The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Magicians Trilogy ends on a high note as I realize how much this series has made an impression on me. This series gets dirty. Grossman could have written a much more epic and planned series but he chose to create a portal fantasy series, like many of the ones that came before, on randomness. Grossman uses that randomness to highlight the turmoil and random acts of life that happens to individuals in their 20’s. This is a portal fantasy for adults learning how to adult. Quentin is very much a child at the beginning of this series. He has no idea what he wants in life and he goes from one horrible decision after another. In this third installment of the series, Quentin becomes more comfortable with who he is, and what life has to offer him. No longer does he expect things from life but he now lives with it.
The world of Fillory is dying and our Magicians must save it. There is a heist like portion in this book set in the real world and we have a new character introduced named Plum that is a great character. Finally, Quentin has a female friend that he doesn’t sleep with, in Plum. Quentin shows much more maturity in this book and that is exactly what I needed to finish out this series.
I was close so many times during this series to write all these books off but there is a depth to them that I just couldn’t escape. At times there is a strong literary style showing through with Grossman’s writing and that is what kept me in the series. It gave me hope that the character growth I so desperately needed would happen and it did. I struggled on if I should give these books as donations to the library after I finished but I think that they will actually be good to reread in a handful of years. I mostly read these on audiobook, so I think next time I’ll read them from the page.
4/5
17/25 Possible Score
3 – Plot
4 – Characters
3 – World Building
4 – Writing Style
3 – Heart & Mind Aspect
