Queen Anne Books

Lately I've become completely paranoid about over-hyping certain books. I find myself saying the book was "really good" when actually I loved it. I'm especially worried about over-hyping The Magicians because, um, it was really good. For any book to take on the adult fantasies that so many of us have about entering the worlds of Harry Potter and Narnia is ambitious, to say the least, but to succeed in satisfying those fantasies seems actually impossible.

This is an adult, American version of Harry Potter (magical school, extraordinary power, vicious bad guy, a little romance) told with all the darkness that requires (sex, drugs, ambition, failure). It is also a trip to Narnia. Of course, it’s not called Narnia, it’s called Fillory (a world with so much authenticity that I had to look it up to be sure it wasn’t some other fantasy series I’d never heard of), and the main character isn’t called Harry Potter, he’s called Quentin Coldwater. Thankfully, it’s clear that Grossman is in on the joke. Even better, it transcends the story icons it is so obviously inspired by and becomes just a great book all by itself. Ok, I’ll say it, I loved this book. ~Lillian