Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Magicians


I have a confession. Sometimes I am scared to read a book, no make that terrified. There are a few things that will bring on this terror. I will see a book cover, read the dust jacket and buy it (or check it out) without consulting a review, talking to anyone who has read it, or doing any research. Or, I will get a recommendation from someone. Or I will buy something based on the hype (yes, books get hype too). In any of these circumstances, I will have every intention of reading the book, and possibly even get a little excited by the prospect of this new book. That’s when he shows up. That little voice in my head that will coax and cajole me. ‘What if it’s no good?’ I start to listen to him. If it’s a bad book I have: 1. Wasted my time. 2. I will have to disappoint the person who recommended it. 3. I will forever distrust The Hype and never buy another book. I begin to think that ‘The Promise’ of the book will be better than the actual reading of the book. I let the book sit there, while I am paralyzed with fear.

‘The Magicians’ by Lev Grossman was one of those books. I saw it in my bookstore when it was released and it looked interesting. I did a little bit of research and found that Lev was the twin brother of Austin Grossman, who wrote ‘Soon I Will Be Invincible,’ one of my favorite reads. I purchased a copy and had every intention of reading it. I was talking to a book selling colleague of mine and he told me I would love this book because it was ‘Harry Potter for Adults.’ That’s when the first warning bell went off.

If you have ever worked in a bookstore, you know that one of the things that makes hand selling difficult is that customers want to know if the book you are selling them is ‘like’ another book that they have read. I did it all the time, all the while seething under my breath.

‘Sure, if you like ‘Twilight’ you’ll love ‘The Passage,’ they both have vampires.’

In reality, no book is ‘like’ any other book. You want to be able to sell a book on it’s own merits (especially if it is a book you love) and not because it sounds just like a book the customer is familiar with. It’s a necessary evil, we all do it. But when you start comparing books to Harry Potter, you can turn as many people off as you catch. Potter is a high expectation to set with any book (plus I hate it when people say ‘Harry Potter for Adults.’ Harry Potter may have been written for children, but it is as much for adults as anyone).

So ‘The Magicians’ sat and sat, waiting for me to come to my senses and read it. I even bought the sequel ‘The Magician King’ before I had read ‘The Magicians.’

After finishing ‘The Night Circus’ I needed to read something else. I was at the beginning of a Reading Frenzy and I needed something else. ‘The Magicians’ time had come.

Lev Grossman is a fan of Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars, Comic Books, The Lord of the Rings and all my other nerd G-Spots. He peppers the book with references and quotes only a nerd like me would get. It’s not a ripoff, and it’s not necessarily an homage either. Rather than shy away from comparisons to Potter and Narnia, Grossman relishes in them, dropping playful (but respectful) allusions and comparisons throughout the book. It gives the book a certain confidence: ‘I know you Potter-philes are going to be reading this, so let’s have some fun with it.’

Quentin Coldwater is his own literary creation. Quentin is a slacker high school student. Much brighter than his classmates, but way more interested in being miserable and lonely that actually applying his gifts to his studies. Through a few chance encounters and some manipulation, Quentin finds himself admitted to Brakebills, a college for magicians in upstate New York. This is where the similarities to Harry Potter ended for me. ‘The Magicians’ is a much faster paced book. The 4 years of college whirl by in the first half of the book. Quentin’s story surges forward, keeping me interested and intrigued. Just as I began to get comfortable in the surroundings of Brakebills, Quentin graduates. In the world Grossman created, gifted mages don’t have a Gringotts or a Ministry of Magic to work for. The use their abilities in the real world. That was unexpected and refreshing.

Grossman was also very adept at showing us just enough of his world to entice us. There was not a lot of exposition with made up words for spells and special languages and labels for magical devices. It was like the nuts and bolts of magical ability were always bubbling just under the surface. I got to see ‘what’ the magic was, not ‘how’ it worked. I liked that a lot. It let me imagine so much on my own, and isn’t that what good writing is supposed to do?

Quentin drinks, does drugs, and cheats on his girlfriend. In other words, he’s just like many recent college graduates. Having magic doesn’t change the core of who he is. If anything, it just gives him another set of Circumstances to deal with. Even with the fast pace of the book, the characters are well thought out and easy to identify with. Quentin isn’t the anti-Harry Potter, he’s just another kid who does magic.

Throughout the book, there are references to a fabled land called Fillory, from a series of children’s books. Quentin and all of his friends have read them, but assumed they were just fiction. When one of Quentin’s old classmates turns up with a way to get to Fillory, Quentin and his compatriots jump at the chance.

Because learning magic didn’t change who Quentin was, he believed going on a quest to Fillory would. It’s really that same feeling all of us have felt at one time or another: ‘This life I’m living is not me. If I could just do/be ‘X’ I would be happier and all my problems would go away.’ Quentin learns the hard way that is not the case.

As in life, ‘The Magicians’ doesn’t just neatly tie up all the loose ends. Many things are left unanswered and unlearned. I liked that. Nothing so neat and tidy, but messy as it should be. There is a nice Fillorian set up for the next book, however. After a few days of savoring this book, I’ll be going back to Fillory with ‘The Magician King.’ I won’t make Quentin wait for me again.