The Magicians

Quentin Coldwater, as his name might suggest, is not happy with his lot.  When Lev Grossman’s novel The Magicians begins, he is on his way to an interview with a Princeton alumnus as part of his application process.  He is with his two best friends, also gifted and talented, but more bonded to each other than they are to him.  Nothing, that day or at any other time in this novel, goes as he expected.  He does not find exactly happiness, at least not lasting happiness, but he finds a lot of other things he never expected to see.  And he doesn’t go Princeton. 

I’ve heard The Magicians described as Hogwarts for grown-ups.  I don’t know that I would agree with that.  It is certainly full of magic and learning.  If you like it as much as I did, you'll want to read the sequel, The Magician King, also available at Peter White Public Library, and the third book, The Magicians' Land, which will be available at PWPL when it comes out in August. 

~E.M. Reference Department