3.31.2011

The Magicians by Lev Grossman


Lately I have been trying my best to shorten my TBR pile. The Magicians has been sitting on it for a good six months, if not longer. It was one of those books I bought on a whim because I thought it sounded unique and then I lost all interest. Well, it turns out I lost interest for good reason, because for me this novel just didn't work.

The premise is HarryPotteresque, but the writing is bad. Certain phrases felt out of place which made it feel awkward and clichés are overused. Not only that, the book lacks substance and underlying ideas. It's very one-dimensional and all in all, not a good read.

Publisher: Plume ,2009

11 comments:

  1. Sorry that didn't book out for you. I can't say I've heard of it but I'll make sure to avoid it.

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  2. This one has been sitting on my TBR shelf probably just as long. I'm always on the lookout for books that are unique in someway and thought this one would fall under that category. After reading your review it will probably sit for a little longer. Ha!

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  3. From the background reading, seems like a hop journalist who wanted to surf the Rowling-Meyer wave. FAIL. You read it all?

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  4. Red, You should avoid it at all costs.

    Jenna, Sorry you bought this and sorry I my review will make it sit even longer on your TBR.

    Ben, I did read it all. The novel moved pretty quickly and I had hope for the ending, but it just turned out to be a dud.

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  5. I abandoned this one as I thought the writing was so bad. :-(

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  6. Clearly it bit the big one. I had never heard of it until I saw it here. BUT-- you're reading Vonnegut, so things should be better. You're flying through the challenege.

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  7. farmlane, I should really learn to abandon books I don't like sooner than later.

    Beth, I've still only read 3 of the 8 for my challenge! It was 4 but then I had to cross off The Age of Innocence for my 19th century novel since it's a 20th century. Sigh.

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  8. I enjoyed this one, actually. It had some flaws, but overall it was intersting (IMO). I enjoyed, most of all, that it was a realistic fantasy - he approached this in an entirely NOT or anti-Harry Potter-esque way, which I think people are not expecting. With the recent wave of popular fantasy fiction, we've come to expect a certain something - and this book was not that, but I don't think it made the book bad. To me, it made it unique and refreshing. I loved that it read like angsty general fiction which just so happens to include magic, rather than total whimsy.

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  9. I was really excited about this one at first, but I never picked up a copy, and now I'm glad I didn't. The more I hear about it, the less interested I am in reading it. Sorry it didn't work out for you!

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  10. Bummer! I love Grossman in Time Magazine, but haven't been brave enough to try his novels because I didn't want to like him less. Thanks for letting me know I should stick to reading his journalism, not his fiction.

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