I've been spending a lot of time reading. In fact, my fiance is having to ask me to go to bed some nights, and turn off table lamp, just to get me to put my new book down. So I present to you all, one of the best new adult versions of Harry Potter, Narnia style books, that I have found and fell in love with. "The Magicians Trilogy" by Lev Grossman.
Now, I should warn you, this book starts out with a long lead up to the details of the Narnian style world called "Fillory" that it suggests the book is about from the back cover. To be truthful, the beginning three quarters of the book is about a college aged guy named Quentin, and how he eventually stumbled into the harsher, less romanticized version of a Hogwarts styled school. The book follows his education in magic, and then his leaving the school prior to ever getting to the magical Narnian styled world of "Fillory"; But the journey is well worth it, and exciting all the same.
While I read the first book, which was hard to put down at times, I never expected the author to have the students go into any form of Fifty Shades of Grey. That was until I reached somewhere around page 73, and realized, that the Author not only made it an adult book with the references and the working, but also with the adult styled intimate scenes. What I truly loved though, was that he didn't tarnish the book by going into grotesque and intimate details. Lev Grossman artistically gives you just a couple paragraphs to describe the intro to the scene, and then allows your mind to go where it wants with the image. Your choice, either you picture more, or you find it's not for you and you keep reading onward. Honestly, it was a shock initially to me that the paragraphs would even be in the book, making me sit up in bed one night while reading at 1am, go "Wow, OK, this multilayer novel, just added a whole new side to it that I'm kinda intrigued with."
The other major point of interest in this book, was the various plot lines to follow. You begin thinking it's a story about Quentin and the school and that the book will begin and end with that journey, but it doesn't. There's an underlying story of Quentin's life in the real world, that continues behind the scenes to only pop hints about what happening outside his world while he's not there, and leaving you asking "What's happening in the outside world?" The story also weaves in this land from a Narnia styled series that continues to be mentioned in the book, and you are constantly wondering what it will have to do with the story, until eventually it takes over the story.
Lev Grossman wrote a fantastic series, and understandably a New York Times Best seller, that leaves your wanting more with every page. Rarely do I find a book that I read, and upon finishing the first novel, want to run out and grab the second one in the series. This book did just that, with me wanting the next installment (which I drove to town and bought within an hour of finishing the first one).
If you find yourselves with time on your hands, needing a good escape into a new reality and world of adventure, then I'd strongly recommend this one. I'm working on the second book, "The Magician King", and hardly wanted to stop to do work or anything else. Hope you guys feel the same.
~ A.
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