The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman

The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The last in the Magician's Trilogy was at times wonderful and at times fantastic. We're seven years into the future from the last novel and we are once again treated to multiple storylines.

Quentin has been kicked out of Fillory and is now a Professor at Brakebills. Eliot and Janet are the reigning High King and Queen of Fillory but Fillory is dying. Alice is still a niffin and everyone is searching for answers. I struggled a little at first with this book. I'm a huge fan of the TV show and I've noticed that even though we're on Season 2 for the series right now, it pulled bits and pieces of the storylines from all the books. It was a little confusing trying to reconcile timelines. That's not a book or a TV show criticism, it's more of a thing with me.

After being a professor for a little while, Quentin gets fired because of a school prank gone wrong. He then gets sucked into a magical heist with a former student and a few other wayward magicians. While this is happening, Fillory is dying sending Eliot and Janet on a quest to save it any way they can.

This final novel is disjointed. I felt like it was all over the place with plot and tone. I didn't think the entire side plot of the heist was even necessary. They could have found the thing they ended up with some other and less complicated way without introducing a dozen new characters. I liked the idea of Quentin being a professor at Brakebills, but it doesn't last long enough to enjoy it. I could have read an entire novel solely about Eliot and Janet trying to keep Fillory from falling apart. Julia, still the most underused character in the whole series, pops in momentarily towards the end to bestow a bit of that airy, creepy, floating wisdom before disappearing again to wherever it is she resides.

I love this world but I was a bit disappointed by the finale of it. I am happy that I'll get more of it in the series on Syfy though. I can't wait for that to premiere next year.


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