_____________________________________ 'The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea . . . dark and dangerous and full of twists' - GEORGE R. R. MARTIN THE BESTSELLING BOOK BEHIND THE HIT SYFY SHOW _____________________________________ In a secret world of forbidden knowledge, power comes at a terrible price... Quentin Coldwater's life is changed forever by an apparently chance encounter: when he turns up for his entrance interview to Princeton University, he finds his interviewer ...
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_____________________________________ 'The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea . . . dark and dangerous and full of twists' - GEORGE R. R. MARTIN THE BESTSELLING BOOK BEHIND THE HIT SYFY SHOW _____________________________________ In a secret world of forbidden knowledge, power comes at a terrible price... Quentin Coldwater's life is changed forever by an apparently chance encounter: when he turns up for his entrance interview to Princeton University, he finds his interviewer dead - but a strange envelope bearing Quentin's name leads him down a very different path. Instead of Princeton, he finds himself invited to study at Brakebills - a secret college of modern-day sorcerers. Quentin plunges deep into a secret world of obsession and privilege, a world of freedom and power; and for a while, it seems to answer all Quentin's desires. But the idyll cannot last. There are others powers than sorcery, powers that are as seductive as they are dangerous - and when the illusion of safety shatters, Quentin is drawn into a world far darker than he ever imagined. After all, power corrupts. No exceptions. THE FIRST BOOK IN LEV GROSSMAN'S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED MAGICIAN TRILOGY _____________________________________ Praise for the Magician Trilogy: 'Stirring, complex, adventurous . . . superb' - JUNOT DIAZ, author of DROWN and THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO 'A sophisticated, subtle novel that is also magical fun' - THE TIMES 'Lev Grossman has conjured a rare creature: a trilogy that simply gets better and better as it goes along . . . Literary perfection.' - ERIN MORGENSTERN, author of THE NIGHT CIRCUS 'The Magicians ought to be required reading . . . Lev Grossman has written a terrific, at times almost painfully perceptive novel of the fantastic' - KELLY LINK 'The best fantasy trilogy of the decade' - CHARLES STROSS 'The Magicians is angst-ridden, bleak, occasionally joyous and gloriously readable. Forget Hogwarts: this is where the magic really is.' - SFX 'The Magicians is fantastic, in all senses of the word. It's strange, fanciful, extravagant, eccentric, and truly remarkable - a great story, masterfully told.' - SCOTT SMITH, author of THE RUINS
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Add this copy of The Magicians to cart. $41.98, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Windsor.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. 1 map. A copy that has been read, but remains in excellent condition. Pages are intact and are not marred by notes or highlighting, but may contain a neat previous owner name. The spine remains undamaged. An ex-library book and may have standard library stamps and/or stickers. At ThriftBooks, our motto is: Read More, Spend Less.
This book was highly recommended to me by my son, whose reading tastes (like everything else) are somewhat different from mine. However, to humor him, I read it - and LOVED it! A fascinating, well-crafted tale that really does remind one of the Narnia tales + Harry Potter...with a bit more thrown in. Give it a try!
VTGG
Jun 3, 2010
Harry Potter for grown ups
Cracking read, as the header says, this is Harry potter for the more mature reader.
BeckyJG
Aug 9, 2009
What if the Harry Potter series didn't start until the kids were ready to head off for college? What if the kid who went temporarily to the dark side in the Narnia series became truly and irrevocably evil, and stayed that way? What if the kids in both of these series swore like sailors, drank like fish, and boinked like bunnies?
Why, then you'd have The Magicians , the latest from Time magazine book critic Lev Grossman. Quentin Coldwater, our hero, is pretty much a genius. He's in his final year at a high school in New York for intellectually superior kids, and as we meet him he's on his way to an interview with a representative from Princeton University. The man he's supposed to meet with is dead, so the interview never happens, but a mysterious and lovely paramedic gives him a package with his name on it. Faster than you can say abracadabra Quentin is down the rabbit hole, or, more specifically, through a portal in a wintry New York alley that leads to summery Brakesbill College for Magical Pedagogy.
Needless to say, his life changes in an instant. He studies magical theory and learns to harness and hone his own power. He is taken under the wing of urbane and sophisticated older students, who teach him about wine, fine dining, and the nicer points of ennui.
After college Q and his friends live an aimless life of partying and hangovers, occasionally wondering when it's all going to start for real...when it does, they get more than they bargained for. The Narnia-like fantasy world they all grew up reading about is real, and it's not a very happy place.
There is a quest. There are deaths, both mundane and magical. And in the end, Q must make a choice.
The Magicians is an intriguing new entry in the ever-growing canon of urban fantasy. Lev Grossman writes with a deft hand, and obviously knows and loves his source materials (well enough to mess with your mind, if you know them, too).
