When I was checking out
The Magicians trilogy on
Goodreads, I noticed that the first volume,
The Magicians, scored less than 3.5 stars in rating, while the follow up volumes scored just a little less and above 4.0. It wasn't until I finished reading
The Magician King that I understood that leap in rating.
The Magician King opens in the magical kingdom of Fillory, where Quentin Coldwater, Eliot Waugh, Janet Way and Julia Wicker now live as its Kings and Queens. Life is peaceful in Fillory and the four settle into their roles, and the accompanying lavish lifestyle, with ease. But the sense of adventure tickles Quentin's fancy when a series of strange events (strange enough for Fillory) occur. He decides to embark on a quest, outfitting the ship Mutjac to travel to the outer islands to collect taxes with Julia.
Here's the thing... Quentin Coldwater isn't the best protagonist, which contributed greatly to why some people didn't like The Magicians and would probably be the reason why they would avoid the rest of the trilogy. And he starts off The Magician King in pretty much the same mindset... unsatisfied with his lot in life, lending to a rather whiny narrative voice. BUT. But somewhere along the way, he becomes a little bit more likable for this particular reader. Sure, I still want to smack him on the head every now and then, but it makes for a great payoff when he does realize that he's been close minded about the world he lives in, magical or not.
The Magician King is quest-heavy, as opposed to the introduction to magical world with an adventure at the end structure of The Magicians. In the second installment of the book series, Quentin heeds the call of a quest, which is either legit or just a product of his restless persona, and takes him further and farther into the world of Fillory than he ever had. But Fillory, as magical as it is, always has something else in store for Quentin. In this case, he accidentally returns to Earth with poor Julia, and they scramble to find a way back to the magical land they rule.
Despite the fact that Quentin takes time to get to actual realizations that equate to growth and mature understanding about his life, The Magician King makes for an easier read in terms of narration. Aside from the fact that Quentin and Julia are constantly on the move, the novel shares their present dilemma with Julia's account of her magical education... which is to say, nothing quite like what Quentin experienced in the Brakesbill College for Magical Pedagogy. We learn about what happened to Julia during and after the rather unusual entrance exam that she and Quentin shared. Due in part to a carelessness in magically covering up her participation at the exam, Julia recalls what happened and it gave birth to an obsession that destroyed her future in the non-magical world. It isn't a pretty story and Julia goes through some pretty dark stuff, including breaking the hearts of her family. It is self-destruction that I could actually understand and empathize with, and I ended up hoping for the best of endings for her.
Julia's account of her education at safe houses for those who weren't accepted or even considered by Brakesbill further expands the magical world of The Magicians trilogy. The hedge-witch brand of magic is less grounded on theories and less refined, but, as Julia demonstrates time and again, no less effective in providing results. While it might seem that no one really needs Brakesbill to learn higher level magic, provided you're willing to look for other safe houses or have Julia's level of tenacity, the more cautious approach of the magic school does make its case strongly when Julia and her friends end up summoning the wrong kind of god to help them gain more power or give them answers.
There's more joy in the telling of The Magician King, a lighter tone that emphasizes itself when Eliot is in his role as High King or when Josh Hoberman is telling the story of how he became a broker of all things magical after selling the button used to travel to the Neitherlands and Fillory to a dragon living in the canals of Venice. Author Lev Grossman's numerous mentions of magic from pop culture references continue in the volume, but there's more humor than sarcasm in their tone (thinking that there was sarcasm involved in the first volume might have to do with Quentin's attitude then). But The Magician King never lets you forget that magic is never without its dangers, and when the magnitude of Quentin's quest finally reveals itself, it gets harder to put down the book for any breaks.
The Magician King is aptly titled, because even if Julia shares the burden of the story, it is Quentin who ultimately has to see it to its end. It's the story of how Quentin finally learns some essential life lessons and find a measure of contentment, which has always eluded him and has led him to make questionable choices many times over. And at its end, Quentin finally understands what it means to hold the title and live as King of Fillory.
That might sound like a major spoiler, but we all know that there's always a catch in Fillory, right? So... on to The Magician's Land for me.
Happy reading!!Labels: Adventure, Book Series, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Lev Grossman, Reading List, The Magician King, The Magicians Trilogy
