I'm just done with the last book in the Magician's trilogy by Lev
Grossman : "The Magician's Land". It wouldn't be fair if I did not
write about the whole series, but that will have to wait for another
day. I'm a big fan of fantasy series and have tried my hand at reading
many; Harry Potter, HPMOR, Inheritance Cycle, Narnia, Radiance and
Luminosity and so on.. Magician's is one of the few that stood out.
The qualities that made it stand out such as the gritty reality you encounter in each book, the humanness and imperfections of each character, questions on what this alternate reality would do to the human world and what would people with such a power do with their lives (unlike the pursuit of say, defeating a mysterious dark lord and nothing thereafter!), are still there in the last book. It achieves what many series' fail to do: it lets the main character grow up naturally and become someone else, someone different from who set out initially, scarred and disillusioned sometimes but also wiser, determined and knowing what they have to do.
It is one thing I could identify with; life isn't a cake walk where everything works out magically like for Harry Potter. Rather it is as full with disappointments, losses and lessons learned as with triumph and fairytale endings, and the last book portrays this beautifully. Quentin's well earned realization that even though he might not be as technically proficient as others or as brainy, he can do what he sets out to with enough effort and planning is another thread that gets knotted skillfully at the end in 'The Magician's Land'.
Quentin's relationship with Fillory, first as a child wonder struck by it, as his first love then as its banished king and savior and finally as its creator and god, and his final decision to let it go is beautifully portrayed. It is like your first love (obviously for those unfortunate multitude for whom it did not work out). You cherish it but you've to let it go.
The qualities that made it stand out such as the gritty reality you encounter in each book, the humanness and imperfections of each character, questions on what this alternate reality would do to the human world and what would people with such a power do with their lives (unlike the pursuit of say, defeating a mysterious dark lord and nothing thereafter!), are still there in the last book. It achieves what many series' fail to do: it lets the main character grow up naturally and become someone else, someone different from who set out initially, scarred and disillusioned sometimes but also wiser, determined and knowing what they have to do.
It is one thing I could identify with; life isn't a cake walk where everything works out magically like for Harry Potter. Rather it is as full with disappointments, losses and lessons learned as with triumph and fairytale endings, and the last book portrays this beautifully. Quentin's well earned realization that even though he might not be as technically proficient as others or as brainy, he can do what he sets out to with enough effort and planning is another thread that gets knotted skillfully at the end in 'The Magician's Land'.
Quentin's relationship with Fillory, first as a child wonder struck by it, as his first love then as its banished king and savior and finally as its creator and god, and his final decision to let it go is beautifully portrayed. It is like your first love (obviously for those unfortunate multitude for whom it did not work out). You cherish it but you've to let it go.
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