By Lev Grossman.
- Plot Summary (No Spoilers)
- Quentin is applying for college, but when he arrives at an alumnus interview he finds the man dead in his home. Thus sets off Quentin’s selection by Brakebills, a secret magical university that recruits students who show promise in their entrance exam. Should students fail the exam, they will not remember it. Quentin passes, and his life grows ever more interesting and dangerous as he learns the science of magic at the school. Things are further complicated when a murderous being arrives, and Quentin and other students begin to realize that Fillory, a magical land in a fantasy book they had read as children, is actually real and can be travelled to.
- Type of Book
- Fantasy, magic, school
- Age/Gender of Protagonist
- Quentin is male and 18
- Sex
- There is explicit sex in the book and mention of sex throughout
- Language
- There is profanity on most pages
- Violence
- There are graphic fights, injuries, and violence, often including magical elements
- Religion
- Earth religion is not mentioned much, but the religion in Fillory has two magical rams as gods
- Politics
- Not much
- Theme/Other Topics
- What is the meaning of life? Can you only grow through suffering? Is it better to be selfish or selfless? Would life be better with magic? Would life be better if you could do it over?
- Depression, aimlessness, feelings of meaninglessness, striving for purpose, looking for destiny
- Review
- Although not specifically marketed as YA, the protagonist in this book is 18, so many teens may be interested in it. Also, this book is a strange, dark mash-up of Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia, wherein characters find out they can do magic and attend a secret magical university, while also later journeying to a magical land with talking creatures and kings and queens and animal gods that was featured in a series of children’s books–with a group of siblings finding random portals and entering Fillory a la the siblings entered Narnia. But when I say dark, I mean dark; both the violence and the themes are mature. I would not recommend this book to teens younger than 16 or 17, and even for those ages, I suggest you talk about the book with them, and read it yourself if you can so you know what to address.
The Magicians
