THE AUDIOBOOK
Commute audiobook. Criteria: 1. Must be simple enough that I can divide my attention between book and driving and still follow along. 2. Interesting/complex enough to keep me awake on very long drives. 3. Optionally, a great reader.

1. Honestly probably a little complex for a commute audiobook. I kept having to back up when I would realize I had missed something important.
2. Definitely interesting. I never minded having to back up and listen to something again. I looked forward to my drives knowing if get to listen to more.
3. Great reader with a gorgeous deep thrumming voice, I'd eagerly listen to him read the phone book. Though the "Australian" accent he uses for one of the characters is painful.

THE BOOK
It was awesome. Yes. Awesome. I really enjoyed the first book and was looking forward to this but it blew my wildest hopes of a worthy sequel completely out of the water. (Suddenly I doubt my knowledge of idioms. "Blow it out of the water" is an expression, right? That means something exceeded expectations? Am I making this up?)

Like The Magicians, The Magician King is divided into halves, but the halves are interwoven rather then sequential. Half deals with the aftermath of the events of The Magicians. The other half overlaps with the events of The Magicians-- it's the story of Julia, Quentin's real world friend with magic potential but who didn't get into magic school, and who set out to become a magician anyway. Let me be clear, I do not find her particularly likeable (true of everyone in these books) but I do love her story which felt more original than the magic school from The Magicians. Without the school, she (and lev grossman) had to get creative.

As with The Magicians, The Magician King is a well done satire of fantasy literature, managing to highlight and flout many of the conventions of the genre while also adhering to them. The end result is kind of nihilistic, really. Characters put everything they have into working toward their goals --and finding quests to give their lives meaning-- only to find that when all is said and done, there is no greater meaning. One day at a time, one foot in front of the other, and in the end all you're left with is yourself. Better hope you're not a giant sack o'misery... Oh wait.

I can't give that fifth star though, there are problems I can't (don't want to) ignore. Why is Julia so desperate to learn magic? Back in The Magicians she thought Quentin's obsession with the Fillory books was weird and juvenile; are we supposed to believe her here when she insists all she's wanted since she was little was to learn magic? Or is this an intentional sign of an unreliable narrator (which would add a level of interest--she's a genius with no insight into self). Also, why must we spend so much time hearing about the relative attractiveness and/or fuckability of all the female characters? It made sense in The Magicians which was all Quentin all the time (and Quentin is a giant asshole, so...). But we spend a lot less time inside Quentin's head in this book; it feels like the book--and maybe grossman?-- is objectifying women for no good reason, rather than Quentin, which is off putting. Another problem, not enough Janet. Bring her back in book 3!

Looking forward to book 3.