I definitely liked this a lot, but not quite as much as the first book. So many people seem to prefer the second book, but it was a step down for me.<\/p>\n
Maybe it\u2019s because it\u2019s kind of a more straightforward, traditional fantasy book. We\u2019re in Fillory (seemingly) for good now in the main narrative, and there\u2019s a quest along the lines of the Narnia<\/em> books. By the way, let\u2019s take a moment to recognize just how much this book borrows from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader<\/em>. There\u2019s the typical similarities to Narnia: talking animals, magic, young Earth visitors becoming kings and queens, etc. But there\u2019s so much more I didn\u2019t even remember until I reread the Voyage<\/em> synopsis online. In both books, there\u2019s a long journey via ship to explore outer islands, with an apparent end of the world as the final destination. There\u2019s even the same number of MacGuffins\u2014in The Magician King<\/em> there are seven golden keys, and in Voyage<\/em> they\u2019re searching for seven lost Lords. Jeez!<\/p>\n I actually don\u2019t have a problem with how liberally The Magician King<\/em> cribs from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader<\/em>. The book is different enough in theme and tone that it doesn\u2019t feel like you\u2019re reading the same thing; it\u2019s subversive in a similar way to how the first book subverted our idea of magical schools like Hogwarts. That said, I don\u2019t think The Magician King<\/em> makes quite as concerted an effort to undermine those fantasy tropes as The Magicians<\/em> did. It certainly does eventually, at the end (which we\u2019ll get to), but a lot of the book is devoted to the very straightforward idea of hunting down magical MacGuffins to save a magical world.<\/p>\n On the outside, that lends The Magician King<\/em> a sense of focus that The Magicians<\/em> didn\u2019t have. So much of The Magicians<\/em> is focused on Quentin\u2019s general coming of age, without having one distinct, driving purpose beyond Quentin\u2019s abstract search for happiness. Once you reach the end of the sequel, though, you can look back and boil it down to two main arcs.<\/p>\n It seems much more focused on the outside, but I think I preferred the first book\u2019s loose narrative style, especially because its focus on Quentin still made it feel purposeful. It\u2019s kind of like the first book was focused on a character level but loose on a narrative level, and the second book is the opposite. In fact, I\u2019m not even that<\/em> convinced that this book is a huge leap forward in narrative focus; after all, that early arc I just mentioned doesn\u2019t end up tying together that tightly with the later arc, more just moving around characters and doling out exposition so that everyone is where they need to be for the last stretch.<\/p>\n It seems like I\u2019ve just said a lot of negative stuff about this book, but all that said, there\u2019s a lot to admire here in terms of how Lev Grossman expands the mythology. Even though the first book was loose, it still felt extremely self-contained and brilliantly structured, and that continues here. On the outside, some of the world expansion here feels a little too ambitious. Then again, it was a pretty big jump to introduce the Neitherlands and the multiverse in the first place in the first book, so maybe the next jump Grossman makes isn\u2019t huge. Besides, even if you\u2019re not into the more outsize fantastical elements, there\u2019s still the fascinating inclusion of the concept of safe houses and hedge witches, a part of this world we only heard about in passing in the first book.<\/p>\n I also like the way Grossman utilizes his minor characters\u2014he finds credible ways to bring back characters from the first book for nice cameos, while still managing to expand the world to fit compelling new characters like Bingle, Benedict, Poppy, Asmodeus, etc. Janet is really the only main character underserved by this installment, and I know she\u2019ll be featured in the next book, so I didn\u2019t even mind that.<\/p>\n The main change here is that we have kind of a second protagonist this time around: Julia. To be honest, I don\u2019t like Julia that much\u2014she\u2019s very self-righteous and entitled in similar ways to Quentin in the first book, but it seems like there\u2019s an element of optimism Quentin had that she\u2019s missing. Well, maybe \u2018optimism\u2019 is the wrong word, but at least he had a strong sense of humor. There are a few jokes Julia makes, but they\u2019re almost always in the same snotty tone. I think your mileage may vary with this: some people absolutely loathe Quentin, but I really like him.<\/p>\n Anyways, I don\u2019t love Julia, yet I somehow really liked her narrative. It\u2019s always really interesting to see what one character was up to while something else was happening, and given that we know Julia is depressed and practically inhuman in the present day, we have a built-in curiosity about what has happened to her. Sure enough, the ending of her story is heartbreaking, and shocking in its brutality and hopelessness. I also like that the climax of the book is kind of positioned in the flashback narrative instead of the present narrative. It\u2019s neat how Grossman is able to end the present narrative in a slightly anticlimactic way because he can relocate the climax to the past.<\/p>\n In the end, though, I\u2019m mostly here for Quentin\u2019s journey, for his struggle to learn how to be happy. And while this book isn\u2019t as focused at telling that story as the first book, there\u2019s lots of interesting stuff going on. There are multiple hints of growth as Quentin seems to learn to appreciate where he is. But whenever Quentin starts to accept his position and enjoy where he\u2019s at, something else seems to come along and tempt him, and suddenly he\u2019s convinced again that there\u2019s a greater quest out there that will finally give his life meaning.<\/p>\n Some people hate Quentin and will hate watching him struggle to grow, but I find each of his regressions just as fascinating as a new external antagonist. And though the climax of Quentin\u2019s present-day narrative isn\u2019t as impactful as the climax of the first book, the actual final scene of the book is pretty great.<\/p>\n In The Magician King<\/em>, just like in The Magicians<\/em>, there are serious consequences for your actions, and serious sacrifices that you must make to be a hero. Quentin thinks he can be the hero of the story and live happily ever after, but that\u2019s not how it works. That\u2019s what makes this series exceptional: it dares to challenge its characters, and to suggest that the magic we all wish we had could come with horrifically painful side effects. There\u2019s no chosen one; everyone is the hero of their own story. If you take up the mantle of \u2018hero,\u2019 you better be ready to deal with the sacrifices that come with that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I definitely liked this a lot, but not quite as much as the first book. So many people seem to prefer the second book, but it was a step down for me. Maybe it\u2019s because it\u2019s kind of a more straightforward, traditional fantasy book. We\u2019re in Fillory (seemingly) for good now in the main narrative, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8328,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8327\/revisions\/8328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}