The Magician's Land

As with all good final parts, The Magician's Land ties up many loose ends, brings the grandiose at hitherto unseen levels (including a battle that gives Lord of the Rings a run for its money), and leaves you wanting more even though there is no more. The story could continue, it doesn't need to.

thomasrigby.com/posts/book-review-the-magicians-land-lev-grossman/

This was a very enjoyable series, and I was satisfied with the open-ended way the author left it. Though I found Grossman's writing style pleasing, I found that I never got attached to any of the characters. I liked them all well enough, but in a more detached way than usual, especially considering that I'd just followed some of them through three books.

And just a side question: After Quentin was kicked out of Fillory by Ember, why did he never spend any time in Venice? That beautiful Palazzo was never mentioned again...not to be overly materialistic...

Anyway, these books were fun, and I'm glad I read them.

This story gets off to a slow start, but I didn't mind, because Grossman's writing style is very pleasing. Also, he did need to make clear that the main character, Quentin, was bored and depressed, as well as very bright and academically ambitious.

Without rehashing the the synopsis already provided, I'll say that Grossman's novel does stand on the shoulders of earlier fantasy works, but with a difference: this tale has an existential message. Quentin thinks that certain things will bring him happiness, but he discovers that life is not so easy.

As a young boy, Quentin becomes obsessed with a series of fantasy books about a land called Fillory, an allusion to Narnia. I was once attached to those books, and really enjoyed this nod to C. S. Lewis. (I, too, wondered why Lucy, Susan, Peter, and Edmund couldn't stay there forever.)

Since this is not a young adult book, sex, alcohol, and violence do happen.

Just a note: late in the book, Grossman used the expression "howling fantods." I like to think this is a nod to David Foster Wallace.

I enjoyed this quite a bit, and would certainly recommend it.

Good conclusion to the series; the biggest issue I have with the series in general is that with Quentin we are always told, not shown who he is. Somehow, Grossman makes these stories work.