The Magician King

Most of the book had transformed into boilerplate fantasy adventure. If I had a nickel for every time that Quentin used his byline, "Let's go on a quest," I could probably afford a bean burrito at Taco Hell. He steamrolled everything and everyone in his path to get exactly what he wanted or what he believed to be a righteous cause, and except for a few casualties along the way, we, as readers, get to watch him be the the greatest casualty of his own adventure.

The last development somewhat redeemed the rest of his humdrum story, but honestly, I wished there were more dire consequences heaped upon him. He's only middling likeable. In fact, because the books are written pretty well, it just highlights just how much I can't gloss over show more Quentin's no sense of wonder. It's like he's just going through the motions no matter what he ends up doing, and he's one of the four freaking kings of a Narniaesque land. "Let's go on a quest!"

If the author is actually peering at us through the pages and showing us his true colors, then I'd be tempted to say he despises the genre, so it begs the question... why is he writing in it? It's technically good, after all, and it even shows some really clever and interesting jumps in characterization and development. Unfortunately, the plot keeps running afoul of that great mechanism in the sky being cranked by a great silvery being.

I keep thinking about that one line from the first book where Alice complained at Quentin that he was the only student in the school who truly believed in magic, despite the fact that all the actual practitioners performed magic daily. It always struck me as WRONG. Even if Quentin still believes in the sanctity of Narniaesque, I never once got the real feeling that he really loved the place. Not really. It was always a place to run to or lounge in or perform some great deed to justify his being such a useless wastrel. I submit that Alice was plain wrong. He is the antithesis of love.

On the other hand, Julia was probably one of the most delightful of characters in either novel, and I did get the feel of complete obsession and grasping joy surrounding the magic she had been denied, like an addict or a spurned lover. She's miserable throughout the novels, but at least she actually felt thirteen steps closer to grasping the love the Quentin was enveloped in but couldn't sense. She had real obstacles to overcome and paid a real price. If anything, she completely puts Quentin to shame in every single quantifiable way, and she lost her humanity, her mind, her self-respect, and her expectation of joy; and believe it or not, I think she got the better end of the deal.

I thoroughly loved every part of her backstory and eventually came to dread coming back to the "present". In the end, I wish the whole book had been Julia's. I'd probably have no problems giving this a full 5 stars, and happily. She was always the underdog as opposed to the privileged upper-class and world-weary idiot, and who really cares about the ennui of the disaffected rich, anyway?

Maybe this is just my middle-class upbringing and sensibilities coloring my reading, and perhaps I ought to drape a cigarette over my fingers and let my face go slack in absolute boredom and gush over how, finally, one fantasy writer has FINALLY captured the world-weary worldview of the privileged and elite, but no. It's not going to happen.

I'll keep reading through the third book because I've been promised that happy endings do eventually come to those who wait, and I do like all the characters enough to forgive most of their foibles. Usually, the big ideas can be enough to firmly root me to a series even if I'm pissed at the characters, and this one has enough ground that I'm satisfied. Seven keys was kinda hokey, but the eventual grand quest was all right, even if it kinda fizzled like a T S Eliot poem at the end.

Do I recommend? Well, I've read a lot of fantasy that is much worse than this, and most of my complaint stems from the misplaced hope that it can rise above the simmering hint of greatness. I keep looking for that spark that will send this into the sky. Maybe it will show up in the third novel. I don't know. show less

I wish 4.5 stars was an option for this worthy sequel to "The Magicians. I'm making an effort to be more stingy with my praise so my favorite books can be distinguished from my almost favorite. This book both subverts and enjoys the notion of a classic quest as Quentin accedes to the demands of talking animals and attempts to save a magical kingdom from collapse. Witty and thoughful, this would be story enough, but the dark elements from the prequel come through in the parallel back-story of Julia, who never had Quentin's cozy experience at Brakebills school of magic, who instead took a more tragic route before rejoining Quentin in Fillory. Any adult who enjoys both Harry Potter and David Sedaris is likely to appreciate both books in show more the series and hunger for more. show less

http://staffersmusings.blogspot.com/2011/07/magician-king-lev-grossman.html

To deconstruct something, literally, means to take it apart. In a literary sense, to deconstruct something means to take apart the structure and expose the assumption that things have a fixed reference point beyond themselves. I am of the opinion that The Magicians is a deconstruction of the young adult fantasy novel (almost, I'll come back to this later). It strips down each of the components that represent the genre, exposes them, knocks them into unfamiliar shapes, and ultimately uses them to tell a narrative that's still familiar. If Magicians is the beginnings of a deconstruction, than Lev Grossman's sequel, The Magician King, is a reconstruction of that show more same paradigm.

To anyone who's read Grossman's first novel, everything will be familiar. Quentin is now a King of Fillory. Along with his old friends from Brakebills (Eliot and Janet), he is joined by Julia - one of his closest friends from his days as a normal person, or as normal as Quentin gets. It turns out ruling a magical kingdom gets rather boring and Quentin soon finds himself in search of a quest. He sets off on a benign sea journey to an island called Outer to check up on their unpaid taxes. Joined by Julia, the pair find themselves caught up in a larger war that sends them bouncing between worlds trying to save Fillory from destruction.

In many ways I think Magician King is the novel Magicians detractors wanted to read. It doesn't have near the level of nihilism or self-loathing that's so present in the first novel. Nor is it full of the boredom and minutia of learning magic at Brakesbills. What results is something far more akin to the standard fantasy novel - there's a quest, a wrench gets thrown into it, and then ultimately the quest is resolved. Characters undergo change and demonstrate growth concluding with some measure of closure for all of them. What survives from the first novel is Grossman's tremendous prose, clever integration of modern culture, and warm vulnerable characters.

A major departure structurally, half the novel is told from a point of view other than Quentin's. Julia's flashbacks detail her journey to becoming a magician on the "mean streets" and draw a juxtaposition to Quentin's rather posh education. Since anyone reading Magician King should have read the first installment, being able to see what became of Julia will be like remembering a dream thought forgotten. Her absence from the second half of Magicians was a glaring omission and Grossman's resurrection of the character works beautifully. Even outside the flashback chapters where she is viewed only through Quentin's point of view, Julia shines as a character emerging onto the stage as Alice and Eliot did in the first novel.

Julia's story arc is primarily where Grossman begins his reconstruction. The components of this narrative are in familiar shapes and move through a very linear process where she is identified, inducted, educated, and graduated from her learning phase only to move on and join a quest to save the world. Sure she's a lot more Draco Malfoy than Hermione Granger and her education is more on par with what Harry might have expected if Snape taught all his classes, but the fundamental plot movements are that of a coming of age tale - albeit of someone in her early 20s.

Contrasting that throughout are Quentin's points of view from the present where he continues to lack direction or the ability to properly produce serotonin. For a deconstruction to work (I'm coming back to it now), at least as I'm applying the term here, the disparate pieces that were exposed in Magicians have to ultimately come back together into a recognizable shape. Otherwise, what's the point? Through Julia and her growth as a character, Grossman pulls Quentin along by his bootstraps providing a completed arc that is recognizable as a young adult fantasy (again, there is an irony here given Quentin is closer to 25 than 15).

Now if that's all Magician King had going for it, it might be a successful bookend to Magicians, but it would be a pretty boring read. Beyond the main story arc Grossman delves into cultural mythology frequently paying homage to and poking a little fun at European legend. Many called Magicians Harry Potter for adults. The comparison is hardly accurate, but if it were then this part of Magician King might be American Gods for teenagers. Overlaying the themes of mythology and de/reconstructed YA fantasy, is the edge Grossman gives to everything he writes. Removing all of the novels undertones, Grossman still leaves his readers with an adventure romp that can be enjoyed purely on surface value alone.

Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, Grossman's deftly applies modern culture to alleviate what is an oftentimes dark tale. Sure he sometimes tries overly hard to cram in some hilarious references to an internet meme or incorporate a rap lyric such as "suckers walk, players ride." But for the most part these references provide laugh out loud moments.

In my review of Magicians I said I wasn't sure it demanded a sequel. I thought it stood on its own and adding to it would only weaken the original novel. I feel simultaneously vindicated and chastened. In many ways Magician King is a superior novel. It has a more complete plot and works better as a narrative. At the same time, it lacks some of the inherent charm that comes from tearing down and exposing long held conventions. I still believe Magicians stands on its own as a piece of fiction. That said, I also believe that Grossman's intended thought experiment isn't complete without the second verse. What to do?

The truth is, the sequel is just as good Magicians. For many it will be a more rewarding read and it would not surprise me if many who were turned off by the first novel will find a lot more to like in The Magician King. But to me it will never approach The Magicians because of its audacity to challenge its readers. show less

Be aware before reading this book that it has a rape scene in it in the latter half of the book which can be triggering to some readers.

This book was amazing. A literary love story to 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' (and a little bit of 'His Dark Materials' too), it picks up two years after 'The Magicians' left off, with Quentin, Julia, Eliot and Janet as the rulers of Fillory. Something is killing their beloved land, however, and they must embark on a quest to fix it. The story takes us from Fillory to Earth to Fillory again, to lands previously unknown to us and situations we didn't even think possible but should have seen coming because, of course, this is Grossman's world we're talking about. I loved every second of it, especially show more (a) the fact that Quentin isn't that much of an asshole in this book as he was in the first and (b) the story with Julia. Knowing what had happened to her and how she ended up with magic, how she became so strong, was so satisfying but so heartbreaking. I'm starting the final book tomorrow. I can't wait. show less

It's Narnia crossed with Harry Potter, with a lot more sex, drugs, and debauchery--add in some David Eddings snark in the dialogue a la the Belgariad and a heaping plate of pop culture references, and you have Grossman's budding fantasy series.

I was not a huge fan of the Magicians. The concept, loved it; I grew up reading Narnia obsessively and was all too ready to identify with Quentin, the lucky boy who actually got to move to his magic kingdom. But the snark was overwhelming, I didn't particularly care for the spoiled-rich-kid characters, and I found the debauchery a bit overdone. The Magician King is MUCH, much better.

For one thing, the characters act like grown-ups. They are not obnoxious kids with too much money. They're royalty. show more And Quentin is bored. His boredom drives him into a classic Save the Universe fantasy plot, but it's good, it builds well, the characterization is well done, the writing moves quickly and is in spots genuinely lovely. Julia's sub-plot feels genuine.

And thank you, Lev Grossman, for writing female characters who feel like people first and women second, who have personalities, who don't just come on stage to be fucked by the hero and then waltz away again, who actually want power and are independent etc. I like your female characters and trust me, I am not easily pleased in that department, as any friend of mine who has ever listened to one of my fantasy diatribes can attest.

Also, so happy to see genuine subcultures here. If there's one thing fantasy generally lacks, it's complexity; Good is good and Bad is pure evil and there's no mix, and nothing but Good or Bad. Grossman builds a couple of complicted worlds with complictated people in them. In that sense this is much more mainstream or literary fiction and much less like standard fantasy.

But mostly it's Narnia for grown-ups, and without all that tiresome Christian symbolism. If you liked Narnia, read it. I'm looking forward to book #3. show less

I really, really enjoyed Lev Grossman's "The Magicians," and it seems that I wasn't the only one. Since I've never really been drawn to the whole swords-and-sorcery thing, it feels a bit odd to admit that I saw a lot of myself in that book's characters, but -- the whole slightly knowing Harry Potter thing aside -- their post-collegiate ennui and the things they gained and lost as their stories progressed really seemed to resonate. Actually, I liked "The Magicians" so much that even though I pre-ordered "The Magician King," I hesitated to actually begin reading it. After all, what if inferior sequels made me forget what I liked so much about the original? Heck, I haven't picked up the Neutral Milk Hotel's "On Avery Island" for roughly show more the same reason. Sometimes it's best to leave more than good enough alone, right?

I guess the best thing about "The Magician King," then, is that it's a worthy successor to the book that preceded it. If some of the novelty, for both readers and characters, is gone, Grossman still hasn't lost his sense of humor or his talent for describing fantasy worlds with perspectives imported from the real one. Quentin Coldwater, our protagonist, is still sensitive, still undone by the women in his life, and still searching for something more. Grossman surprised me a little, though, by delving into the experiences of Julia, Quentin's one-time love interest, who found herself on the wrong side of the magician/muggle class divide and missed out on a proper magical education. The scene in "The Magicians" in which she clumsily executed a minor spell for Quentin in order to prove magical bonafides that she obviously didn't possess was one of that book's more heart-rending scenes, and I feel almost relieved when she was brought back here as a powerful, if still unschooled, spellworker. Also, I should note that while "The Magicians" seemed most concerned with class and privilege -- transposed, of course, to a slightly corny version of Narnia -- "The Magician King" seems most concerned with what might be called the awful inevitability of plot. Quentin and his friends are royals, but even royals need quests, and even heroes can be forced to make hard choices and accept necessary sacrifices. Of course, the fact that Grossman's characters are exponentially more self-aware than real-deal fantasy characters who face similar situations is what makes these novels interesting to a wider literary audience. Readers who are allergic to irony and like to take their fantasy neat should still avoid these books. Even so, Grossman includes enough genuinely beautiful imagery and enough potentially involving -- and well-organized -- fantasy elements that I wonder if he might make a good "traditional" fantasy author yet. Best among these, I think, is the book's ending, which takes Quentin and Company to the literal end of the world aboard a magical ship. It's a haunting scene, and a finale as beautiful as any that's been written since Thomas Mann stuck the last few pages of "Death in Venice." The fact that it comes at the end of a book full of wizards and magical beasts only seems to make it more poignant. I'll be sure to pick up the third -- and presumably last -- book in this series, which is supposed to be released later this year. I'm happy to say that "The Magician King" has convinced me that I can cast my reservations aside and just dive right into it. show less

The Magician King by Lev Grossman is as good as I wanted the first book in this series to be.

The big flaw with The Magicians was that toying with the genre sometimes overshadowed telling the story. That's not the case with this second book. The parameters of Mr. Grossman's magical world are already defined and the genre gimmicks are already established. There's no need to rehash them and so he doesn't.

Which means that The Magician King can focus on simply telling a good story. The storytelling in this novel is more cohesive and coherent than its predecessor, and as a result it's much more powerful and effective.

The Magician King has the substance that the premise of the first book promised but mostly failed to deliver.

The trope that Mr. show more Grossman takes on with The Magician King is the traditional hero's story. But he doesn't toy with it the way he toyed with magical fantasy in the first book. Rather, what he offers us here in a sincere exploration of hero stories—not as a trope but to find out what it actually means to be a hero. The non-glamorous and often painful reality of it. Not just the accomplishment but the costs of being a hero.

This is where Mr. Grossman's excellent character work finally pays off. The characters in The Magician King aren't necessarily good people, but the heart of this story is the genuine friendship and love they all feel for each other. Their connections run deep and we care about them because of it.

That's the biggest difference between this book and the first one: in The Magicians, I cared more about the world than about the characters. In The Magician King, the world is no less compelling but I care about the characters more. Which is as it should be.

The Magician King also takes us deeper into the mechanics of the magical world and reveals even larger vistas than the first book. It takes us through the culture of magic that exists outside of officially sanctioned schools like Brakebills. It shows us—literally—what lies beneath the Neitherlands. In the end, it leaves Quentin in a position that leaves me at a loss to imagine what might happen next.

I can't wait to find out. show less