The Magician King: A Novel

Lev Grossman

Aug 2011 · Magicians Trilogy Book 2 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

Lev Grossman’s new novel THE BRIGHT SWORD will be on sale July 2024

Return to Fillory in the riveting sequel to the New York Times bestseller and literary phenomenon, The Magicians, now an original series on SYFY, from the author of the #1 bestselling The Magician’s Land.

Quentin Coldwater should be happy. He escaped a miserable Brooklyn childhood, matriculated at a secret college for magic, and graduated to discover that Fillory—a fictional utopia—was actually real. But even as a Fillorian king, Quentin finds little peace. His old restlessness returns, and he longs for the thrills a heroic quest can bring.

Accompanied by his oldest friend, Julia, Quentin sets off—only to somehow wind up back in the real world and not in Fillory, as they’d hoped. As the pair struggle to find their way back to their lost kingdom, Quentin is forced to rely on Julia’s illicitly learned sorcery as they face a sinister threat in a world very far from the beloved fantasy novels of their youth.

Ratings and reviews

The Magician King picks up, in the linear timeline, at two years past the ending of The Magicians, and continues the story of Quentin as a Fillorian King, while also giving backstory on Julia through intermittent chapters, recounting her time as a hedge witch on Earth. There are many things that can be said about this series, but one thing we can all agree on - it doesn't pull any punches. The Harry Potter references have mostly worn off and there's a bit of a Voyage of the Dawn Treader situation going on, but the main thing this series tells us is that magic is ruthless and will take as much as it gives. Case in point: Quentin, bored with life in the idyllic Fillory, wants something more and stumbles upon a quest, realizing many times throughout it that romantic ideals of quest don't always match the reality. Mirroring this quest is Julia's quest - when she was rejected by Brakebills, she sought out whatever magic she could and it takes her more than four years to get to a point where she finally finds what she was looking for. On the magic lore forefront I wouldn't say it clears up much about the mechanics itself - when the characters are describing the studies, the techniques and everything math that comes along with it, I pretty much skimmed it because it was quite complicated and besides, that was barely the point. The point was that these geniuses who got access to magic wanted more of it, and who can blame them when they loved magic so much. But magic, as the proverbial saying goes, comes with a steep price, and this book goes more into the concept of divinity and what it means for Magicians, and for the multiverse at large. It was a fascinating journey, even if you remove the character arcs, in that we learn so much about this world Grossman has built up. And with the character arcs, and the respective pain they go through? It comes together in a frightfully dark comedic fantasy, and the ending is quite explosive in terms of both world-building and character arcs. My one discontention about this book is that the character POV are very myopic - the secondary characters are barely fleshed out, and its only Quentin's stray observations (and not their actions themselves) that give any sort of depth to them. Julia's comes across as more cold but still you get a sense of the characters around her, but they fade away for us, much like they do for her. This kind of narration would have probably worked better in first person, maybe? Overall, though, this book manages to keep you hooked and reaching for more, much like the Magicians.

It's really quite a shame: the story's marred by the way the author uses the name Jesus Christ (regardless of being in reality or in Fillory) as just another swear word, but as sort of, 'How cute! See how the Fillorians misuse OUR swear/curse word again and again,' without having the knowledge of the person, Jesus (who is actually God in a human body, as well as the only Savior of all mankind and thus who should be the last name called out in a derogatory manner. While we're at it, let's use 'Mohammed' for a Non-profit organization's name, but we can call the manager the Non-Prophet 'No Ham Blood', and we can draw a picture of a silly stick figure guy who gets pummeled for not knowing a Prophecy that the main character needed, who will say, "Look, pork boy!" Good idea, right? NO? Then how do you think Christians feel with, 'Jesus Christ this! Jesus Christ that'? Anyway, the first book was barely tolerable. This I put down before Chapter 3's end. And I hate doing that once invested!

This is not your kid's fantasy! It is sarcastic, dark, and depressing, but extremely insightful. Grossman has an eerily good grasp of ancient magic ("more than just waving a stick and shouting out some made up Latin!"). The characters are very real with all their fears and flaws and I ended up loving them more for it. Not for the faint of heart but for those whose life is hard in ways they didn't expect.

About the author

LEV GROSSMAN is the book critic for Time magazine and author of five novels, including the international bestseller Codex and the #1 New York Times bestselling Magicians trilogy. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children.