The Magician King

Staff Pick

At this point, I love this series. The sequel to The Magicians really gets dark and fantastic, and the adventures are rich and mind-bending, to say the least. I'll admit that I'm not a big Narnia fan, but adults who are will probably also really dig The Magician King and its predecessor. You'll find yourself thinking about the story and its characters long after you put the book down.
Recommended by Kendall R., Powells.com

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Tim C, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by Tim C)
"The Magician King" is the sequel to "The Magicians." If you loved Harry Potter and Narnia when you were a kid, but now prefer your fantasy with more emotional complexity and adult attitude, you'll find the whole package in this first-rate modern fantasy. It follows a group of apprentice wizards from their earliest training at a boarding school that has Hogwarts-like features (but darker and grimmer), through adventures in an alternate world that resembles Narnia without the theological allegory. It's not just derivative, for all that it deliberately draws on our memories of those literary universes. In "The Magician King," Quentin, the driven young magician king, and his friends and lovers return to Fillory, the magical world they discovered (illicitly) in the first book. The stakes are higher, however, and the dilemmas sharper, as Quentin and his childhood friend Julia are forced into more desperate measures and darker magics. Grossman creates characters who are truly believable and compelling, and explores the psychology of power, love, and loyalty in a depth rarely found in fantasy.

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Tim C, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by Tim C)
"The Magician King" is the sequel to "The Magicians." If you loved Harry Potter and Narnia when you were a kid, but now prefer your fantasy with more emotional complexity and adult attitude, you'll find the whole package in this first-rate modern fantasy. It follows a group of apprentice wizards from their earliest training at a boarding school that has Hogwarts-like features (but darker and grimmer), through adventures in an alternate world that resembles Narnia without the theological allegory. It's not just derivative, for all that it deliberately draws on our memories of those literary universes. In "The Magician King," Quentin, the driven young magician king, and his friends and lovers return to Fillory, the magical world they discovered (illicitly) in the first book. The stakes are higher, however, and the dilemmas sharper, as Quentin and his childhood friend Julia are forced into more desperate measures and darker magics. Grossman creates characters who are truly believable and compelling, and explores the psychology of power, love, and loyalty in a depth rarely found in fantasy.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780452298019

Author:

Grossman, Lev

Publisher:

Plume Books

Subject:

Literary

Subject:

Science Fiction and Fantasy-Fantasy

Edition Description:

S-Boxed Set

Publication Date:

20120531

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

from 12

Language:

English

Illustrations:

b/w map in FM

Pages:

416

Dimensions:

30 x 13.5 x 6.75 in 12.5 lb

Age Level:

from 18

0 stars - 0 reviews

$10.95 In Stock

"Staff Pick" by Kendall R.,

At this point, I love this series. The sequel to The Magicians really gets dark and fantastic, and the adventures are rich and mind-bending, to say the least. I'll admit that I'm not a big Narnia fan, but adults who are will probably also really dig The Magician King and its predecessor. You'll find yourself thinking about the story and its characters long after you put the book down.

by Kendall R.

"Review" by George R. R. Martin, bestselling author of A Game of Thrones, "Hogwarts was never like this."

"Review" by The New York Times (Editor's Choice), "[A] serious, heartfelt novel [that] turns the machinery of fantasy inside out."

"Review" by Chicago Tribune, "The Catcher in the Rye for devotees of alternative universes. Its dazzling....A rare, strange, and scintillating novel."

"Review" by The Boston Globe, "The Magician King is a rare achievement, a book that simultaneously criticizes and celebrates our deep desire for fantasy."

"Review" by NPR.org, "A spellbinding stereograph, a literary adventure novel that is also about privilege, power, and the limits of being human. The Magician King is a triumphant sequel."

"Review" by San Francisco Chronicle, "Grossman has devised an enchanted milieu brimming with possibility, and his sly authorial voice gives it a literary life that positions The Magician King well above the standard fantasy fare."

"Review" by The New Yorker, "Grossman expands his magical world into a boundless enchanted universe, and his lively characters navigate it with aplomb."

"Review" by The Portland Oregonian, "Grossman is brilliant at creating brainy, distinct, flawed, complex characters, and nearly as good at running them through narrative gauntlets that inventively tweak the stories that generations have grown up on."

"Review" by New York Post, "Now that Harry Potter is through in books and films, grown-up fans of the boy wizard might want to give this nimble fantasy series a try."

"Review" by The A.V. Club, "The Magician King is clearly the middle book in a trilogy, but it's that rare creature that bridges the gap between tales and still stands on its own. And just as the first book showed that growing up is hard no matter how much power you have, it shows that becoming an adult involves far more than just reaching the right age."

"Review" by Kirkus Reviews (starred review), "Fabulous fantasy spiked with bitter adult wisdom — not to be missed."

"Review" by Booklist, "Fans of The Magicians will find this sequel a feast and will be delighted that a jaw-dropping denouement surely promises a third volume to come."

"Synopsis" by Firebrand, Return to Fillory in the riveting sequel to the New York Times bestseller and literary phenomenon, The Magicians.

Quentin Coldwater should be happy. He escaped a miserable Brooklyn childhood, matriculated at a secret college for magic, and graduated to discover that Fillory — a fictional utopia — was actually real. But even as a Fillorian king, Quentin finds little peace. His old restlessness returns, and he longs for the thrills a heroic quest can bring.

Accompanied by his oldest friend, Julia, Quentin sets off — only to somehow wind up back in the real world and not in Fillory, as they'd hoped. As the pair struggle to find their way back to their lost kingdom, Quentin is forced to rely on Julia's illicitly-learned sorcery as they face a sinister threat in a world very far from the beloved fantasy novels of their youth.