hardcover, 619 pages
Published Dec. 3, 2014 by Thorndike Press.
As with all good final parts, The Magician's Land ties up many loose ends, brings the grandiose at hitherto unseen levels (including a battle that gives Lord of the Rings a run for its money), and leaves you wanting more even though there is no more. The story could continue, it doesn't need to.
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Content warning General spoilers
Oh boy, I have finally finished this series. I had a complicated relationship with the two books prior to this one, so it was entirely expected when I had complicated feelings about this one. As per usual, I'm writing this right as I finished reading.
For the positives, I can say that this book had a far more interesting start. I really enjoyed following Quentin after he was kicked out of Fillory. I actually found myself enjoying his character, which I was thoroughly surprised by. Plum was an interesting addition, too; I didn't necessarily love her, but she did add some interesting aspects to the plot. The whole bit with breaking the incorporate bond was my favorite part of the book, specifically. I really loved learning more about Mayakovsky and I honestly wish we had learned more about him throughout the book series. I wanted to know more about his background and upbringing as a magician and what he learned while bound to Breakbills south. It's understandable we couldn't go into that level of detail though.
For negatives, I really didn't like the Fillory bits in the beginning. Elliot was not what I expected character-wise, but that one's on me since I created my own ideas of what he was like from prior brief interactions. I feel like we never got to really experience Elliot, which is a shame. I feel like he could've been a really interesting addition to the plot. The bit at the end where Quentin finally understands the spell for turning magic back into matter felt rushed, and so did Quentin becoming god. I logically understand why those events needed to take place and how they make logical sense in-universe, I just wished we spent more time with Quentin where he slowly started piecing things together. I do like, however, that some growth was shown in Quentin's character when he relinquished control. For my last remark, there was just so much "I am 14 and this is deep" in these books. It never really calmed down as the series continued, and a lot of the time it was only worthy of an eye-roll.
Overall, I liked it better than the other books, but I didn't like it enough to give it a 4/5. I still have a lot of complicated feelings about the series, and honestly I felt like I was in a toxic relationship with it at times, but I made it far enough to read all of them. That's a feat within itself. So bravo, Lev Grossman, for making me read all 3. Glad to be able to ruminate on this series with the plot resolved.
Es fängt vielversprechend an, wie eine bessere Harry-Potter-Version, ist aber im Mittelteil nur die öde Geschichte einer unsympathischen Clique an einer Ivy-League-Universität, mit etwas Magie. Es wird viel getrunken. Im letzten Viertel folgt dann ein kurzer Action-Teil, der mechanisch abgearbeitet wirkt und dann eine wieder sehr, sehr langweilige, lange und lustlose Zusammenfassung, was in den nächsten Jahren so alles geschah.
If you've been reading the series, I recommend you finish it by reading this book. It wraps up several of the overarching plot lines and brings closure to many character stories. This series is a bit of an odd one for me. Despite classifying it as fantasy in my blog, it isn't quite that. It has elements of fantasy, but it's more grounded in reality. Yet it's not magic realism in that way either; if anything, it's its opposite: magic without fantasy. This is a book about magic and fantasy for fans of neither, for fans of contemporary fiction that have little to no idea about speculative genre fiction and have no strong interest in pursuing it. It's nevertheless, an interesting and engaging read, and this final book is probably the best one in the trilogy.
See a full review at my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2018/11/book-review-magicians-land-by-lev.html
Brakebills. It's like Hogwarts, but for college students. And less fun.
Quentin, who grew up obsessed with the magical land of Fillory (Narnia), is suddenly whisked into Brakebills College to develop his unknown skills in magic. Quentin is a magician--not the greatest wizard who ever lived, but he seems to do a fair job once he's had some training. But he's insufferable and I hate him. He is the poster child for poor decisions. Every time I thought I couldn't hate him more, he does another bone-headed thing. Seriously, dude. You are the worst.
But the story is ok enough for me to give it 3 stars. Mostly for Alice, but also because I stuck with it through the end. And because I'm a masochist and I already bought it, I will read book 2.
This story gets off to a slow start, but I didn't mind, because Grossman's writing style is very pleasing. Also, he did need to make clear that the main character, Quentin, was bored and depressed, as well as very bright and academically ambitious.
Without rehashing the the synopsis already provided, I'll say that Grossman's novel does stand on the shoulders of earlier fantasy works, but with a difference: this tale has an existential message. Quentin thinks that certain things will bring him happiness, but he discovers that life is not so easy.
As a young boy, Quentin becomes obsessed with a series of fantasy books about a land called Fillory, an allusion to Narnia. I was once attached to those books, and really enjoyed this nod to C. S. Lewis. (I, too, wondered why Lucy, Susan, Peter, and Edmund couldn't stay there forever.)
Since this is not a young adult …
This story gets off to a slow start, but I didn't mind, because Grossman's writing style is very pleasing. Also, he did need to make clear that the main character, Quentin, was bored and depressed, as well as very bright and academically ambitious.
Without rehashing the the synopsis already provided, I'll say that Grossman's novel does stand on the shoulders of earlier fantasy works, but with a difference: this tale has an existential message. Quentin thinks that certain things will bring him happiness, but he discovers that life is not so easy.
As a young boy, Quentin becomes obsessed with a series of fantasy books about a land called Fillory, an allusion to Narnia. I was once attached to those books, and really enjoyed this nod to C. S. Lewis. (I, too, wondered why Lucy, Susan, Peter, and Edmund couldn't stay there forever.)
Since this is not a young adult book, sex, alcohol, and violence do happen.
Just a note: late in the book, Grossman used the expression "howling fantods." I like to think this is a nod to David Foster Wallace.
I enjoyed this quite a bit, and would certainly recommend it.
Good conclusion to the series; the biggest issue I have with the series in general is that with Quentin we are always told, not shown who he is. Somehow, Grossman makes these stories work.
