Forum Overview :: Dead Trees :: The Magicians - Lev Grossman

[quote name="Last"]It's pretty entertaining and fast. Positive! The story is about a frustrated nerd living in Brooklyn and the magic university he ends up attending. Magic in this universe is really harsh. People get crippled and fucked up all the time just by mispronouncing a syllable or by spinning their wrists the wrong direction while executing a spell. There are tons of potions and powders and shit that people are experimenting with and you don't really know what all of the effects will be. The only students that can thrive in this atmosphere are the severe type-A personalities with genius intellects and the kind of determination that only child abuse can give you. The school is extremely competitive and none of the students can afford to trust one another. Most of the students shatter under the pressure, or drown themselves in booze, or drive themselves insane starving to death trying to unravel a particular riddle. What's more, there's other planes of magical existence that are hostile to Earth and even the lowliest piker in one of the other planes is far far far far far more powerful than the most powerful human. The school administration attempts to hide the fact that there's a siege going on. The writing is pretty good. It's a little uneven how the characters sometimes speak in "teen talk" and internet memes even after the author spends so much time showing how deadly serious everyone is. Also, a couple other things didn't quite add up but I don't want to spoil the story here. I really enjoyed how scary and unknown the magical universe is in this book (contrast with Harry Potter and it's safety-scissors view of magic). I also liked the main characters and the theme.[/quote]