This book has some of the most enticing quotes I've ever read on the back cover. I bought it purely based on those quotes in a fit of impulse book shopping. And when you book shop recklessly sometimes you end up with amazing books you would never have read and sometimes you are seriously disappointed and could have saved yourself $26.95 by researching first.Unfortunately this book was a let down for me. It started out amazingly. I loved the story and was confidently thinking that I would be recommending it to Nora. The story following Quentin's failed Princeton interview, entrance exams at Brakebills, and the first part of his studies there is so entertaining. Teenage overachievers, Harry Potter college, plenty of Narnia references... lots to love.
But somewhere along the way I started to get tired. I was checking to see how many pages I had left to read. I started to really, really dislike Quentin. And then to wonder if I had ever liked Quentin. By the time {SPOILER}, Quentin cheated on Alice, I was just done with trying to care.
I've read other books with characters that I tremendously disliked and I was somehow able to still enjoy the reading experience. The Magicians is not one of those books. And I think all of the frothy praise on the back cover had set my expectations so incredibly high that it was that much sadder when those expectations were dashed.
Bummer.
This Amazon review & subsequent discussion is a lot more articulate on this topic than I can be.
