Review - The Magicians
The Magicians (Lev Grossman)
I do not know how I really feel about this book. I dipped in and out of it, sometimes intrigued and sometimes indifferent, and finally read the last half in one go. There are a lot of things I like about it -- the realism, the bleakness, the emptiness that Quentin feels, the half-embarrassment about wanting to go to Fillory. Sometimes I liked the intertextuality, the references to series' like Narnia and Harry Potter; sometimes I wished it would try to be more of a story in its own right. Quentin is a hard character to like, because he spends so much of his time being miserable, waiting for the next thing to somehow lift him up and fill up the gaps in his life.
The more likeable characters, like Alice, remained somewhat background. I loved what she did in the end, but at the same time, I didn't feel as sad as I wanted to about it. I liked Julia, and wished that she was better developed, that her part in it was made just that bit more clear.
I wanted to fall in love with the characters, with the world, and never did. There were some awesome scenes and some really good quotes -- I liked Alice's accusation of Quentin, that he's not happy, even in Fillory; I liked the scene where Jane breaks the watch.
But I never got to the point of feeling really satisfied. It's good, it's worth reading, and yet...
I do not know how I really feel about this book. I dipped in and out of it, sometimes intrigued and sometimes indifferent, and finally read the last half in one go. There are a lot of things I like about it -- the realism, the bleakness, the emptiness that Quentin feels, the half-embarrassment about wanting to go to Fillory. Sometimes I liked the intertextuality, the references to series' like Narnia and Harry Potter; sometimes I wished it would try to be more of a story in its own right. Quentin is a hard character to like, because he spends so much of his time being miserable, waiting for the next thing to somehow lift him up and fill up the gaps in his life.
The more likeable characters, like Alice, remained somewhat background. I loved what she did in the end, but at the same time, I didn't feel as sad as I wanted to about it. I liked Julia, and wished that she was better developed, that her part in it was made just that bit more clear.
I wanted to fall in love with the characters, with the world, and never did. There were some awesome scenes and some really good quotes -- I liked Alice's accusation of Quentin, that he's not happy, even in Fillory; I liked the scene where Jane breaks the watch.
But I never got to the point of feeling really satisfied. It's good, it's worth reading, and yet...