The Magician King: A Novel

I liked this book much more then the first. Interspersing stories of Fillory and the continuing adventures of Quentin with the harsh realities of Julia on Earth was a great counterpoint to the story. I still find that Quentin misses the mark when it comes to being the hero of the story. Though the ending where he finally steps up, does finally make him a hero.It was rather odd that Janet was left out during so much of the story. She is a queen of Fillory, shouldn’t she have been involved more.Julia, by far, is my favorite character. She is a hero, above and beyond anyone else, at least in my book. The struggles she goes through on Earth, which happened at the same time as book one for everyone else, was horrific and touching. She did more, saw more and even became a better magician then the Brakebills kids. Only Alice paid a higher price, or possibly just a similar one. Both of them became magical beings, hopefully that is a big enough reward for all they went through.I think the Watcherwoman, Jane Chatwin, should have been more involved in this story. She’s been around for such a long time, and knows how Fillory works. After all, she was the person who planted the clock trees throughout Fillory. She could easily have replaced the male character at the final door at the end of Fillory. This would have had added a nice symmetry to the story, as she’s part of the Earth’s Fillorian fairy tale, just as the golden keys are a fairy tale within Fillory itself. Though if they had brought in Jane, and that she wasn’t sent from Fillory by Ember, then why should Quentin be expelled? An Earth person obviously does not have to be a King or Queen to remain, so why couldn’t Quentin remain?I do think there could be some better storylines regarding a few characters. Instead of dispensing with some characters and introducing new ones, I think using the already existing characters would have been better. Such as with Anais. She could have returned to Fillory and tied in well with the Josh and Quentin storyline, instead of introducing Poppy. Emily Greenstreet could also have been a good character to re-introduce in the story. She suffered and paid prices, doesn’t she deserve a chance at a Fillorian life? If not Fillory, she could have been tied in with the FTB support group. She obviously knew the repercussions of magic, wouldn’t she be tempted to find an answer with the Gods like the others within FTB? Possibly if only to help remove the scar that she has within her?There are several things that still need to be explained. One, how did Julia hook up with Eliot and Janet to find Quentin at the end of book one, I think it could be significant. Two, the mystery of Penny and the Order. The back door to keep magic working was used, possibly bringing attention to the Order. Three, the dragons from Earth, they were released in the Neitherlands, what happened after that and with the dragons themselves. Do the dragons return to Earth, or if they don’t, does that impact the magic on Earth. Four, the mystery of the Gods themselves. Just because magic has been turned back on, it wouldn’t stop the Gods from noticing. What is their next action going to be.Five, it was never explained why OLU allowed Reynard the Fox to subvert the FTB groups actions into calling him instead of her. She obviously was contacting the group too, as she did come to Julia in her dream and again later in another worlds Underworld. Six, Asmodeus from FTB, her scar was healed by the saint, who may or may not be a patron of OLU. She was spared by Reynard due to Julia’s actions. Now that she has been touched by the Gods and such strong magic, what happens with her? Seven, the new world opposite of Fillory. If Fillory was the rough draft for this new world, what is it like and how does Bingle, Abigail the Sloth, and Julia fit within this new world. Is this a new section of Fillory or is it a brand new world directly connected to Neitherworld, and could Quentin enter it from there?Hopefully the final book will tie up some of the loose ends. It definitely is a unique spin for such a magical fairy tale.

I like to think of books of fiction as a mind vacation. I pick my books by where I would like to go; would I want to do the work of major sight seeing or do I want to go to a beach resort and be pampered? Fantasy, even dark fantasy, is the latter kind of book vacation. We read it to escape into new worlds in which we can do things that we can't do in our own lives. Let's call them "book-cations".(OK, well that works for me as well as "stay-cations").First, let me be clear that this series is NOT for children. References to adult activities make this inappropriate for the smaller fairy tale crowd.Hmm. This may contain spoilers for readers of the first book. I promise no specific references, but my state of mind may give some away.Having gotten that out of the way, I need to say that while I loved the writing in this book (which actually kept me on my toes looking up a few words and references, i.e. "pal·imp·sest"), I kept thinking that this book has an agenda. It seems to be the Anti-Narnia; exploring what is religion and what is not.It does not settle comfortably in any zone. In fact, it has fairly clear references to Narnia but this would be the snarky Narnia of today's world. If one finally realizes that no one is coming to save us, we look at those spiritual paths in which we can save ourselves; Buddhism being my primary pick.(Ember would make an interesting Buddha, but would have to go through at least one human life to get there). And, so the characters mostly take themselves in and out of............well just about everywhere.There is plenty of plot thickening, without silly devices, ongoing and lots of honest twists and turns. I have to admit that I enjoyed the way the author wove Julia's story in and out of the second half of this book. She is a wonderfully drawn character. Beautiful, dark Julia who finds the light. Now bring her BACK?!).We are left feeling uneasy when the endings are meted our for the characters. Though there is much talk about how stories should end, teasing the reader with Quentin's internal dialog, "Things had been going so well.....But...Just work out the sums". "We can't all be heroes. Then who would the heroes fight? It's a matter of numbers really. Just work out the sums."So, the dutiful reader considers the considerable contributions and screw-ups of the main characters and makes that list.But, rather like THIS world (not fantasy), in the end of this book the author does not "do the sums".It is NOT fair! (Stomps foot)(One cannot possibly think that Elliot has paid the same price or had to work as hard to be a "hero" as has Quentin?) He just holds his liquor better.AND ALICE???? She rather took a major header through the Looking Glass in the last book and half of us bought the second one just to save her.I rather liked "OLU"; if you are going to create a Goddess, she should be dangerous and hard to find but ultimately compassionate. Er...........almost.) And, yes, it will bring me back to buy that next book, but in the meantime, I'm thinking (along with Quentin) that this just ain't fair!In some ways this seems more like a modern mythology than a fantasy. It is the kind of book that anthropologists may well wish to tear apart a thousand years from now to know what we were thinking these days. (And, in this book, some of it will be about sex, drugs and rock and roll magician style).But, given these (pretty darn rough) times, not many will feel as though they went on the vacation for which they paid. They set out for Cozumel and ended up doing tours of haunted houses in the UK. The reader may find this interesting and absorbing, but it is not the fantasy for which the reader looked to leave THIS world.Note to author: At least if we are rousing the energy to imagine sex, drugs, rock and roll and hangovers, we should be offered a cure for hangovers. Some palliative for our adrenal rushes that don't allow us to put this damn book down in that quiet summer night.This book almost manages to suspend disbelief, but when it delves into the anthropology of magic, instead of showing us the author's opinion (as Tolkien did about fairies, not all nice critters), he explains it and debates it with the reader.This is a super book for writers; if I had signed up for the Writer's Cruise on my "book-cation", I would have been thrilled to debate these points. But, I thought I was going to a venue in which I would have no problems with money, drugs, sex, or anything else...............just me and my book up reading late on a summer night.By all means read this series. It is extremely erudite, cohesive and intelligent. But get insurance for any tickets for your "vacation" in fantasy land.So, when is the next book due out?!

Good book - delivered on time.

ottimo e ottima serie tv, bellisismi libri, consiglio in inglese

Das was ein Geschenk und der Empfänger hat sich sehr gefreut

Mi único problema con eses libros que todo el mundo es tonto. Pero hay frases, y pensamientos, y otras cosas que merecen las 5 estrellas. Y el mundo de Fillory, y nuestro mundo mágico... pues, son mágicos y bien escritos.

The book is great and the packaging and all was great. The problem is that I didn't check the dimensions before I bought it and now I have the first and second part of the series in different editions and sizes. I'm stupid but I learnt my lesson.