Lev Grossman has written a very clever book, one that plays with the tropes of fantasy without falling into the trap of reiterating them. It's fun material, almost wicked in the way it twists some of the stereotypes of the genre, while simultaneously acknowledging them with genuine affection.

The Magicians is ultimately a coming of age story, but it is centered around early adulthood as opposed to adolescence. The protagonist, Quentin Coldwater is a gifted young man who despite his intelligence has difficulty living in the real world, preferring to retreat to the setting of his beloved fantasy books set in the Narnia-like land of Fillory. When Quentin is provided the opportunity to leave Brooklyn to study magic at an exclusive academy in upstate New York, he cannot believe his luck, and dives into his studies with a competitive drive and determination that marks his many years of recognition as a gifted student. However, the more Quentin learns, the less wonderful his magical escape from Brooklyn appears to be, and armed with his new knowledge, his drive to escape reality to a perfect world returns again and again.

Upon graduation, Quentin and his friends discover that now that they have virtually unlimited power, they have no idea what to do with it, and their struggle to overcome their growing ennui leads them down a very dangerous path, where success comes at a high price.

The characters are vivid in this book and I found myself deeply engaged with all of them, which made it even more painful whenever one of them would do something stupid and hurtful to another, as adult humans so often do. I found myself getting quite emotional during several scenes in the book, so much so I was compelled to set the book down from time to time. This is a mark of good fiction, and was the reason I began recommending this book to people when I was only halfway through it.

That being said, there were occasional issues in the book that irked me. There were some scenes where I had a tendency to lose track of characters. One of them would jump into a conversation without my realizing that they had previously been in the scene, or there would be a scene transition where it was not clear if all the characters from the previous scene were present anymore.

The other issue I had was with the end of the story, which is difficult to discuss without spoilers, but the issue is that the technicalities of the situation that Quentin finds himself in seems to preclude the implied ending of the final scene. Despite those inconsistencies, I have decided, only after much thought, that I still like the ending, which was not my initial reaction. However, upon reflection I have found myself growing fond of it, and the emotional resonance of the final moment of the book.

Bottom line: This book is not without its faults, but I enjoyed it throughly, even when I wanted to beat the protagonist about the head and neck for his foolishness, and I would not hesitate to recommend it.