one... even Janet grows on you with her new passion for being a real queen who actually defends Fillory. In one chapter she tells the story of the 1,5 years she spent alone as the leader of the place when Quentin and Julia disappeared, so Eliot went to look for them. That chapter was absolutely magical. The writing did something exquisite there and I actually started to like her. Truly amazing.

Now there was this thing I wasn't 100% sold on. Alice. I mean her return from her niffin form was definitely interesting, but I had let her go. I was over her, so the whole thing with Quentin and Plum spending chapters on bringing her back home and all wasn't particularly interesting to me. I preferred her back in book one, probably because back then almost all the others were just absolute dicks and she felt like one of the few okay people.

As for the series as a whole, it's really hit or miss. I can't blame anyone for not liking it, but I couldn't help loving it. So far this is my favourite new (never tried before, don't know anything about it) read of the year. I'm not sure how it will hold up, though. I guess I have to make a note for myself to read it again in a couple of years and see how I can relate to it then. What was comforting and familiar melancholy now could very well feel like horrible, annoying artsy-fartsy shit in 5 years. That's funny, though, that even though I just finished it, I'm already looking forward to reading it again and I can only praise Mr. Grossman for doing that to me.

About him... Well. I do not want to go and read his earlier books. I want more of this, the author who managed to find his voice and his unique way. So I am waiting, Mr. Grossman. Write! Do something, I will be super excited about picking it up, even if just seeing if our love affair lasted only this one series or it is just the beginning of something crazy.

(I'm watching the show with my best friend now. I'm... not quite sure how I feel about it. Sure, it's interesting and some acting is amazing. Screw you, Hale Appleman, you are my Eliot and you can't act flamboyantly gay enough for me to not find you creepily attractive, duh. Such a good actor. Even Quentin is charming! But the changes they did to Penny are... Yeah, not really into it, I liked him not being self-conscious and having that innocent charm. All in all, I get they needed to make the show more action-filled and “cool”, but it kills some of the very thing I love about the books.)

So farewell, you wonderful, imperfect bastards.

Freaking amazing ending to the series. It might just be my excitement, but this book was far better than the first, and better than the second. All the questions I had answered, some surprising and awesome wrap-ups of questions in the first two, and an even more in depth look into the magic system of Lev Grossman's world.

Great story.

The only reason it gets four stars is that there was this huge plot point from the second book that gets completely ignored (save for a couple of sentences near the end). I kept wondering how the third book's plot would pertain to that event and when it didn't I felt a little disappointed.

If I had gone into this book without any expectations that it would resolve anything from the second book, I would have given it the full five stars.

Executive Summary: An excellent, but not perfect end to what ended up being a rather enjoyable series. Just a few minor complaints keep me from giving it a 5 star rating. 4.5 stars.

Audio book: Mark Bramhall again does an excellent job that makes this a series I think is best done in audio. I will have to be on the lookout for other books he reads for in the future.

Full Review
This book almost made it to the end to secure one of my rare 5-star ratings. I always hated to stop listening, and found myself coming up with things to do so I could get in some extra listening time each day.

Unfortunately what seems to be Mr. Grossman's need to remind us that life is never fair and far from perfect at places, that I'm frankly sick of. I read to escape from reality, and while I'm not looking for everything to always work out, the negativity of this series wore on me at points.

Thankfully the amount of it seemed to lessen with each book. I think that largely has to do with Quentin's development. He has gone from a character I was indifferent towards, to one I didn't like, back to largely indifference in the last book, but at this point in the series I found myself finally liking him.

I find it hard to read a book where I don't like at least some of the characters. It's no wonder to me why so many people are turned away from the series by the first book.

The world building and the story is what kept me going until suddenly I realized I had actually become fond of these characters. Who would have guessed that?

This is one of those books that doesn't tie up every loose end. I think this keeps in line with Mr. Grossman's frequent injections of “reality” into the series.

I don't need all the loose ends to be tied up to find an ending satisfying, and this was definitely that for me. I'd love to see more stories in this world. If not with Quentin as his friends, then maybe with other students at Brakebills. Preferably ones I like much sooner.

I found Plumb a nice addition to the series, much as I did Poppy in the last book. It was nice to see that much like the real world, not everyone is so depressed and cynical all the time.

Overall I've found this an enjoyable series, which is likely obvious from how quickly I tore through it. I'm cautiously optimistic about the SyFy adaptation based on early details. Here's to hoping they get to tell the whole story, and maybe some other ones beyond it.

Love a shitshow of characters learning magic. The HP I wanted when I cared about HP.

Solid, but not as good as the second book. While it doesn't have the pacing issues of The Magicians, the book seems to have multiple crescendos and at the end of each, I was left feeling like they weren't working together towards the ending, but rather just were vignettes (similar to how I felt reading The Magicians). It ties together in the end, but not in a seamless way. I'm not sure if it's a writing style I'm not used to or if it's, in itself, just clumsy.

Like many trilogies it is best to judge them as a complete arc. The Magician's Land brings this series home with brilliance.

Oh man. I really want to re-read the first two books now. I probably should have before reading this, but who has the time? I read the Wikipedia summaries for the first two and that helped jog my memory, but I think I definitely would have gotten more out of this if I'd had a clearer memory of those last two books.

THAT SAID I still really liked this and still got a lot out of it. It really did seem to tie up a lot of loose ends (... as far as I can remember) while still being exciting on its own. And it really does fit so well with Grossman's themes about magic and fantasy and growing up.

I grabbed this on audio because it was about the length of a trip I was taking, and I'd say the audio was fine. It wasn't like some audiobooks where the narrator detracts from it, nor did the narrator add a whole lot, in my opinion. (Except his Australian accent for Poppy was cute.)

A perfectly fine end to a one-of-a-kind series...but...

I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking this – read it yourself and let me know – but for a series of that based itself on the premise of life in a dark, difficult world (where not even magic can buy happiness), this series ended a little too neatly. Several times near the end, I began to realize that everyone was going to get what they wanted. It felt Twilight-y: ignore all the difficulties and open threads, kids, because it will all work out in the end!

There's nothing wrong with that kind of sweetness, of course – not in principle, anyway. But in this other-Earth, where the real world ends up being more difficult than childhood dreams, it gets in the way.

Interestingly, however, the “homage-to-real-life” themes of this book create their own problem. Chief of these: if we assume that Quentin and his friends are the good guys, who is the villain? In the first book, it was clear that Martin Chatwin played the role. After that? Not sure. Was it Ember and Umber? Reynard the Fox? The mysterious couple who possessed Rupert Chatwin's relics? Other miscellaneous old gods? None of them are set up to be the true enemy. Mayble life just isn't that simple.

Still, satisfying to see this story to its conclusion.

???The End??? is an ambivalent place to be. Sometimes one can see it coming, sometimes not. At times, one wishes it would arrive sooner, and at other times, one prefers to ignore it until it is inescapable, until its inevitability can no longer be denied.

This happens a lot when I read books. Some books I wish would end quicker than others - sometimes because they???re turning out to be rather bad reads and I just want to get to the end of them so I can say I???ve read them and never touch them again, but other times because I want my answers now, now, now, and the only time I can get them is if I get to the end. And then there are times when I don???t want a book to end, when I don???t want to get to the ending because it means ending a journey, ending an experience that cannot be repeated, and I want to hold onto that experience for as long as possible. Sure, I could always go back and reread the book, but that reread won???t be the same as when I first read the book, with no knowledge of what would happen when I turned the page.

But either way, all things, good or bad, must come to an end. What matters, really, is how that ending happens. Sometimes a good ending can make all the difference in how a series is perceived overall - for instance, I have a very deep affection for Brandon Sanderson???s Mistborn Trilogy because it has one of the most incredible endings I???ve read for any series yet. On the other hand, while I do love the Harry Potter series in my own way, I???m not as fond of it as I could be because of the way it ended. (Yes, I???m one of those folks who thinks Rowling could have done well without that epilogue.)

So when one has an incredible story like Lev Grossman???s The Magicians Trilogy,, the ending becomes even more important. It is a powerful, magnificent story, a darkling mirror through which those of my generation, who grew up with Harry Potter and saw C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien???s works become cinematic hits, might view the world that lies ahead of us. To paraphrase the words of a critic whose name eludes me now: genre fiction (of which fantasy and science fiction are a part) is a refraction, not a reflection, of the real world, a way to view and resolve issues and complex themes about reality that literary fiction cannot accomplish.

This only means, of course, that the last book in Grossman???s trilogy, The Magician???s Land, is crucial. How will Grossman wrap up his story? What will become of Quentin Coldwater and his friends? What will be the story???s final say on the themes and ideas that first began in The Magicians, and further (much further) expanded upon in The Magician King?

As it turns out, The Magician???s Land is a fascinating story that wraps up the first two books in a pretty good way - but I say so with some reservation, because I feel there could be a been a little more meat on the bone for this particular conclusion.

The Magician???s Land picks up some time after the ending of The Magician King. Quentin, having been banished from Fillory, is forced to find a new way of living - and does. He picks up the broken pieces of his dreams, and of himself, and makes his way back to Brakebills, the school where it all began for him. However, it quickly becomes obvious that not all is right in the world - in all the worlds, for that matter - and it???s up to Quentin to figure out how to stop losing what he loves most: the land of Fillory, from which he was banished, and to which he must return, no matter the cost.

In my reviews for the first two books, I???ve constantly remarked on how much I don???t like Quentin. While I can objectively view him as a well-written character, I hate having to put up with him as a point-of-view character. He reminds me altogether too much of Holden Caulfield, and since I???ve always wanted to grab Holden???s neck and squeeze till he stops moving, this is not a very flattering comparison. Quentin is never satisfied with anything: in The Magicians, he passes the extremely difficult exam at Brakebills and learns to work magic, but isn???t satisfied with that. In The Magician King, he rules as a king in the magical land of Fillory, but he???s not satisfied with that, either. I kept reading about all these things that he got - including love - and he kept tossing them aside, and all I wanted to do was slap him and say: ???Why are you doing this? Why are you not happy with what you have? Do you not know how many people would kill to have what you have????

However, the Quentin the reader meets in The Magician???s Land could not be more different from the Quentin in the previous two books. There are many ways one could describe him at the beginning of this novel, but all I can say is this: he???s grown up. It???s as if being kicked out of Fillory at the end of The Magician King actually forced him to grow up - an assumption that???s confirmed by a minor character a little further in. Forced to realise that he is in no way some kind of unique Chosen One, forced to accept that he???s not the protagonist of some grand narrative (so to speak), Quentin accepts it all, and proceeds to pick up the shattered pieces of his life, and tries to make as normal and mundane a life out of it as he can - or as normal and mundane a life as a magical adept trained at Brakebills can make it.

For a while, he misses what he used to be, misses being a King of Fillory, but after a while, that doesn???t matter. What matters is teaching his students, his research, the life he???s managed to carve out for himself at Brakebills. He comes to realise that it???s not a very grand life, but it???s a good life. His transformation is best summarised in the following quote:

Maybe when you give up your dreams, you find out that there???s more to life than dreaming.

There could be no truer line to describe the Quentin Coldwater of The Magician???s Land - and this is a Quentin I can, at last, like and relate to. For a brief while he thinks he might actually be special, when his father passes away, but when he learns that his father was not, in fact, a wizard-in-hiding, that final shred of the old Quentin finally disappears, and all that???s left is the new Quentin: an odd, slightly bumbling Brakebills teacher specialising in teaching relatively minor magics to freshmen. As I said, it???s not a grand life, but it???s a good life, and in the end, that???s all one can really ask for: a good life.

And then there???s Plum, the student who breaks Quentin???s newfound ordinary life. Plum is, probably, one of the best characters in the entire novel: she is wise in ways that Quentin wasn???t at her age, but she???s still young enough to make mistakes of her own and to learn from Quentin???s newfound wisdom. There were a lot of times when I found myself reading about Plum and her thoughts and wishing I was that wise at her age - could have spared myself quite a bit of grief, if that were the case. I also really like that she and Quentin essentially balance each other out - theirs is probably the most perfect yin-yang friendship I???ve read in a long while.

I would also like to emphasise the word ???friendship??? when it comes to the two of them. See, looking at the situation Quentin and Plum find themselves in, their relationship could easily have been written as romantic - indeed, many other characters in the novel ask one or both of them if they???re sleeping with each other. However, they both consistently deny it, and that???s something I greatly appreciate. It would have been so ridiculously easy, perhaps even expected, to have Quentin and Plum sleep with each other, or to have Plum be Quentin???s new girlfriend, but thankfully Grossman does not even go there, and the reader is instead given this wonderful and purely platonic relationship that proves that sometimes, friendship can work out better than romance.

And speaking of girlfriends, one of Quentin???s actually makes a comeback in this novel: Alice, the girl he loved and lost in The Magicians. Transformed into a niffin because of her anger and thirst for vengeance, she haunts Quentin for a majority of the novel, hoping to make him see what he has done to her and avenge herself on him. Quentin, for his part, wants to release Alice from the state she???s in, thinking to give her peace at last.

And here is where Grossman once again stands a typical fantasy trope on its head - something he does so incredibly well, and which is the whole point of The Magicians Trilogy in the first place. In the normal course of things, Quentin would release Alice???s spirit from her niffin state, whereupon Alice would return to ???normal??? and finally pass on, giving Quentin absolution from his sins against her. But that???s not what happens - instead, Alice actually comes back to life, and is angry about it. She states that she actually enjoyed being a niffin, that in that state she was free from inconvenient emotions like guilt and empathy, and for a while she blames Quentin, not just for the things that turned her into a niffin in the first place, but for changing her back to a human and taking away all the power she had as a niffin. She calms down, eventually, but it???s made clear at the end of the novel that she???ll never be who she one was. But then again, that makes sense: death changes us all, and coming back from the dead, or going from one state to another (as Alice did when she went from human to niffin and back to human again) never leaves a person unmarked or unchanged in some way.

Now that I speak of Alice, it???s only right that I mention the other friends Quentin made in the first two books: Eliot, Janet, Josh, Penny, Poppy, and of course Julia. Julia does not come into play until nearly the very end of the novel, but her friend, Asmo, puts in a crucial appearance in the middle third, as a part of the heist team Quentin and Plum join up with.

As for the others, they???ve changed as well, to greater or lesser degree. Poppy and Josh aren???t much discussed, and from the point that he entered the Neitherlands Penny doesn???t - and hasn???t - really change much, either, but Eliot and Jane really come into their own in this novel. They???ve both grown to love Fillory, each in their own way, and though they???re dismissive at first they both gradually realise that they have, in fact, grown up and become adults in Fillory, that they???ve taken on responsibilities and matured in ways they might not have had Quentin not insisted they come here way back in the events of The Magicians. The thought rather surprises them, but reassures them as well - one of the reasons why they???re both so determined to make sure that Fillory isn???t destroyed, no matter what the gods or anyone else says.

I actually find this idea rather interesting, and in a way, comforting - especially since Janet doesn???t really change much of who she really is. Eliot shows that growing up can sometimes change a person rather drastically, but Janet shows the opposite: some people grow up, but they don???t really change - they simply make room for maturity at the core of who they are. Janet was, is, and always will be angry and hard. She will never be soft, and will never understand why people have to be. She will always be ruthless, and always judgmental. But she knows that she???s grown up, knows that she???s a woman with responsibilities, and that it was only possible for her to grow up that way in Fillory. Without Fillory, she would not have become the happy (as far as is possible with her), mature adult she is in The Magician???s Land, and towards the end she realises that when she returns to the real world (she???s pragmatic enough to know and accept that Fillory must end), she???ll never be as whole a person as she was when she was Queen of Fillory, and if there is anything she mourns, it is the loss of that sense of completeness.

Now, while all is quite fine and dandy in terms of character development, the plot itself is not without some of its problems. As a whole the novel reads very well indeed, and as a unit, on its own, I have nothing to really complain about, but as part of a series I do feel it???s a bit lacking. The only word I can think of is ???smaller???. In The Magician King Grossman really opened up the magical world he???s built for the novel, with all that talk about strange entities governing magic and what the Neitherlands really is, but then he shrinks it all down again to just the real world and Fillory, as if those larger, grand-scale concepts he introduced in the second book don???t really matter anymore. Even the question of gods as represented by Reynard and the terrible events of Julia???s story in the second novel are relegated to, in my opinion, a rather minor note in this novel. To be sure, the whole business with Ember and Umber and the creation and salvation of Fillory is interesting and thoroughly engaging, but it???s not to the same grand scale that had been implied in the second book.

The thing is, I really liked those bigger concepts, liked what they brought to the table and what they said about the magical world as a whole. I enjoy world-building, and I thought that Grossman had done incredibly well with it in the first two books, giving a sense of true crisis and an escalation of that crisis. In fact, at the end of the second book I was thinking that there was going to be a great big apocalyptic event endangering not just Fillory, but all the worlds as well, and that it would be something that happened in, or had to do with, the Neitherlands, so I was surprised when it was really limited to just Fillory. While I suppose that makes sense, given Fillory???s central position in all three books, I do wish Grossman had done something with that enormous structure he hinted existed in the second book.

But I guess that that???s really just a small problem, especially when one looks at the much greater strengths of the novel, and the series, as a whole. The grand, universe-altering, epic ending is probably the expected one, after all, and Grossman has done nothing but the unexpected in this trilogy, so I suppose that I shouldn???t have held my breath. Still, it would have been a nice way to end the whole thing, but that???s likely just a matter of personal preference.

Overall, The Magician???s Land is the ending that fans of Grossman???s series have wanted, especially those who were hoping Quentin would finally be able to see past his own nose and grow up. Quentin does indeed finally grow up, and those who were annoyed with him at first will find that he is now one of the finest characters in the entire series - not least because of what he used to be like. And it???s not just Quentin who grows up - all the characters do, each finding their own place and purpose in the world, whether that world is the real world, or Fillory, or even the Neitherlands. The ending is also, in its own way, one of the most note-perfect endings I???ve read yet.

However, I do wish that the plot had been grander, especially considering how much the world-building had expanded in the second novel. Those elements suggested the shadow of a plot that I thought could have been built upon to make a truly magnificent, resounding, epic conclusion, but that wasn???t meant to be. I suppose that the epic ending on that scale wasn???t Grossman???s plan, anyway: after all, it would be the obvious thing to do, and if Grossman???s done anything with this trilogy, it???s to take the obvious and stand it on its head.

That is, however, a relatively minor complaint. For others, however, they will be very much pleased with the book as is, and with the way it brings the entire trilogy to a close. Hope suggested that I reread the entire series immediately after finishing The Magician???s Land, and I highly recommend the experience to other readers.

This is one of those books that I've been waiting for since about 30 minutes after I finished the previous book in the series – and at the same time, one I didn't want to arrive, because that means I have to say good bye to Quentin, Brakebills, Fillory and the rest of the gang. The nods to Lewis' The Last Battle were pretty obvious, but naturally, there was a lot more going on than that. Unlike Lewis, the book never really felt like the end of anything but a chapter in the lives of most of these characters, and that their lives went on beyond these pages (you know, those that survived). I really like that kind of finale – one which is definitely an end to the story, but one that the characters go on from, having adventures (however mundane those may be) that we don't get to see.

It's obvious straight away, that Quentin didn't respond too well from the events of The Magician King all too well – but for the record, neither did Eliot. So at least that's fair. We get Quentin's story told to us in two timelines – first, in the present, and the other starts shortly after King. I'm sure there was a point to that, but it didn't strike me as necessary (although I should add, now that I've typed this, I can actually start to appreciate why Grossman may have chosen this. Still, I'm sticking with not necessary). But it didn't interfere with anything, either, so I'm not going to complain.

Upon his exile, Quentin ends up at Brakebills, looking for answers, looking for hope and ends up becoming an entry-level professor there. And he's good at it, for the first time, really since his student days there, he seems content, he seems at home. You really start to think that he's got a happy ending in a quiet life ahead of him. And you know that you're wrong, if only because the book has a lot more pages in it – but also because you know Quentin. Still, it's a nice oasis for both character and reader.

In the present, however, Quentin's part of a magically powered team of thieves – by the time you get an explanation for how he ended up in this situation, with his new companion/disciple Plum, you almost don't care. You've just accepted this reality, and really want to find out (as much as Plum and Quentin do) just what they're after and how they can pull off their heist.

Part of their research requires a trip to Fillory's Antarctica campus. Which I'd forgotten all about, much to my chagrin. Instead of traveling there as birds, they opt to travel as blue whales. A choice I just loved.

[Quentin]'d imagined that he'd get some kind of deluxe ocean-vision as part of his package of new whale-senses, but in fact he didn't see much better than he had as a human. With his eyes on different sises of his head his binocular depth perception was shot, and having no neck, all he could do to change the view was roll his eyes around or steer his whole humongous body. Also, unnervingly, he didn't seem to have any eyelids anymore. He couldn't blink. The urge decreased over time, but it never completely went away.

The Last Battle

You only had to see a unicorn lay open the side of a centaur once, the ribcage flashing white when the ripped skin flopped down, to swear a mighty oath never to fuck with or even look at another unicorn again. I'm putting down the hearts and fluffy clouds and backing away slowly. Don't want any trouble here. You can have all the rainbows.

Quentin didn't care. It was a bookstore, and he felt at home in bookstores, and he hadn't had that feeling much lately. He was going to enjoy it. He pushed his way back through the racks of greeting cards and cat calendars, back to where the actual books were, his glasses steaming up and his coat dripping on the thin carpet. It didn't matter where you were, if you were in a room full of books you were at least halfway home.

The lights were too bright, and there were too many TVs, but it was a bar, and that was another place, like bookstores, where Quentin felt at home. Drinks were a lot like books, really: it didn't matter where you were, the contents of a vodka tonic were always more or less the same and you could count on them to take you away to somewhere better or at least make your present arrangements seem more manageable.

The Magicians

A wonderful follow up to the first two books. Just the right mix of emotion and adventure.

I think this is the happiest I have been to get a book through first-reads. I loved the first two books in this series, but I read them quite some time ago, and I was worried I wouldn't remember enough to really enjoy this one. However, Grossman does a nice job of bringing the reader back up to speed and reminding them of all the craziness that has ensued. It's a good thing he does because this book builds on everything that has gone before while remaining a unique story in its own right.

I think I like this the best of the trilogy because I can finally relate to Quentin. He gets a lot of flack as a character for being selfish, immature, and generally unlikable. That's all true of the first two books, but I don't think that's a reason to write them off. The Quentin Coldwater of The Magician and The Magician King is a college kid, and he acts like a college kid oozing youthful ennui. College kids can be idiots and even when they aren't, they have a lot of lessons yet to learn. I think that 22 was probably the stupidest age of my life, the age when I made my worst decisions and concocted my most ill-thought out plans. At 22, you are invincible and the sheltered environment of a university, even a magical university occasionally overrun by horrors from other dimensions, provides a barrier against the real world.

The Quentin Coldwater of the The Magician's Land is 30, and his increased self-awareness helps make him a very realistic portrait of the age. He looks back at his mistakes and owns them. He makes new mistakes and owns those too. He has stopped whining, recognized that perpetually hunting a Questing Beast is not a healthy way to live, and tries to make something out of life once he realizes he is literally no longer living in a fairy tale. Quentin has grown out of his own story, and he has to start a new one. He runs into old ghosts (again, sometimes literally) and is repeatedly reminded of who he was. For those people, he's still that idiotic college kid, but now Quentin is sure enough of himself to say, “Yes, I was that. I'm not anymore.”

So if you enjoyed the first two books but were iffy on Quentin, this one is still worth the read. The actual story is just as dramatic and even twistier than the first two with new characters, new threats to Fillory, and tons of snarky references. Old characters return, again many of whom have matured and changed into new characters. Getting Eliot and Janet's POV is refreshing and lends them a depth that is never granted in the earlier chapters. The dialog remains one of the best parts, and even though the prose is extremely colloquial, it never sounds juvenile or cheesy. The plot winds down a dozen different roads and tangents, never ending up quite where it you'd expect and remaining engrossing right to the end.

I also would be remiss if I failed to point out that from a feminist perspective, this book is gold. Why? Plum. Plum is introduced, assigned to the role of Quentin's apprentice, and proceeds to become an autonomous character who never has a romantic subplot with anyone! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is possible to have a female POV character with no romantic subplot. A weaker writer would have had her fall into an unrequited love triangle with Quentin and Alice but it never happens. Can I get a hallelujah? Also, it's a great name. Grossman really has fun picking out great names.

Grossman has produced a lovely trilogy here, one that I am happy to recommend to my thirtysomething friends as a book for us. It's a story of consequences, self-awareness, and life after fairy tales which our generation needs.