Since starting this blog last week, I haven't done a very good job of getting my reviews started :) It's been a bit hectic, but I have some time tonight, so I'm going to try to get a couple of entries done. I have a list of things in my head that I want to write about, now I just need to start getting them out of my head and onto the computer!
Book: The Magicians
Author: Lev Grossman
Published: August 2009
Format: eBook for B&N nook
From the B&N synopsis:
"Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell meet Harry Potter in a sophisticated and menacing new coming-of-age tale."
"...Time magazine senior book critic and Nerd World blog regular Lev Grossman's impecably timed fantasy novel aimed at grownups who love J.K. Rowling's bewitching tales."
I had high hopes, based on what I read on the book jacket, that this book would be a good fit for me. I love JK Rowling, JRR Tolkein, and CS Lewis - all authors of series books that this story was compared to - so I was really looking forward to this read. Sadly, it was a big disappointment for me. The synopsis said this story "draws inspiration" from the previously mentioned authors. A more accurate statement would be that this story copies the work of the other authors, with minor changes. For example, in The Chronicles of Narnia, you have "the wood between the worlds," where there are trees and lakes. The lakes are portholes to different worlds. The characters enter and leave the worlds through the various lakes using green and yellow rings. In The Magicians, you have "The Neitherlands," which is a city that has a fountain in each square. Surprise, surprise, the fountains allow the characters to move between worlds, but in this book they use coins. At Brakebills, a magically concealed school for training witches and wizards (sound familiar anyone??), after the first year of study, the students are divided into disciplines based on what type of magic seems to be that student's specialty. They join other students of their discipline and each discipline has their own house where only they can hang out. Still sounding familiar? I think you probably get the point! This entire work felt very unoriginal to me and there were times I didn't even want to finish it. I kept hoping it would improve, but again I was disappointed.
It was also a depressing story. The story felt random and frequently disjointed. The author took bits and pieces of Narnia and Hogwarts and then inserted "post adolescent"/adult themes of binge drinking, drugs, angst, and sex and those things didn't mesh well. I get the goal of making a fantasy novel that isn't so focused on the kid/teen market, but this was not a successful attempt at that. I was definitely glad when I was done reading and could move on to something else :)
My rating: I would give it about a 1.5 (on a scale of 5)
Would I recommend it to a friend: Definitely not
No comments:
Post a Comment