But once the pieces are in place, the story soars.Īnd it’s written so splendidly, this book more so than even the two preceding it. Author Grossman does not waste any time on exposition – and there’s a lot that you need to know in order to enjoy this book.
#THE MAGICIANS LAND OVERVIEW SERIES#
You definitely will want to have read the other two books in this series before attempting The Magician’s Land. In other words: these aren’t your kids’ magicians. But it ain’t Narnia, it ain’t Hogwarts, and it sure as heck ain’t “Lord of the Rings”. The Magician’s Land is the third and final installment in Lev Grossman’s “Magicians” series, all of which incorporate strong Narnia vibes, heavy Harry Potter influences (the students of Brakebills even allude to the Harry Potter novels in places, such as using the term “muggle” as a substitute for their own non-magical persons nomenclature of “mundanes”, and alluding to “patroni”, as in multiple patronus spells), and even a nod to Tolkien here and there. Welcome to the world of magicians for hire.Īnd, since this is a Lev Grossman novel, complications do arise, not the least of which is that Quentin’s friends back in Fillory – High King Eliot, his Queen and now wife, Poppy, and Queen Janet – are in even more dire straits: Fillory is dying, and damned if it seems like there is anything they can do about it – as if that would keep them from trying. What is unknown is the exact location of the suitcase, the surety of being able to break the bond, what might be of such great value in the suitcase, or what other complications may arise. They are to locate a stolen suitcase, break through an incorporate bond (a magical spell that locks an object and is supposedly unbreakable)and obtain the items inside the suitcase, while holding off the two master magicians who consider themselves the current owners of the suitcase (“…our claim is superior to theirs” assures the talking bird when queried if re-obtaining the suitcase would be considered thievery).
Quentin answers the summons and finds himself – along with the aforementioned Plum (who had received her own mysterious letter) and three others – with a somewhat daunting task laid before them by a talking crow and his rather mountainous henchman. That prank got the girl, a senior by the name of Plum Polson Purchas, expelled from Brakebills and lost Quentin his job.Īnd it is before he receives a letter that mysteriously shows up in his pocket, with a potential freelance magician job offer for showing up at a particular bookstore at a particular time on a particular day. That is, before he gets caught up in a schoolgirl’s inelegant prank which quickly escalates to the point of putting the entire school in danger – as well as revealing that Quentin’s “lost” girlfriend is trapped between worlds, but as a niffin – an undead demon filled with immense rage and power. (“Maybe when you give up your dreams, you find out that there’s more to life than dreaming.”) One could even say he was peace with what had happened.
He had been able to slip right into a job as junior professor at Brakebills (the only American school for magicians, where he and his friends had been students before they crossed over into Fillory), so he actually was pretty lucky. He understands why he had to come back, what his role was in saving Fillory, and while he now was just one more run of the mill magician trying to make a living, he wasn’t going to waste time and energy pining for what was gone. That magical land of the beloved children’s stories – that magical land which turned out to be very real, where he had once been royalty – had cast him back to the “real” world, forcing him to leave behind his friends, his fame, and the woman who he thought he had loved and now had irrevocably lost.īut Quentin is okay with it. Quentin Coldwater has been cast out of Fillory. And even with the things it could do, it didn’t always do them right. But there were lots of things magic couldn’t do. When people said something worked like magic they meant that it cost nothing and did exactly what you wanted it to. It was funny about magic, how messy and imperfect it was.