The Magicians - Lev Grossman

The reason I even started reading this book is strictly because I love the television show. (For those who don't know, it's a show on Syfy and you should definitely check it out). With that in mind, I will say that the show does a brilliant job of sticking to the story line. It keeps the important stuff and kind of throws out the details you don't really need. I also love some of the changes the show makes in terms of characters - specifically Eliot, Janet (Margo) and Penny. I'll move on though because this is making it sound like I didn't like the book and that's honestly not the case.

I think the quote on the back cover from George R.R. Martin pretty much sums up this book, "The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish Whiskey is to a glass of weak tea...Hogwarts was never like this." First of all, what a cool way to describe a story?! Anyway, to start I'll talk about the things I didn't like. 1.) It was SO incredibly slow at certain parts. Like it took forever for anything to happen and I just found myself getting really impatient (which might be a side effect of watching the show before reading the books. Who knows) 2.) I've never been a fan of lewdness/crudeness that seems unnecessary. And this book has plenty of that. I won't get into it, but be prepared if you ever decide to pick this one up.

Now moving on the the part that is much more exciting to talk about - the things that kept me reading! Obviously the biggest reason is that I am a huge sucker for anything fantasy/adventure related and this book had those two things in in great abundance. From fantasy realms to magic schools. I was hooked. I also loved that I didn't 100% love the main character. Usually the main character is supposed to be the person we are rooting for and 100% behind - but, while that was true sometimes, other times I kinda wanted him to shut up. I also really understood the main characters struggle. Without giving too much away, Quentin is kind of bored of his life. He's constantly searching for the next thing that will bring him happiness and it's honestly a never ending journey. The one place he feels complete and at home is when he's reading his favorite book series about a fantasy land called Fillory (What?! He escapes the real world by reading his favorite books?! NO WAY. I'm sure none of us can relate to that...) It puts a twist into the story which I really enjoy and makes it easier to put yourself in his shoes. I also love the character Julia. You don't get to be around her too much in this book, but I'm hoping for a lot more of this hedge witch in the rest of the trilogy.

I'll stop there because I don't want to give too much away since some of you might be in the middle of this story or thinking about picking it up - which I would suggest! As for me, I will be getting the next two books in the trilogy and seeing where they take me! I can't wait to keep going back to Fillory with Q and the other Physical kids.

Thanks for reading! I'm hoping to be doing this a lot more as I jump back on the reading train that I sadly jumped off for a while.

As usual feel free to leave your comments and/or questions! I'd love to hear what you think!