The Magicians

The Magicians by Lev Grossman has been on my must-read list for about a year now.  When I moved to Nashville, it was one of the first catalog searches I did at the public library; much to my dismay, of the dozen or so copies they had across the various branches, all were gone.  They were also on hold.  All of them.  For a long time. 

This was a bittersweet recognition that people here actually read.  No offense to anyone from my hometown, but there was usually not a line on a book, unless it was the latest Harry Potter.  Hmm....speaking of which...

This book was a blatant rip-off of C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling.  I'm surprised he didn't sign his name as L.V. Grossman.  There's nothing new here.  Nothing.  Almost every aspect was apparently 'borrowed' from a highly known book or movie.  I am getting a bit ahead of myself, though.

This is the 400-page story of Quentin Coldwater, a bright high school student who is getting ready to apply to colleges.  His life takes a wild turn when he is accepted into the magic school called Brakebills.  It's a thousand wonders he was not a neglected orphan as well. 

As I mentioned, there's not really anything new here, but there was a bit of magic--at least for me.  It's a definite page-turner, but for this reader, it was more about getting down to when the real story was going to start.  Around page 357 or so, I realized that Grossman was running out of time.  I never got particularly attached to Quentin because he doesn't really seem to have many unique or redeeming qualities.  Maybe this was the magic?  I kept reading, despite myself.  It was a decent book, but it was mostly like Hogwarts with some f-bombs and alcohol thrown in for good measure.

Notable excerpt:

"...perfection is a nervy business, because the moment you spot the tiniest flaw it's ruined."