Cover of The Magicians

The Magicians

A Novel

  • 2009 first published
  • 416 pages
  • ★ 3.5 (66 ratings)
  • 16 editions

Lev Grossman's The Magicians (2009) is an urban fantasy play. Much of the action takes place in New York, State. Characters include Lev Grossman. Key subjects include college graduates, college students, magic and friendship.

Open Library readers give it an average of 3.5 out of 5 from 66 ratings, and 235 more have it on their want-to-read list. It has been published in 16 editions. It appeared on the New York Times Trade Fiction Paperback bestseller list in 2010.

It runs to roughly 416 pages — 7–8 hours of reading at an average pace.

About The Magicians

A thrilling and original coming-of- age novel about a young man practicing magic in the real worldQuentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.
Description from Open Library

Awards & lists

  • 📰New York Times bestseller list — Trade Fiction Paperback, 2010

Themes, setting & tropes

Genres

Tropes

Setting

Characters

  • Lev Grossman

Subjects

  • College graduates
  • College students
  • Magic
  • Psychological fiction
  • Friendship
  • Books and reading
  • Coming of age
  • Psychological
  • Paranormal fantasy
  • Drama
  • Secret societies
  • Supernatural
  • Television adaptations
  • Manuscripts
  • Modern & contemporary fiction, Post c 1945
  • FICTION / Fantasy / Urban

Publisher

Quick answers

Who wrote The Magicians?

The Magicians was written by Lev Grossman and first published in 2009.

What genre is The Magicians?

It is usually shelved as Urban Fantasy.

How long is The Magicians?

The median edition has 416 pages, about 7–8 hours of reading at 250 words per minute.

What books are similar to The Magicians?

Readers who like it often enjoy The Rook, Ninth House and The Atlas Six.

More by Lev Grossman

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    2012★ 4.7

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