The Magicians

This was genuinely one of the most grotesquely horrid things I could have picked up to read.
I really love the original series. It's innovative, it's weird. It has a ton of soul. It takes a group of incredibly flawed, unpleasant people and then it manages to break them and build them up and by the end I couldn't help caring about them. It was good. It had this defined mood. Something that worked for me.

This one, though. It feels like the writer only read some sort of a short summary without understanding what the hell the original was doing. One thing about the novels was that magic is hard work. You can't just wing it. It's boring and painful and it kill your soul a little. You grind, you make an effort. You have to be precise. You have to be a genius. Yes, even hedge witches.
Here we have a group of hedges just being allowed in to Brakebills. Why? Dunno. They don't have to take the exam, which was a crucial point in the novels. They don't have to take endless classes, they don't have to study patiently. They don't get sent to some Arctic hellhole to make them even more miserable.
Nah. They “just learnt Latin at a homeless shelter”. They just FEEL magic.
It looks like a spit in the face for the whole idea of how they gain true power in the books.

The magical protection on Brakebills just isn't a thing. Nothing exists. They literally teach battle magic to kids who don't even have the basics, because why not? Especially smart throwing in some kid who supposedly hates that they are even there. “Oh, you hate each other? FIGHT.” Brilliant.

The relationships between people are laughable. The whole thing starts with people kissing each other's ass and telling each other how lovely they are. Fuck off. The Magicians, the REAL ones had complex ways people related to each other. This one has “yassss, you are so GOOD, YAAAAS”.
Also insta love left and right. Two seconds of conflicts about it. Which gets resolved like nothing with 2 lines of dialogue.

What is pacing? We don't need no pacing.

Nor do we need art that looks good in any way. This was unpleasant to look at. The covers made me think this was going to at least be visually okay. Nah, mate. HORRID.

So basically shitty characters, done ugly, doing random illogical things, not following the in universe rules, the conflicts get left at nothing, nothing matters, the mood is ass...

I wouldn't recommend this to any living being.

I found the TV series entertaining and assumed I would enjoy the book. Sadly disappointed. In fact, I only read the first part up to Q's leaving the school. Basically, I got bored. The characters felt one-dimensional or their only features were psychological or social hangups. I normally enjoy books with magic and some form of explanation or consistent system of magic. Sanderson is an example of a writer who creates a world and magic as an integral part of it. Grossman just keeps writing about magic, layers, and layers of it. I just got bogged down in it. Waded through its syrupy form till I realized it had no real nutritional value. No art; no craft, just the loneliness of the long-distance runner paying in blood, sweat and tears, with little joy. Magic for masochists. Couldn't shake the feeling that all the characters if not for their magic were nihilists. In fact, Alice says to Q he's the only one who does believe in magic. Maybe that's the underlying theme and is something that is a factor in the TV series but I couldn't stomach it on the written page. I lost any empathy with the book characters; got bored and stopped early. Whereas I'm looking forward to watching the final TV season.

(3 stars.)
Some scenes felt odd and the conflict between the main couple seemed a bit too typical , maybe the author felt like conflict was needed so made it about that topic ?

Есть некая школа, куда собирают волшебников. У волшебников этих по идее никаких задач глобальных нет - ну, получают ребята высшее образование, только в сфере магии. Потом заканчивают этот “ВУЗ” и живут себе дальше тихонько - та же рутина, но можно колдовать себе тихонечко. ВУЗ отличается тем, что студенты его постоянно выпивают и постоянно, что ожидаемо, с похмелья. В общем, половина книги - это как раз про школу. Дальше ребята выпускаются и пытаются устроиться в жизни. Но как тут устроишься, когда познал вкус магии? Поэтому они всей своей компанией переезжают в Нью-Йорк и продолжают ежедневно бухать. Но им, конечно, очень, очень скучно, потому что магией пользоваться их научили, а мозгов не выдали, вот там все и депрессуют - один то ли гей, то ли просто дурак, вторая то ли шлюха, то ли просто внимания не достойна. Но у этих деток-волшебников есть нечто вроде библии, некая серия книга-сказок (ну, скажем, тот же Гарри Поттер на минималках), которую они читают и перечитывают несмотря на возраст. Как оказывается, книги эти описывают реальный мир, и, конечно, герои стремятся туда попасть, чтобы совсем не свихнуться со скуки.

Дальше могут быть спойлеры!
Все смешалось в доме Физиков... Я под впечталением от градуса бредовости этой книги. Под каким-то странным ожиданием, я прочитала 60% книги. Все ждала и ждала, что произойдет что-то эдакое. Причем первая половина книги была вполне сносной, как очень долгая завязка. Но когда наконец-то началось действие.... Но лучше по-порядку. Аналогия с Гарри Поттером не случайна, только Гарри Поттер всплакнул бы от такого волшебного мира. Персонажи настолько деревянные, что даже раскрашены непотребно - ни одного яркого характера, крайне мало логичных поступков. Целая куча бессмысленных сюжетных аппендиксов, которые вообще-то могли бы и привести куда-то, но что-то пошло не так, или автор про них забыл. Первая часть книги претендует на почетное звание “Гарри Поттер” для взрослых, но от взрослых там только алкоголь и секс, а остальное - абсолютная аналогия с детьми, которые очень хотят показаться взрослыми: неглубокое мышление, абсурдность поступков и другие нескладушки. Главный герой вызывает раздражение и составляет впечатление самовлюбленного идиота. Он то бросает своих лучших друзей (потому что а чего они встречаться начали), то грустит что его никто не понимает (сам он тоже не стремится никого понять), то хочет в свою волшебную школу, то ему там надоело, то он переживает за экзамены, а на следующей странице уже бахвалится собственным интеллектом и как ему все легко дается, то избегает разговора с девушкой, то отказывает ей - и вот уже ужасно, невыносимо любит, и вот тут же - изменяет ей! Больше того, изменив, он ждет что она будет ему вечно верна, и оскорбляет ее, когда она вступает в половое сношение (иначе не назовешь) с другим. Это само по себе выглядит абсолютно, беспросветно бредово и вызывает натуральный испанский стыд. В общем, с 60% книги я читала через абзац, не уставая удивляться глупости действия. Конец выше всяких похвал. Как будто на конец хвоста коту, например, приставили рыбий хвост - нелогично, топорно бредово, абсолютно не вяжется с повествованием. Не, ни за что не буду читать эту чушь и никому не советую.

I tried listening to this book back in 2020 amd, despite multiple restarts of the audiobook, was very bored. I'm going through a purge of my two read list the next few months because there are so many good books to read and why bother were the ones that are mediocre other friends, whose taste I appreciate it, also found this book to be. How does one take, Harry Potter, which is fun and exciting for both young adults and adults to read about, send it to the adult world, and make it deadly? I will not be reading to find out!

I really wanted to like this book, but I end up feeling rather conflicted about it.

The world it sets up is compelling, although the magical system is pretty much non-existent. Even though our “hero” Quentin Coldwater attends a magical school, we learn next to nothing about how spells work, how it's casted, and what potential it has. We're simply told that spells are cast, we see the effects they have, but we have no idea how it happens. For a book that has been, for so long, tagged as “Harry Potter for adults”, it sorely lacks the comprehensive world-building and deeply intricate magical system that Harry Potter has. Anyone who has even just watched the Harry Potter movies could probably name at least one or two famous spells (Alohomora? Expecto Patronum? Avada Kedavra?). Having finished this book, I struggle to remember any spell that was cast, and I probably couldn't explain coherently how magic even works in this world, except that only special people who can somehow wield it gets sent to Brakebills.

I was also terribly uninterested in the cast of characters. Eliot and Josh are interchangeable sex-driven jocks, Janet was just downright annoying and a one-dimensional archetype. Air-headed, endlessly promiscuous, and selfish, she's that stereotype of a high school cheerleader with no conscience, character, backstory, and simply exists to wreck some havoc in the main characters' lives and inject some sex into the plot line.

Quentin was worse. It felt like I had to sit through all that hormonal teenage whining of Order of the Phoenix again, but without any of the redeeming sparkle that Harry Potter generally offers. He was a main character that continually annoyed and annoyed and I could never find it in me to root for him at any one point. The lowest point of his character arc was when he blew up at Alice for sleeping with Penny, even though she had done it partly in retaliation at him sleeping with Janet. I kept waiting for Alice to round up on him and give him a taste of his own medicine, but she did nothing of the sort and that was so, so frustrating. Some parts of the story were just downright insulting to women, and while I get that the story is told through Quentin's eyes, I expected some sort of redemption at the end where he realised what a chauvinistic prick he's been - that never came and honestly, that really dampens my motivation to continue reading the trilogy.

For all its faults, I will say that the book got very engaging in the last third, and I found myself not being able to put it down. The general gist of the plot and the twists it involved were pretty satisfying, and it's only because of that, certainly not the characters, that I'd even consider continuing the trilogy.
, but that never came by the end of the book, which honestly makes me

All through this story, I changed my mind back and forth on whether I even liked the protagonist. The story feels raw and emotional. The mundane issues that drive the characters to take their next action are so much more relatable than the world or what you might expect would drive plot. It's a real-life coming of age novel with some quirks.

Caution: This story contains some sex, swearing, and abuse of alcohol and drugs. I thought the target audience was a little younger based on the book summary than it actually is.

I can't even begin to rate this book, because I still have no idea how I feel about it. I liked it...? But, I didn't...? So confused. I can say with certainty that I hated the ending, but that's about it.

4.5 *

I found the book quite sad and Quentin a very flawed, even unlikeable protagonist. It portrayed the pain of growing up and trying to find your place in the world beautifully, though.
I love the contrast between Quentin's idealized, childish vision of Fillory (from the kid's books he worshipped) and the real Fillory, a dangerous place in the midst of chaos.

It's been a while since I read fantasy after a lengthy ‘literary' binge, and a while since I finished a book and felt so strongly against it. I'd passed over this book a couple times with vague interest, eventually happening on it again after finding one of the actors on the TV show in a list of Indian-Americans on Wikipedia (yes, I was bored) and having an “I-should-read-this” moment.

The other initially appealing aspect of this book was its supposed existence as both satire and fantasy, which is usually a good combination if pulled off right (e.g. Diamond as Big as the Ritz, Tomcat Murr, Golden Ass). Unfortunately, I've noticed that such hybrid books require a certain amount of detachment from the plot to be effective, and the plot itself must be simple, not complex. Overloading the story with needless characters in these sorts of novels lends too much gravitas to the satirical plot, which fails to be simplistically heartwarming.

Richard, Janet, Penny, Eliot, Anais...the characters run together into one massive amalgam of a generic, mildly competent friend of Quentin's. The characters lacked individuality; usually, I have no trouble forming a mental picture of secondary characters in a novel, but I couldn't picture any of the aforementioned characters, aside from Grossman's unhelpful physical characteristics like “fat” and “busty”. Every character seems to have an untamed level of snark, and the inconsistency in intelligence between one day and another for some of these characters is completely unrealistic. One or two additional characters, aside from Quentin and Alice, could have balanced out the plot nicely and allowed room for more development.

Brakebills, itself, is a perfect example of the too-much-gravitas problem illustrated above. Making the oft-mentioned comparison to Hogwarts, it takes itself much too seriously for a novel loaded with references and supposedly spoofing “magic-school” and portal-fantasy novels. Grossman seems to have too much fun hanging out in his adolescence with these characters, rather than directly showing in supercilious fashion the degree of disrepair of the school (which Rowling managed to do very, very well). The same applies to Fillory, where Grossman himself seems to enjoy and obsess over the place, not just Quentin. There's a conflict in aesthetic here, a bright and pastel-filled place attempting to be portrayed through serious tone. I'd certainly appreciate a bit more author-voice in this book as a whole, and the sequels, I'm told, go straight into Fillory without a mark of regard for Earth.

The redeeming mark saving this book from a one-star review is Grossman's ability to write Quentin as a fairly realistic college student, albeit a few IQ levels lower than he claims. The ups and downs of life are reflected beautifully in Grossman's writing, and while I think diagnosing Quentin with depression (as in the show) is a little far, I don't think I've seen a character better written through so many moods and confidence levels as Grossman writes Quentin. Particularly noteworthy is the startlingly accurate way Quentin cannot recall information about the Fillory books (something he knows better than almost anyone) in times of high stress, while many other authors would assume that Quentin's knowledge base is consistent.

But in all, it was a sagging book that was overburdened with needless characters, had an unbalanced and fragmented plot, and overall, took itself too seriously. When I started, I was expecting a jagged social commentary through the dynamics of an elite magic school. What I got–a fantasy adventure–was fine, but there was much more potential for this book.

It isn't often that I see a show/movie without having read the books first, but here we are. I'm genuinely unsure if I would like this book as much if I wasn't already attached to the characters from watching the show.

When I started this book I didn't know what to expect: an “adult” Harry Potter? a mash-up of Narnia and Middle-Earth with a smattering of role-playing adventure gaming thrown in for good measure? And, now, after finishing, it's hard to fully explain how I feel about it, or what I even think about it. For there is a lot of feeling present, and my head is full to bursting with thoughts. This tale is so amazingly dense with both magic and human frailty that it seems like ages since I first began reading, and yet the time has flown by so very swiftly. I feel as I have lived years in a mere handful of days. I am left with this: the most real book about magic that I have ever read. Exciting and depressing, adventurous and mundane, human emotions by the bucket-load, successes and failures, all wrapped together. The next book in the series awaits...

Reading Challenge category: the first book of a trilogy

Boring, unoriginal, unimmersive, and the writing style is some of the most boring I've ever encountered. Terrible over all.

I'm not good at this, but holy crap I loved this book.

2.5. People seem to have very mixed views on this book. The first part of the book is reasonably ok, but the latter part of the book descends into a rambling plot, full of holes, and dull as a dull thing. The writing is mediocre, and the characters all seem to be maladjusted without anything going for them. Particularly the hero Quentin, who is a miserable, odious git.

Ho. Hum. The copy I'm reading is trilogy omnibus edition. Do I carry on and see if it gets better - or worse.

Seriously.... I don't know how to review this book. I'm giving it 3.5 stars and I'm not even 100% sure that is the rating I want to give it.

I really enjoyed the premise of the book and what it had to often. I'm extremely happy we got a book about people in college!!... even though not really? The part in university (Book I) seemed like a lead up to the part where they get out because nothing spectacular really happens, yet at the same time I love that because it seems so real.

So many mixed feelings. My favorite characters were also Alice and Penny so UGH

Quentin is a jerk and an idiot. I really dislike him and he needs to grow the hell up– this is probably the reason I even dislike the books. I wish I could have read through Alice's eyes or even Eliot's eyes– and he is DRUNK MOST OF THE TIME.

I'm irritated with how things happened or how fast school went without much incident, but happy about all the cool stuff! I'm kinda feeling confused because as much as magic was used it didn't feel used often.

All in all, the characters acted like real friggin people. They aren't perfect; they aren't even all gorgeous models; they aren't the best at what they do either. These magicians have flaws, worries, anxieties, and stupid logic (I'm so looking at you QUENTIN!!) and as frustrating as that is, it makes it real and entertaining.

Will I read the sequel? Ugh, I don't know... as of now it isn't high on the list, but perhaps I'll go back sooner or later...

Une sorte de Harry Potter pour jeunes adultes, avec un ton plus adulte et des thèmes plus matures abordés. J'en garde un bon souvenir, même si je n'ai pas encore pris le temps de lire les suites de cette saga.

It got good, then bad, then good, then bad, then... It is worth trying if you enjoyed Narnia, or HP, or Young Elites, even if it is way darker and more grown up. But I'll stop here.

A disappointing attempt at bridging Narnia and Hogwarts that took six months and a lot of willpower to complete. I am having a hard time working up the courage to continue the trilogy.

A poor man's Harry Potter? The college part was readable, there were some fantasy elements, the magic as a boring and difficult thing to learn was interesting.

But when the main characters became seniors, and had learned all they could have about magic, then the books turn into a mundane young adult novel, with two of the most brilliant magical minds in the world wondering about meeting each other parents and what they will do now that college is almost over?

By the way, the TV Series capture the book pretty well. Did not like it either, stopped watching the same part I stopped reading.

Read about 70% (CD 8 of 14)

2.5 stars. I watched the first episode of The Magicians on SyFy - and was really intrigued. A story about adult magicians fighting a terrifying evil. So I immediately stopped watching the series and picked up the book. Well, I was disappointed to say the least. While there were brief instances of adventure and intrigue, the majority of the novel focused on a group of spoiled, ungrateful, morbid group of twenty somethings and how nothing ever made them happy. This is one of those very rare cases where the show is better than the book. I'll stick with that then.

I really enjoyed this story. I have to admit, instead of finding it charming I was distracted every time another fantasy book was referenced, for me it was a little too blatant to be funny.

But, by the end I was very interested in the story and invested in the well-being of the characters.

Update for second read through

Magicians is exponentially better the second time. Being able to expect the overt fantasy references I was not distracted by them and was instead able to enjoy them.

I really enjoyed this overall. I preferred the part at Brakebills to the part in Fillory though. Quentin was a bit mopey, but since I've been in a mopey mood myself that didn't need bother me as much as it might have if I'd read it at a different time. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy.

With the new SyFy Magicians series airing, and a number of people recommending this series, I decided to give it a shot. While expecting a more campy Harry Potter adaptation, what I got was a present day magical tale – a combination of HP, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Apocalypse Now. In a book that could've gone very campy, it managed to stay serious. I'm looking forward to seeing where the story goes next.