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Category Archives: Lev Grossman

The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman

The Magician's Land (The Magicians, #3)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

The Magician King by Lev Grossman

The Magician King (The Magicians #2)The Magician King by Lev Grossman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Self-indulgent, angsty, emo, depressive, and manic can all be qualities to illustrate Lev Grossman’s The Magician King, a series that is an allegory for figuring out life as a 20’s something, self-centered adult. Here’s the thing about this book and the series as a whole, you can’t take it too seriously. Once you take it too seriously, the outlook on life brings you down. This is not a happy series even though I’m hoping it’ll end with some redemption and sacrifice. I have to say that Quentin is gradually changing, becoming more adult, even though things keep happening to him randomly that propels him through the character growth. In the end, I think that is the thing that bugs me about this story, yes life just happens to a lot of people in their 20’s without their control, but to structure an entire story around happenstance quests makes the characters feel like passengers in a sinking ship they have no control over.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

The Magicians (The Magicians #1)The Magicians by Lev Grossman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My walk-through review video:


Minor spoilers in the video review. Closer to a 3.5

I liked this book and enjoyed the angsty, darker vibe. It definitely is going to be a series I continue and I’ll end up watching the TV show too. This book got progressively worse as it went on as the story focused more on Fillory and less on Brakebills or the young adults trying to live outside Brakebills after graduation. I’m hoping that the next two books will have more magic issues happening in our world and less in Fillory. This book is not for people that hate reading nihilistic stories and it is not for people that get upset over the objectification of women by immature young men.

3/5
15/25 Possible Score
3 – Plot
3 – Characters
3 – World Building
3 – Writing Style
3 – Heart & Mind Aspect

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City of Stairs
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City of Stairs
by Robert Jackson Bennett
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