1.0 (1 rating)
The magicians
a novel
The entire Magicians trilogy, including The Magicians, The Magician King, and The Magician's Land, now available in a gorgeous boxed set
Including four fan-designed character cards.
The Magicians
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A high school math genius, he’s secretly fascinated with a series of children’s fantasy novels set in a magical land called Fillory, and real life is disappointing by comparison. When Quentin is unexpectedly admitted to an elite, secret college of magic, it looks like his wildest dreams may have come true. But his newfound powers lead him down a rabbit hole of hedonism and disillusionment, and ultimately to the dark secret behind the story of Fillory. The land of his childhood fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he ever could have imagined… The Magicians is one of the most daring and inventive works of literary fantasy in years. No one who has escaped into the worlds of Narnia and Harry Potter should miss this breathtaking return to the landscape of the imagination.
The Magician King
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.
The Magician's Land
Quentin Coldwater has lost everything. He has been cast out of Fillory, the secret magical world of his childhood dreams that he once ruled. With nothing left to lose he returns to where his story began, the Brakebills Preparatory College of Magic. But he can’t hide from his past, and it’s not long before it comes looking for him. Meanwhile, the magical barriers that keep Fillory safe are failing, and barbarians from the north have invaded. Eliot and Janet, the rulers of Fillory, embark on a final quest to save their beloved world, only to discover a situation far more complex—and far more dire—than anyone had envisioned.
Along with Plum, a brilliant young magician with a dark secret of her own, Quentin sets out on a crooked path through a magical demimonde of gray magic and desperate characters. His new life takes him back to old haunts, like Antarctica and the Neitherlands, and old friends he thought were lost forever.
The Magician’s Land is an intricate and fantastical thriller, and an epic of love and redemption that brings the Magicians trilogy to a magnificent conclusion, confirming it as one of the great achievements in modern fantasy.
Including four fan-designed character cards.
The Magicians
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A high school math genius, he’s secretly fascinated with a series of children’s fantasy novels set in a magical land called Fillory, and real life is disappointing by comparison. When Quentin is unexpectedly admitted to an elite, secret college of magic, it looks like his wildest dreams may have come true. But his newfound powers lead him down a rabbit hole of hedonism and disillusionment, and ultimately to the dark secret behind the story of Fillory. The land of his childhood fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he ever could have imagined… The Magicians is one of the most daring and inventive works of literary fantasy in years. No one who has escaped into the worlds of Narnia and Harry Potter should miss this breathtaking return to the landscape of the imagination.
The Magician King
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.
The Magician's Land
Quentin Coldwater has lost everything. He has been cast out of Fillory, the secret magical world of his childhood dreams that he once ruled. With nothing left to lose he returns to where his story began, the Brakebills Preparatory College of Magic. But he can’t hide from his past, and it’s not long before it comes looking for him. Meanwhile, the magical barriers that keep Fillory safe are failing, and barbarians from the north have invaded. Eliot and Janet, the rulers of Fillory, embark on a final quest to save their beloved world, only to discover a situation far more complex—and far more dire—than anyone had envisioned.
Along with Plum, a brilliant young magician with a dark secret of her own, Quentin sets out on a crooked path through a magical demimonde of gray magic and desperate characters. His new life takes him back to old haunts, like Antarctica and the Neitherlands, and old friends he thought were lost forever.
The Magician’s Land is an intricate and fantastical thriller, and an epic of love and redemption that brings the Magicians trilogy to a magnificent conclusion, confirming it as one of the great achievements in modern fantasy.
ISBN: 9780670020553
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See all editions (68)Reader Reviews
1.0
1 rating
Charlene M.
Apr 18, 2026
I went into this book with absolutely no expectations; I had never heard of it before so I didn't know what it was supposed to be and the back cover seemed interesting.
What a shambolic mess. The characters were flat and the main character was completely and totally unlikeable. As other reviewers put it, he started out as a jerk, he continued as one and he ended as one. He was selfish, arrogant, whiny and had plenty of things go his way and continued to be whiny, self absorbed and a brat. The rest of the characters were a hazy mix of complete alcoholics, addicts, and one single character who was brave, intellegent and strong who of course, died at the end.
I get that the book is supposed to slap reality into things like Narnia and Harry Potter-going into an alternate world isn't all that and a bag of chips, but the author chose to create his slap with the grimiest, most depressing, most angsty portions of life. Even when things were going good for the main character, he still whined!
The pacing was also very weird; the author chose to linger over things like the characters drinking and doing the nasty but skipped almost entirely over anything that could have made the characters more. It almost felt like the writer had two stories, but not enough story for each and so slapped them both together, bridged them with a few chapters where nothing happened but more drinking and hoped for the best.
The climax was only engaging because it was full of shock value, no substance and the ending felt slapped in with no explanations. Perhaps things will be explained in Book 2, but I for one do not care to enter this universe again.
The most telling point to me was that I didn't feel energized during this book or happy or immersed. Like the main character, I mostly felt depressed, angry and exhausted all the time.
If you're looking for a book that puts a twist of realism and grimmness in a fantasy setting, I would reccomend The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly instead. It was a much better read with better characters, more passion and more fulfilling.
What a shambolic mess. The characters were flat and the main character was completely and totally unlikeable. As other reviewers put it, he started out as a jerk, he continued as one and he ended as one. He was selfish, arrogant, whiny and had plenty of things go his way and continued to be whiny, self absorbed and a brat. The rest of the characters were a hazy mix of complete alcoholics, addicts, and one single character who was brave, intellegent and strong who of course, died at the end.
I get that the book is supposed to slap reality into things like Narnia and Harry Potter-going into an alternate world isn't all that and a bag of chips, but the author chose to create his slap with the grimiest, most depressing, most angsty portions of life. Even when things were going good for the main character, he still whined!
The pacing was also very weird; the author chose to linger over things like the characters drinking and doing the nasty but skipped almost entirely over anything that could have made the characters more. It almost felt like the writer had two stories, but not enough story for each and so slapped them both together, bridged them with a few chapters where nothing happened but more drinking and hoped for the best.
The climax was only engaging because it was full of shock value, no substance and the ending felt slapped in with no explanations. Perhaps things will be explained in Book 2, but I for one do not care to enter this universe again.
The most telling point to me was that I didn't feel energized during this book or happy or immersed. Like the main character, I mostly felt depressed, angry and exhausted all the time.
If you're looking for a book that puts a twist of realism and grimmness in a fantasy setting, I would reccomend The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly instead. It was a much better read with better characters, more passion and more fulfilling.