The Magician

The Magician by Lev Grossman

Hello, it's been a while since I wrote a revie-w,not because I haven't read since last December but simply because I didn't felt the need to share my readings, i. e. do a review. So what changed? Well this book did.It had played with my emotion so much so that I found myself laughing at times and feeling so sad at others. I will explain more later but this book made me feel excited again reading books AND telling / recommending it to others.

About the book.
The book seems similar to Harry Rotter at first. You have a teenage /young adult who got accepted to a magical school. The similarities ends there. When in Harry Potter the story ends as school ends, the part that Isee as the core of the book begins after school. So if you expected adventures where kids go around outsmarting adults like in the Rowlings like me,then you are going to be disappointed.

But the book doesn't disappoint. It later moved on and told the story of the man (boy?) after graduating, love lifes and emptiness of purpose that even plagued magicians. Just as his life was is in stagnant, he and his group came upon a powerful relic. Then they begin their adventures like in, Narnia and LOTR. As George Martin (author of Game of Thrones) said, this book pays homage to lots of classics.

What I really like...
about the book is that the story unfolds unlike your expectation. It is not to say the book is totally unpredictable, only that it has twists at the right moments. For example the protagonist did not have some uncontrollable power that somehow comes out at times of need and conveniently moves the plot, but instead he acted cowardly at times. If you are someone who hates unheroic hero like me (because face it, who wants to read about boring duds who sleep or runaway all the time) don't be. Why? Because this is a fantasy book, there's always redemption..
I mentioned earlier about love lives, and normally what follows is betrayal. What I really liked about it was that the drama actually moved me. Your experience really might differ, and even mine it I were to read it again. Anyway there were times that I felt really sad and it occurred to me that the emotions would be lost if it were turned into a movie because fantasy movies nowadays are all about shimmers and sparks. "This is why I read books!" was the thought that came to me.
Another major thing that I like about the book is there are unexpected situations that made the possibility of existence of magic seems higher since the reaction seems unscripted and real. An example was when the protagonist was to release his demon, it was such a letdown that I laughed out loud .

The Language.
The book is American but most of the words are lost to me. The words are not a' bombastic or enigmatic like say Tolkiens, but somehow the words are disorienting. After awhile I ignore words I do not know like I always do, only for this book, .at a higher rate. In other words, the language is a bit hard.

Recommendations
A fantasy book. Clever plots and interweawing storylines. There are some adults scenes but not so vividly described.
Overall I would recommend this book to people who have read the fantasy classics and wish them to be retold in less child - like manner.
Try it. There's even a sequel that I am going to try and get my hands on soon.

Thanks for reading.