The Magicians

I'm a little late in reading this, I realize - the sequel is now out, and here I am just getting to it. I remember when “The Magicians” came out, critics likened it to “Harry Potter, but with older kids.” Of course, the fans called it “Harry Potter, but with older kids!” I guess it was whether you used an exclamation mark that made the difference.

Personally, I found the novel a little uneven. Prior to going off to magic university, I liked the protagonist, Quentin. At school he was a jerk, but ok, not following some of your decisions or comments, a little out of the blue, but I can move along past the angst of entering a new world. By the end of the book I cared less and less about his choices, what he was doing, or even why. I cared more for the secondary characters than for Quentin, and I never got that emotional bond that's supposed to tie you to book and make it impossible to put down.

The coolest part of the book was the laying out of the Narnia like story the characters grew up with, and then interacting with the real thing. But even here the story was uneven. Some of it was the gritty underbelly of a pseudo-Narnia you know is lurking in the shadows, but then it stopped and became all quick brushstrokes again, glossing over any sense of depth and leaving it all feeling hollow.

The parts of this novel that were good, were really, really good. Sadly, the parts that weren't dragged this down a couple of stars in my opinion.