Muggles 1, Magic 0

“Harry Potter, he sends a message on Owl Mail while us poor old muggles have to make do with instantaneous emails and texting. Oh, if only we could be like you Harry Potter, with your four day owl delivery!”
― Craig Ferguson

Magicians

The Magicians
by
Lev Grossman
adult fantasy fiction

1. Couldn't he come up with a better title? Try googling "magicians" to find this book - ha!

2. I don't know what the author was trying to do with this book. Is it a parody of the Harry Potter books? It it inspired by Harry Potter? Is it riding on the shirttails of Harry Potter? That being said, it was a pretty decent book and worth a read. I just don't know what the author or publisher was thinking. He even mentions Tolkien and others in the book.

3. I don't understand why there is a tree on the cover.

Plot: A senior in high school is recruited to go to Wizard school. A bunch of stuff happens that is very Harry Potter-like. Then a bunch of stuff happens which is very Narnia-like. I mean it is so similar that it makes you think that it was stolen from Rowling and Lewis, but put together in a way not quite like either. This book has some sex and drug use and drinking, so it is not as innocent as Potter or Narnia. I guess the target audience is adults or teenagers whose parents don't mind that they are reading about sex and drugs. They say the students are at college and the book covers about 5 years, but then later in the book they say the students are teenagers. In my world of math 17 years old + 5 years = age 22, not a teenager. I didn't get that.
Some reviewers said it drew from World mythology including Jewish mythology, but I don't know if this is true or not.
I guess I recommend this for 16+ readers who enjoy fantasy books but they might end up as perplexed as I.

My Favorite Fantasy Books

My all time favorite books tend to be Quests. The kind where a group works together to accomplish a goal or vanquish evil. The best example of this is the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I would have to say that the Wheel of Time series comes in second.

Wonderful Wizard of Oz series by Lyman Frank Baum
Eye of the Dragon (Wheel of Time series) by Robert Jordan
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Golden Compass (His Dark Materials series) by Phillip Pullman
High House by James Stoddard (the sequel is not so great)
Half Magic by Edward Eager
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Singing Sword by Jack Whyte
Wicked by Gregory Maguire