Book Review: The Magicians
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Magicians has been touted as Harry Potter for grown-ups. I haven’t read Harry Potter (or even seen the movies!) so I can’t speak to how it compares to The Magicians.
Highly intelligent high school senior Quentin Coldwater loves to read and re-read a set of children’s fantasy novels to escape the boredom of his daily life. One day he stumbles upon the Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy. He passes the rigorous entrance exams and begins his college education at Brakebills studying to be a REAL magician.
While at school he forms close friendships with a subset of students called the Physical Kids. They stick together after graduation, struggling to find their way in the world outside Brakebills. After making a surprising discovery, they decide to embark on a dangerous journey together.
This book and its characters were so dark and gloomy that I had a really hard time feeling connected to them. I thought Quentin especially was an ass and had a hard time sympathizing with him. The plot had enough action and suspense to keep my interest until the end; however I doubt I’ll read the second book in the series when it comes out. The moral of the story seemed to be, “Life sucks before you become a magician and it sucks after you become one too.”
By this book at:
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