About this title: A thrilling and original comingof- age novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he's still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery. He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, ...
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Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780099534440ISBN:0099534444
Description: Good. This book is in GOOD overall condition. It shows signs of having been read and has general light wear to the cover, spine and pages. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: ARROW BOOKS LTD Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780099534440ISBN:0099534444
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 496 pages. Quentin coldwater's life is changed forever by an apparently chance encounter: when he turns up for his entrance interview to princeton he finds his interviewer dead-but a strange envelope bearing quentin's name leads him down a very different path to any he'd ever imagined. (Paperback) read more
Description: New. AUDIOBOOK. NOT A BOOK! Please order accordingly! All Audiobooks are in the original factory sealed shrinkwrap box! Box may show signs of dents, etc. All CD's Are guaranteed to play! Audio CD, New, 2009, read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Adult
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780670020553ISBN:0670020559
Description: New. Items ship once payments have cleared. Media mail 5-8 days Priority 2-3 days and international orders may be subject to customs clearance procedures which can cause delays. Seasonal delays can occur in postal system. International Orders which cannot ship first class or in priority flat rate will be charged additional postage. All items ship within 24 hours of receiving payment. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Pr
Date Published: 2009-08-11
ISBN-13:9780670020553ISBN:0670020559
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780670020553. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd
Date Published: 2009-05-21
ISBN-13:9780434019502ISBN:043401950X
Description: Very Good. Paperback ARC book with different cover and publisher stickers. Save some $$$. Perfectly Good Reading Copy. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780434019502ISBN:043401950X
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Adult
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780670020553ISBN:0670020559
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780143144397ISBN:0143144391
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: First Edition/1st Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking, New York
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780670020553ISBN:0670020559
Description: New in New jacket. Signed by Author Brand New! Signed by author on title page. 1st Edition. Crisp and clean, inside and out. Never read. Orders ship same or next business day. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780670020553ISBN:0670020559
Description: New in new dust jacket. Signed by author. First Print. Signed by the author directly on the FULL title page NOT inscribed, clipped or otherwise marked. Brand new and unread only opened for signature, SJ in mylar. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking, New York
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780670020553ISBN:0670020559
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. Signed by Author Signed by the Author on title page-Signature only-A First edition, First printing, with the corresponding number line. Book is in Fine condition. Boards are clean, not bumped. Interior is clean and legible. Not remaindered. Dust Jacket is in Fine condition. Not chipped or crinkled. Not price clipped. Dust Jacket is covered by Mylar Brodart. All-ways well boxed, All-ways fast service. Thanks. read more
"I have to admit, when I read the reviews for this book, I got excited. A new "Harry Potter"? For grown-ups?!? I was thrilled. Then I was totally disappointed. Aside from that fact that this book is not even close to being the same caliber of book as "Harry Potter and the...All of them"--the writing is terrible. The storytelling abysmal. The characters had absolutely no dimension. Quentin Coldwater, our main character, is a typical teenager. In love with a girl he can't have, adrift in the world of why not me, and all around whiney. Venturing into a Brooklyn alley one winter, Quinten stumbles upon a portal to Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, he passes "The Test" and is accepted. The weirdness starts. Every explanation for things that happen in this new world are all explained out of the fantasy story of Fillroy. Quentin randomly skips a grade (after starting college in the middle of his senior year without having ever applied to one and his parents are given a story and never wonder why they don't hear from him...fishy...) I'm guessing so he can get involved with the other people in the story, instead of Grossman just making them all the same age. Random things just happen in the story and are skipped over very quickly because the author needed them to happen in order to either continue the story or shift the plot. The storytelling was jerky and the dialogue stilted. More than a few times I wanted to scream because there was yet another sentence that began with "Quentin...and then Quentin....Quentin said..."
Too many Rowling similarities. The Beast = Voldemort. Quentin = Harry Potter. Alice = Hermione. Josh = Ron. And poor ones at that.
"When this book first starts, it's a sort of Catcher in the Rye meets Harry Potter kind of story. It's truly fascinating, I lost all sense of time as I traveled through Quentin's magical education, his melancholy, his detachment. The book is written in a very direct manner, a 3 act course. Nothing is wasted, there are no erroneous details or random events. Each word is meant to convey a detail about the upcoming events. It's nice to see that kind of deliberation in a book. Too often I find authors being caught up in description or too overzealous in introducing minor, quirky characters. Grossman uses each word to contribute to the tone of the story, the sense that things are falling away from you, spiraling out of control, yet seeming frozen.
It's impressive how neat the story wraps up. The first book(isn't it weird when authors write a single novel that contains more then one book? there should be a different term for it) takes you on a journey of the foundation of Quentin. It is, essentially, his childhood, at least in the magical world. He's at odds with himself, drifting through his life, not really understanding anything, but advancing through a rigorous education. The second book marks the point where Quentin starts looking outside himself and starts seeing a little bit more of the world. He goes from the safe insulation of school to the outside world, where all he's learned is pretty much useless and he's left foundering, looking for his niche. There is, of course, the requisite lost his way events, drugs, sex, and rock n' roll and all that. Then the third book delivers the final phase, where Quentin has to cope with the world, really face things head on. He returns to his childhood fantasy world of Fillory.
It's a good novel, about escapism at its worse and best.
Why not 5 stars? I really don't know, but I suspect it's because I didn't feel close to Quentin, didn't really root for him, or any of the characters really, except for Alice. That is also deliberate on Grossman's part, I'm sure, to recall the same sort of Catcher-sense. But for me, it just wasn't enough. That thing that was missing is what I needed. it wasn't enough to feel sympathy, I like books when I experience the emotion...where I'm empathetic, more involved. All in all, it's a brilliant piece of writing."
"The Magicians, i think it has become almost a cliche at least for blurbs about this book that it is like harry potter for adults or 20 somethings. It's kinda true, but not really at all. Besides that there is a magical school, so that's like a big thing. Yes there is swearing and some cool magic and I read it very quickly even though i have like so much homework. In terms of the magic, Quentin performs one really awesome feat near the beginning of the book, that sets expectations high, but never reaches them again. He is a disappointment of a main character, which is most definitely on purpose, but come on I want my main character to be harry potter you know full of magic and doing awesome things. I still really enjoyed it. I think you need to be a fan of Narnia to really get the full enjoyment from these books. For all the comparisons to Harry Potter I found this book to be more like a mash up of Narnia with Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea, which of course came before Harry Potter and contains a magic school as well. One that seems to be more along the same lines as The Magicians. Overall extremely satisfying and I'll never look at Arctic foxes the same way again."
"I went back and forth while listening to this book: sometimes I was really impressed with it, other times less so. Here's my conclusion:
Yes, this can be easily tagged as "Harry Potter with sex, drugs, and swearing." It's about a high school senior who gets whisked away to a college for magicians. But what actually makes it quite different is that the book is really about the experience of reading fantasy/magic books and especially about that childhood longing to enter into the magical worlds of those books. Another intriguing theme is the idea of what it would mean to have magical powers in a world without Voldemort: the hero and his friends graduate from the school but have no real purpose to their lives and no application for the limitless power they possess. So there is that level of existential dilemma as well. I also appreciated the way the novel was trying to explore what magic actually *is* and how it would affect its practitioners.
I suppose a central critique is that the novel didn't seem to have made up its mind as to whether it was for adults or children. The characters seemed both uber-sophisticated and impossibly naive. But perhaps that's part of its point, too: when I am reading books like Harry Potter, I'm not sure whether I am reading them as an adult or a child either.
Overall, I definitely would say that this novel is well worth reading; however, I am almost hesitant to write this praise, as I can kind of imagine why someone would hate it. But I am eager to discuss it with people, so I hope my qualified endorsement doesn't turn you off too much!"
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