The Magicians cover art

The Magicians

The Magicians, Book 1

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The Magicians

By: Lev Grossman
Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
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About this listen

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, he finds his interviewer dead - but a strange envelope bearing Quentin's name leads him down a path very different from any he'd ever imagined.

The envelope, and the mysterious manuscript it contains, leads to a secret world of obsession and privilege, a world of freedom and power; and, for a while, it's a world that seems to answer all Quentin's desires. But the idyll cannot last - and when it's finally shattered, Quentin is drawn into something darker and far more dangerous than anything he could ever have expected....

©2016 Lev Grossman (P)2016 Penguin Audio Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Paranormal

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This has often been dubbed as a grown up Harry Potter, which I think is utter bull. This is a fantasy book with a magical school however the part that makes it unique has nothing to do with learning magic at all.

I hated the main protagonist as a person but loved him as a character (if that makes any sense). He starts out completely self absorbed but I think the books' strength lies in telling you why he's such an ass. It explores some really important things about most people's dissatisfaction with the world, no matter what they gain or achieve. If anything it uses fantasy as a setting for some really awesome character development and exploration.

I do hope audible adds the second and third books.

Not what you think it's going to be

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The story by Lev is brilliant and the narration is perfect. I’ve listened through several times myself and I’m sure there will be many more. Im not surprised the series was picked up for a TV adaption which is equally as good. Magical.

Outstanding

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I enjoyed every aspect of this book. From being a devoted fan of the series, I have been hoping to read the book and I found it very faithful but distinctly different. Excellent writer. Very good narrator

Outstanding

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I enjoyed this book, it's a bit Narnia/Harry Potter but where are the others from the series? I feel like I've been left hanging.

Where are the rest?

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I’ll be honest. I couldn’t bring myself to finish this book. I suspect an oft mentioned missing character is the main ‘villain’, but I don’t care enough to find out. I made it three quarters of the way, hoping that the author would move beyond a self-indulgent post-modern pastiche of CS Lewis and JK Rowling. He didn’t. The concept was interesting, the execution dull. The characters were flat and made inconsistent decisions, that served only to move the plot on, not develop them as characters. Overall, it could have been much better and I wanted to enjoy it , but it wasn’t and I didn’t. The Rotherweird books are much more interesting modern fantasy.

A rather disappointing, derivative fantasy

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I wanted to read this book series as I read it was ‘Harry Potter for adults’. I did’t find it as compelling as Harry Potter though. The first half of the book had a nice slow pace were you and the characters come to learn how the magic works, after which the final on the magic school were rushed to finish in a couple of chapters.

Then the adventure begins, but there’s a bit too much happening for my liking, including many subsequent fights and somewhat random adventures.

Nevertheless, Mark Bramhall had a nice voice and tried to make the characters sounds distinguishable.

Good first half, rest feels rushed

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Careful...spoilers...ish

This post modern flurry into fantasy is an enjoyable, if not a cynical look at what would happen if Narnia was invaded by this current depraved generation. Of course they never use the name, for legal reasons I expect, however anyone who is even remotely familiar with Lewis' fantasy saga will see the parallels. The protagonist, Quentin Coldwater, owes more than a little to Holden Caufield and it has the same dry, broken view of this world that Salinger so vividly created.

There are some truly wonderful sequences. The reader spends almost a full chapter as a goose and it is delicious. There is also some fantasy fulfillment in the Narnia like world that bring a grotesque and gritty version of the Lewis stories most of us have imagined at some point in our lives.


On my first reading I struggled to connect to the characters, I am not as cynical as they, however this has become one of my favorite series and Quentin lives in a deep place in my heart

The love child of Lewis and Salinger

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struggled to finish ... just found it very whiney, couldn't relate to the characters and found them a little spoilt bratish 😕

nope ... didn't like it ...

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I really enjoyed this book, touched on a few adult themes that I enjoyed and most characters acted in very realistic and believable ways which I enjoyed. Quentin is a bit of a whiney b*tch sometimes but he's an interesting character. A few twists and turns that I didn't anticipate and I can't wait to listen to the next one!

How unique! Loved it =)

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found the naration a little slow and the speed works better at 1.15x the speed. everything else is great

bring the speed up <br />

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