thedfls

A three stars review isn't really a ringing recommendation for what I don't feel like was a bad book and I feel kind of guilty about giving it such a low rating. There is a lot to like about The Magicians. I don't think that for me it deserves more than three stars, but I want to be up front and say that I think some of this is personal taste stuff. If you are interested, I wouldn't tell you not to read it. From here on down there may be a few minor spoilers. I tried to be intentionally vague, but it is hard to make a point with no context. 1) A tale of two stories. I didn't know what I was getting into when I started this book. Lev Grossman was on Writing Excuses and I liked what he had to say, so I decided to pick up his book. I knew nothing about it. I just walked in to the library, it was on the shelves, and I took it home. I wasn't sure if The Magicians was YA or adult. The first 150 pages or so screamed YA. It screamed it in a loud, "I am trying to mimic Harry Potter and milk some of that money," kind of way that really annoyed me. The writing was good, but I was struggling to find some originality. This all changed in the middle. 2) Depression and angst. The meat of the story - the original bits that are worth trudging through the opening to get to - are very adult. This is definitely not a YA novel in any way that I would refer to YA. There is sex (only slightly graphic, but a decent amount of it), a lot of drugs and drinking, and a distinct lack of a moral compass for most of the characters. I would not recommend you read this to your children. The characters are just never happy. Occasionally, the main character thinks things might on an upswing, but it doesn't last long and he gets put right back down again. This darkness and depression carries from the first page (if you care to notice it), all the way through to the end of the book. Its not joyous. There is a clear statement being made by Grossman on the nature of magic and what it would be like to have magical powers. Maybe he is setting up the rest of a series and is intentionally leaving on a low point, but the thing that hit me at the end was not a feeling of enjoying a journey. I just kind of wondered what was the point. I had a similar feeling at the end of many of Joe Abercrombie's books. This is a direction for fantasy that a lot of people are not going to like. Personally, I have read all of Abercrombie's books and a couple are high on my good books list, but I need something in the story. I need to see character growth, a journey, an expansion of being. The end of The Magicians finds us very much back where we started. Not to mention that there is a cliffhanger that is practically begging you to buy the next book. So, read it. Especially, if you like what Abercrombie is doing with fantasy ideas, this is a good place for you. Maybe you'll like it more than I did.

2022-10-29 03:33