The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman

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

by Lev Grossman

Quentin has been cast out of Fillory. Alone and adrift, he returns to Brakebills, the school of magic where it all began. But he can't hide from his past.

His new path will take him through a world of grey and uncertain magic, from Antarctica to the
enchanted Neitherlands.

But all roads lead back to Fillory. The magical barriers are failing and the realm faces destruction. To save them, Quentin must unlock the secrets of magic and risk sacrificing everything.





Praise for The Magicians Trilogy


'The best fantasy trilogy of the decade.' Charles Stross

'The most entertaining and compelling fantasy I've read in a long time.' The Times

'Lev Grossman has conjured a rare creature: a trilogy that simply gets better and better as it goes along... Literary perfection.' Erin Morgenstern

'May just be the most subversive, gripping, and enchanting fantasy novel I've read this century.' Cory Doctorow

'Dark and dangerous and full of twists. Hogwarts was never like this.' George R. R. Martin

'Sad, hilarious, beautiful, and essential to anyone who cares about modern fantasy.' Joe Hill

'A darkly cunning story about the power of imagination itself.' The New Yorker

'The Magicians ought to be required reading... a terrific, at times almost painfully perceptive novel of the fantastic.' Kelly Link

'Brilliantly explores the hidden underbelly of fantasy and easy magic, taking what's simple on the surface and turning it over to show us the complicated writhing mess beneath.' Naomi Novik

Reviewed by ross91 on

5 of 5 stars

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Oh God, what a journey!
At first I wasn't feeling it... the beginning was kinda hard to get through and it seemed I couldn't read more than 10 pages without the urge to put it down and do something else. I wasn't interested in the story and the new characters wasn't great enough to keep me curious about the future developments.
But then Alice reappeared and everything was awesome again.
Suddenly I couldn't stop devouring it and I managed to read the remaining half of the book in just two days.
As always, the writing style is magnificent. Everything is lyrical and poetic and beautiful and sad and melancholic and special. I especially enjoy the sad parts because Lev Grossman has this special talent for making me feel all the unpleasantness the characters feel in very great details and emotional depth. I don't know... It's like the author is writing about me as well, it's like I recognize myself on the pages and I fell like someone really understands me. It's a special feeling I always look for when I read a book, but I rarely find, and when it happens it's like I've found a long lost friend or a part of me that I let go when I was younger and I didn't even know I had lost it. It's an amazing and melancholic and unique feeling and Lev Grossman is one of the few authors that managed to let me feel this way in all of his books. It's amazing. I wish I would have been so great with words as well.
As for the plot, as I said, it wasn't the best one in the trilogy, even if the last 30% was awesome and interesting and I wanted to find out what happened but at the same time I didn't, because I didn't want to let go of this world.
I especially appreciate Quentin's development throughout the series and the fact that he recognized himself how much he had changed since the beginning of his journey.
The best part for me was the realization of what Fillory really meant for Quentin and what home really meant for him. Also, I loved the interactions between him and Alice and how their feelings toward each other were described, how they both changed in the last seven years but at the same time how it was possible for them to reconnect and begin a new "something" together.
Overall, I really liked this trilogy, it wasn't perfect but I felt like it was talking specifically to me nonetheless.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 24 June, 2016: Finished reading
  • 24 June, 2016: Reviewed