The Magicians: (Book 1) Paperback – 1 Jan. 2021

Very entertaining. A sort of grown up Harry Potter with a Narnia like world thrown in and a bunch of young magicians who, after graduating and spending some time like students/ young adults i.e. Sex ,drugs and drinking set off to find the Narnia like world.

Commonly described as "Harry Potter for adults", The Magicians is much more of a homage to the Chronicles of Narnia, with a passing nod to JK Rowling's world and a dash of Pullman here and there. I even thought Quentin and Eliot's friendship was a bit Brideshead at times, especially when Eliot began his descent into the bottle. Lev Grossman is obviously a huge fan of the high fantasy canon but I think he weaves those ideas into a world unique to him.Brakebills is an Ivy League college with a difference. Yes, every student is insanely intelligent and most likely a social outcast in the real world, but they also have the power of magic. Quentin had always been a bit of a loner, with an unrequited love of his best friend's girlfriend and an obsession with the childhood books of Fillory. The world of Fillory and the Chatwin children is clearly based on C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia and the books become more and more important to the story as time goes on. Once at Brakebills, it seems everyone has read them.Going back to the comparison to Harry Potter, I never felt that world was very real. It might have been entertaining but it was all very black and white and full of the fantastical. The Magicians comes across as very real, despite the fact that there's magic and things that are not understood. At one point, a professor warns them not to dig to deeply into the why, just to concentrate on the how.At the core of the novel is the idea that no good can come of chasing fantasies no matter how much you think your real life sucks. Quentin has never been particularly happy with his lot but there are moments that he will look back and and think "if only".At times I felt it was a little long. It is quite slow paced, which is by no means a bad thing, but those looking for an action packed adventure story might want to look elsewhere. The action scenes were probably my least favourite aspects of the book, not entirely convincing and I did tend to skim over them. The ending is fairly open but with the release of the sequel this September (2011), I think we can now guess what it means for Quentin.

Every lover of fantasy books is looking to immerse themselves in a world rich with imagination, peopled with memorable characters, a plot that satisfyingly balances action with description, and where serious concerns are leavened with a light touch of well observed humour . “The Magicians” series is a superlative fulfillment for those desires.Almost any review of these books will mention that they are derivative. And it’s true that the books could be subtitled “The Famous Five become geeky teenagers, study at Hogworts and then visit Narnia”. But just because something is a remake or a homage, doesn’t make it bad art. Picasso reworked Velazquez’ “Las Meninas” and created a masterpiece. Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins updated “Romeo and Juliet” to 1950’s New York and so created the powerful and enduring musical “West Side Story”. E. L James wrote fan fiction for the Twilight series and, well, created a whole new genre.The references that Grossman makes to other giant works of fiction only underscore one of the key themes – which is the role that beloved works of fiction can play in a reader’s life – from being a source of inspiration to acting as a ever-dependable friend and support in difficult times. The Fillory stories not only provide the central character, Quentin, with entertainment in his youth, but in times of despair he turns to them as a source of comfort, a mental blankie under which he can take refuge against the world. One can only assume that Grossman bases Quentin’s profound love for the Fillory books on his own experience of being transported by similar fantasy works.The premise of the books is “what would happen if a modern urban teenager suddenly entered Hogwarts / Narnia, with all his modern teenage neuroses and limitations”. The internal journey that Quentin undergoes is as important to the plot as the adventures that the characters experience – finding peace with himself and acceptance of his place in the world. The books can be seen as a metaphor for the experience of many real life generation X-ers – the world they find themselves is extraordinary, rich, full of opportunity, and compared with the world of say, 100 years ago, full of magic. The ability to communicate with someone miles away through a small handheld device, to search for information on almost any topic, to hold a video conference call, to find directions to your destination from wherever you are, with accuracy down to scant metres – these technologies are nothing short of magic if one can imagine viewing them through the eyes of a person living 100 years ago. Quentin’s personal difficulties should resonate with everyone who has felt unfulfilled while ostensibly living a comfortable life: even with all the gifts and wonder in the world available to you, why does happiness elude you. Quentin’s complaint that “it wasn’t what thought it would be” may sound frighteningly familiar. As Quentin discovers, blaming external circumstances does not solve the problem. Quentin only truly comes into his power when he accepts things, and himself, for what they are. The message here is that happiness comes from our internal journey and acceptance of ourselves, not our access to external wonders, now matter how magnificent.The subtle genius of this series is that the combination of influences is NOT an obvious one. It just seems that way because of Lev Grossman’s incredible imagination and the strength of his writing. The world he conjures is rich in detail and ideas, which, while riffing off the masterpieces that have gone before, nevertheless transports you to a new and vibrant universe. His writing is so strong that it disappears and allows the reader to fully enter the story without the distraction of poor prose or clunky similes. And what a world! Grossman launches off the base idea of “a school for magic” and “a world of talking creatures” to create a world so inventive and coherent that you have to make an effort to step back to appreciate just how imaginative it is. The plot and pacing are tight, and there is an acerbic humour that works like a slice of lemon in a gin and tonic.