As a fan of magical fiction, I wanted desperately to love these books. However, I'm an even bigger fan of Literature's potential to challenge, transform, touch the reader in some way. With each book I was waiting for some of that to come by the end—something that made me think or feel something deeply, a grace note or a deep truth about life. By probably the middle of the second book, I was just hoping some clever plot structure would emerge by the end of the trilogy. I was not satisfied by the

I started reading this series because I liked the SyFy adaptation TV series. As usual the stories of both formats are a bit different. To be honest. I liked the build up of the story in the books a lot better. You get to know the characters an the worlds they live in. Thus getting some kind of connection with them all. And the books are a lot less gory than the TV series.

Sort of enjoyed the first book. Really enjoyed the second. Really had to drag myself through the third.

Even though I am touching on familiar territory here, I want to recommend Lev Grossman’s fantasy trilogy - The Magicians, The Magician King and The Magician’s Land. This is very adult stuff and not for younger readers, but from mid teens upwards, it’s fine. It is such a well constructed and well written story I cannot say enough good things about it. As stories go, I admire this one greatly. It is one of those rare cases when I can say that this is a set of books I wish I had written. You would

Do you remember how you felt at the end of the Harry Potter books...you couldn't believe it was all over? Lev Grossman's world renderings have left me feeling like I have been to another world and back again. Truthfully, I didn't start enjoying Harry Potter as an adult until we got to #3 The Prisoner of Azkaban and things took a turn to the darker. Well, Grossman starts you with that delicious darkness right away by following the angsty college-age characters into the pits of their binge-drinkin...

“You don’t just go on fun adventures for good causes and have happy endings. You’re not going to be a character in a story, there’s nobody arranging everything for you. The real world just doesn’t work like that.”“Sure, you can live out your dreams, but it’ll only turn you into a monster.”Lev Grossman’s The Magicians trilogy is the source material for the TV show of the same name, which has been one of my favourite shows during the last five years. I’d never read the books before the it started,...

I could never stop reading this

The trilogy was HIGHLY enjoyable. However, 5 minutes into the made for TV Syfy adaptation ... It is a complete TRAVESTY. Read the book. Watch the series at your own risk.

I went into this book thinking it was geared towards younger audiences. I came out of it with the elevator pitch of, "It's Narnia meets Hogwarts but in grad school, so with profanity, sex, and drugs,". The series doesn't peak at number one, for me the first book is the weakest: not because it's weak, but because it simply has to do all the heavy lifting and mechanics of setting up a complex set of worlds and fully-formed characters, which Grossman does beautifully. It supposes that magic exists

I dare say these are officially now my all-time favourite books. I think the New York Times reviewer said it best when he wrote "If the Narnia books were like catnip for a certain kind of kid, these are like crack for a certain kind of adult." I fear the withdrawal symptoms will kick in soon...

Wonderful!Really loved these books and the ending was not exactly what I was expecting. These books are a good balance between looking lighthearted and dark.

First book: Well written and suspenseful. The story has some tropes but never at the forefront, which makes it feel original. For a lot of the book nothing much happens except daily life, it's only in the last quarter there's some action, but the slower more mundane developments are still enough to keep your attention. My main problem with the book is that it's all so bleak. The main character more or less drifts through life being dissatisfied with everything and occasionally being an asshole.

Love the series, ending...ehI’ve found the series highly entertaining but been left wanting multiple times throughout, for plot and/or character development. Its fun, interesting concept felt abandoned, though I can’t pinpoint where, and ultimately underwhelming toward the end. I suppose that’s the point. We all have to grow up sometime and usually life doesn’t turn out as you expect.Worth the read, but don’t know if I’d read it again.

I recently finished the last of the trilogy. I didn't have the boxed set, but I sent it to my niece. Now, I have to preface this review by saying that I am almost 70 years old. This series was certainly engrossing. It had all the parts left out of the Harry Potter series, because that was for juveniles and this is for the 20-35 year-olds. I say this because it is very hip in language, references to pop culture, and so forth. And Magic is still interesting. They are a sprightly read, very inventi...

Watch me rave about how much I love this series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0nZ5...

I'VE DISCOVERED THAT I'LL PUT UP WITH A LOT OF NONSENSE IN A BOOK IF IT'S GOT A MAGIC SYSTEM OR SOME WORLDBUILDING THAT INTRIGUES ME. I EVEN ENJOYED THE MAGICIANS JUST BECAUSE I THOUGHT THE MAGIC WAS SO INTERESTING.IMFL THOSE SHITTY BOOKS.I WOULDN'T SAY IL THEM, BUT I DEFINITELY LIKED THEM MOAR THAN MOAST OF MEME. ESPECIALLY THE FIRST ONE.I LOVED THEM. I THOUGHT I WOULD HATE HOW CONTEMPORARY AND BRO-Y THEY WERE BUT I DIDN'T. I WAS PRETTY INVESTED IN ELIOT AND JANET IN THE LAST BOOK.I LIKED THE M...

Lovely books 💗

Each one of these got better and better.

World building: 10/10Writing: 3/10Character development: 2/10I started reading this series because I was enjoying the SyFy show, and only finished it because I kept hoping it would eventually live up to that experience. Turns out, this is one of the few cases where the screen adaptation is substantially better than the original books.Starting with the most positive point: the worlds created in this series are beautiful, yet imperfect. The kind of fantasy worlds that actually seem believable and

I will be reviewing all three books in The Magicians trilogy, by Lev Grossman, as they are one complete story with a beginning and an end, as well as an overarching moral. My review of the first book only, from the perspective of someone who enjoys the (very different!!) TV show, stands.To understand The Magicians you need to understand who Lev Grossman is: a book critic for Time magazine. As such, he must have had a very strange experience trying to write after probably demolishing a lot of oth...