The Magicians

By Lev Grossman
(Plume, Paperback, 9780452296299, 416pp.)

Publication Date: May 25, 2010

Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook, Google eBook, Compact Disc, Paperback, Hardcover, Hardcover, Hardcover, Compact Disc

Categories: Fantasy - General, Literary

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Selected by Indie Booksellers for the August 2011 Indie Next List
“Not since the seemingly never-ending wait for the seventh Harry Potter book have I been so antsy about a release. Lev Grossman's The Magicians, my favorite novel of 2009 by a landslide, cleverly combined aspects of classic fantasy with modern literature and pop culture. With that groundwork in place, Grossman takes us back to Fillory with The Magician King. Quentin is a powerful sorcerer and a royal monarch who is bored out of his mind. He embarks on a seemingly menial errand to collect back taxes from a faraway island and stumbles into an epic and momentously important quest to save the magical world. Grossman's trademark eloquent-yet-hip writing style flourishes in this sequel, a creative and entertaining novel well worth the wait.”
-- Greg Bruce, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI
Selected by Indie Booksellers for the August 2009 Indie Next List
“The Magicians is a darker, more adult take on the idea of a secret academy that trains would-be wizards. Lev Grossman explores the realms of magic, alternate realities, and wish fulfillment as visited by less-than-heroic characters. Raising the question of what would you do if you could do whatever you wanted, The Magicians is thrilling and deliciously disturbing.”
-- Lisa Wright, Oblong Books And Music,LLC., Millerton, NY

Description

The New York Times bestselling novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world

Like everyone else, precocious high school senior Quentin Coldwater assumes that magic isn't real, until he finds himself admitted to a very secretive and exclusive college of magic in upstate New York. There he indulges in joys of college-friendship, love, sex, and booze- and receives a rigorous education in modern sorcery. But magic doesn't bring the happiness and adventure Quentin thought it would. After graduation, he and his friends stumble upon a secret that sets them on a remarkable journey that may just fulfill Quentin's yearning. But their journey turns out to be darker and more dangerous than they'd imagined. Psychologically piercing and dazzlingly inventive, The Magicians is an enthralling coming-of-age tale about magic practiced in the real world-where good and evil aren't black and white, and power comes at a terrible price.



About the Author

LEV GROSSMAN is a senior writer and book critic for Time magazine and author of the international bestselling novel Codex. He is also the creator of the Time blog Nerd World. Grossman holds degrees in comparative literature from Harvard and Yale. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.



NPR
Morally Complex 'Magicians' Recasts Potter's World
Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009

At first glance, Lev Grossman's new novel looks very much like a Harry Potter story — with older characters and an American setting. But a heap of moral ambiguity surrounds the use of magic and there is no villain, giving the tale many shades of gray. More at NPR.org

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