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May 05, 2018DPLbrian rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
As my sister bought me this book I had little prior knowledge to the story before jumping in. It started out alright, much the same as other YA novels do with a discontented protagonist pining after a girl he couldn't have. I thought the book would focus on that relationship and Quentin getting over his myriad of other problems. But oh was I wrong. From the moment Quentin stepped foot in Brakebills I was in love. Hogwarts had never looked so edgy. All the areas of magic JKR had ignored to make her books more appropriate to a younger audience were brought out in full force in The Magicians. After so many years in the muggle world I was brought back into a school of magic. But magic in Brakebills isn't the frivolous wand waving we see in Hogwarts. It's hard work. Every Brakebills student is a veritable genius, which is very much a pre-requisite for learning magic. Harry Potter magic is to Magicians magic as buying a loaf of bread is to making it. In Harry Potter you recite the incantation, wave the wand, focus a bit, and voila. You have your perfectly portioned baguette. In the Magicians you need a nigh encyclopedic knowledge of bread before you even get started. What type of flour will you use? How long do you need to let it rise? What temperature do you bake it at? For how long? Is it dawn or dusk? What stage is the moon in? Every little details matters. As our main character Quentin soon finds out, magic is work. Hard work. Perhaps much more than he was prepared for. Quentin is depressed. It's in his nature. Much of the story focuses on how Quentin, who seems to be getting everything he ever wanted, is never quite satisfied. He learns that he may not even be the hero of his own story. Having Quentin be so flawed, is one of the main reasons I love the story. It's so refreshing to have a realistic and fallible main character.