The Magician King (Hardcover)
Description
Return to Fillory in the riveting sequel to The New York Times bestseller and literary phenomenon of 2009--The Magicians.
The Magicians was praised as a triumph by readers and critics of both mainstream and fantasy literature. Now Grossman takes us back to Fillory, where the Brakebills graduates have fled the sorrows of the mundane world, only to face terrifying new challenges.
Quentin and his friends are now the kings and queens of Fillory, but the days and nights of royal luxury are starting to pall. After a morning hunt takes a sinister turn, Quentin and his old friend Julia charter a magical sailing ship and set out on an errand to the wild outer reaches of their kingdom. Their pleasure cruise becomes an adventure when the two are unceremoniously dumped back into the last place Quentin ever wants to see: his parent's house in Chesterton, Massachusetts. And only the black, twisted magic that Julia learned on the streets can save them.
The Magician King is a grand voyage into the dark, glittering heart of magic, an epic quest for the Harry Potter generation. It also introduces a powerful new voice, that of Julia, whose angry genius is thrilling. Once again Grossman proves that he is the modern heir to C.S. Lewis, and the cutting edge of literary fantasy.
About the Author
Lev Grossman is a senior writer and book critic for Time magazine. He is also the author of the international bestselling novel Codex, the creator of the Time blog Techland, and a graduate of Harvard and Yale. He lives in Brooklyn. Visit levgrossman.com and techland.time.com.
Praise for The Magician King…
"[A] serious, heartfelt novel [that] turns the machinery of fantasy inside out."
--The New York Times (Editor's Choice)
"A spellbinding stereograph, a literary adventure novel that is also about a privilege, power and the limits of being human. The Magician King is a triumphant sequel."
--NPR.org
"[The Magician King] is 'The Catcher in the Rye' for devotees of alternative universes. It's dazzling and devil-may-care...Grossman has created a rare, strange and scintillating novel."
--The Chicago Tribune
"The Magician King is a rare achievement, a book that simultaneously criticizes and celebrates our deep desire for fantasy."
--The Boston Globe
"Grossman has devised an enchanted milieu brimming with possibility, and his sly authorial voice gives it a literary lift that positions The Magician King well above the standard fantasy fare."
--The San Francisco Chronicle
"Grossman has devised an enchanted milieu brimming with possibility, and his sly authorial voice gives it a literary lift that positions The Magician King well above the standard fantasy fare."
--The New Yorker
"Grossman is brilliant at creating brainy, distinct, flawed, complex characters, and nearly as good at running them through narrative gauntlets that inventively tweak the stories that generations have grown up on."
--The Portland Oregonian
"The Magician King, the immensely entertaining new novel by Lev Grossman, manages to be both deep and deeply enjoyable."
--The Chicago Sun-Times
"Readers who have already enjoyed The Magicians should lose no time in picking up The Magician King. For those who haven't, read both books: Grossman's work is solid, smart and engaging adult fantasy."
--Miami Herald
"Now that Harry Potter is through in books and films, grown-up fans of the boy wizard might want to give this nimble fantasy series a try."
--New York Post
"The Magician Kingis Grossman's sequel to The Magicians, and while it is every bit as delightful and smart as the first one, it's a very different kind of book... The Magician Kingis at once an existential exercise that angrily shakes escapism by its shoulders and demands that life have a purpose, and a story about extraordinary deeds, heroism, magic and love-all the stuff that makes escapism go. It's a fantastic trick that makes this into a book that entertains and disturbs at the same time."
--Boing Boing
"Lev Grossman's The Magician King is a fresh take on the fantasy- quest novel-dark, austere, featuring characters with considerable psychological complexity, a collection of idiosyncratic talking animals (a sloth who knows the path to the underworld, a dragon in the Grand Canal), and splendid set pieces in Venice, Provence, Cornwall and Brooklyn."
--The Daily Beast
"In this page-turning follow-up to his best-selling 2009 novel The Magicians, Grossman takes another dark, sarcastically sinister stab at fantasy, set in the Narnia-esque realm of Fillory."
--Entertainment Weekly
"In this page-turning follow-up to his best-selling 2009 novel The Magicians, Grossman takes another dark, sarcastically sinister stab at fantasy, set in the Narnia-esque realm of Fillory."
--A.V. Club
"Fabulous fantasy spiked with bitter adult wisdom-not to be missed."
--Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
"Fans of The Magicians will find this sequel a feast and will be delighted that a jaw-dropping denouement surely promises a third volume to come."
--Booklist
