Lev Grossman, The Magicians

[vgqn]

I just finished The Magicians by Lev Grossman and am still mulling it over. There were so many things that I liked about the book: a school of magic done right (rigorous and difficult training, safeguards, classwork that makes sense -- all the stuff that Hogwarts never bothered with). There was great writing and wonderful turns of phrases. But the later sections of the book didn't satisfy as well. After the college freshman 'Harry Potter done right' section, it devolves into sort of Evelyn Waugh 'bright young things' section, taking the characters through their upperclassmen years in an alcoholic haze and out into the real world where they totally spin out of control. They're too powerful to be bothered doing anything other than indulging themselves, is the explanation.

Then, bizarrely, the book shifts to a new section and they end up in a Narnia-esque world. Grossman has some good fun here, skewering many fantasy tropes and assumptions, getting into some philosophy, bringing together some clever plot twists. Large chunks of this section work. Except that the viewpoint protagonist is so lost in his own tedious self-absorption, that I, for one, was totally losing interest in him.

But the really jarring part of the book is the ending. Self-absorbed boy ends up back in the real world and has been indulgently placed in a high-paying no responsibilities gig, still unable to motivate himself to do anything with his vast talents. Out of the blue (literally, heh), his friends come back from non-Narnia, saying, "Come and be a king with us!". And he does, cause he's got nothing better to do. The end. Say wha?! 

Poking around on-line, I see that a sequel has been announced, which explains the ending, I suppose. Too bad, though, because I think this could have a great book instead of an incomplete part one. One can only hope that the protagonist manages to 'find himself' (yawn) in the next book.

I enjoyed enough of this book that I'm glad I read it. But it would take some stunning reviews of the sequel to get me to pick that one up.

Comments

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I had a very similar reaction to the book - very well written, with a protagonist I found increasingly unsympathetic. The story left me with a sense of 'what's the point?'

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he didn't seem to be learning much from his experiences, did he? I though the ending was such a cop out -- once again, he avoids facing up to things by haring off on an adventure. And Fillory seemed like such a parody, I had a hard time believing in any of it.

Nor can I believe there's going to be a sequel! Hard to imagine.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Yes. Fillory was a bad parody of Narnia - and I really loved Narnia, so wasn't very sympathetic with the writer for doing it - although it did seem a bit like Narnia in the bad times, under the power of the winter witch or the ass-in-Aslan's-clothing, so there's room for redemption. I'd want to read reviews of a sequel before reading it.

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

I actually enjoyed the Narnia parody, though I thought it poked fun at a lot of fantasy tropes, not just Narnia. But neither Narnia nor high-fantasy are dear to my heart, which reduces the ouch factor.

However, it felt like it a different book that got grafted on to the first, since the magic school section was straight up, not a parody at all. For that matter, the 'bright young things' section wasn't a parody either. It also felt like a different book from the basic school part. The sections didn't really fit together for me.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I liked the magic school bits much better than the rest, but yes, the story-telling was very choppy; it did seem like a couple different stories (at least) grafted together.