Grossman’s The Magicians, a worldwide bestseller, was a departure from the antasy genre that is populated with Hogwarts and hobbits for teenagers; it talked about adult issues of sex, drugs, alienation and teenage angst. The protagonist, Quentin Coldwater, returns in this sequel set deep in the magical land of Fillroy (with striking parallels to Narnia) where he is the acting king along with his friends, Janet, Julia and Eliot. Quentin goes on an adventure in this fantasy, simply because he is bored of the rich, extravagant life of a king. The intersection of ‘real’ life and fantasy is brilliantly constructed in the book, as magicians use everyday items such as Google Maps to enhance a spell and deal with broken relationships, the difficulty of finding happiness and making colossal mistakes. Grossman seems to blend the fantasy genre with literary realism, where the inner life of the protagonist is constructed with vivid detail. Even the magical world of Fillroy is not the perfect, children’s book, fairytale land but has all the violence and conflicts of the ‘real’ world. Fans of CS Lewis and JK Rowling will enjoy this adult fantasy and the striking dénouement that
promises a third novel in the series.
Volume 1 Issue 4
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