The Magicians

by Lev Grossman

Add one part Harry Potter, one part Chronicles of Narnia, one part The Secret History, and a dash of The Once and Future King. This, my friend, is the recipe for a tribute to fantasy novels, and the resulting novel is darn tasty!

While it is an excellent tribute to fantasy novels and the readers who love them, The Magicians is also a great story on its own. Quentin Coldwater is extremely intelligent, terribly isolated, and a huge fan of the juvenile series of fantasy books about a place called Fillory. When Quentin is given the chance to attend a college for magicians, he begins to live the life that he thought only existed in fantasy novels.

I like this novel a lot. It combines my favorite setting, academia, with a touch of fantasy. Grossman never goes overboard with the fantasy elements; he somehow manages to maintain a level of believability while creating a most fantastic adventure for Quentin.

12/6/09