Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Aug 2014
416 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
The stunning conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Magicians trilogy
Quentin Coldwater has lost everything. He has been cast out of Fillory, the secret magical land of his childhood dreams that he once ruled. Everything he had fought so hard for, not to mention his closest friends, is sealed away in a land Quentin may never again visit. With nothing left to lose he returns to where his story began, the Brakebills Preparatory College of Magic. But he can't hide from his past, and it's not long before it comes looking for him. Meanwhile, the magical barriers that keep Fillory safe are failing, and barbarians from the north have invaded. Eliot and Janet, the rulers of Fillory, embark on a final quest to save their beloved world, only to discover a situation far more complex - and far more dire - than anyone had envisioned.
Along with Plum, a brilliant young magician with a dark secret of her own, Quentin sets out on a crooked path through a magical demimonde of gray magic and desperate characters. His new life takes him back to old haunts, like Antarctica and the Neitherlands, and old friends he thought were lost forever. He uncovers buried secrets and hidden evils and ultimately the key to a sorcerous masterwork, a spell that could create a magical utopia. But all roads lead back to Fillory, where Quentin must face his fears and put things right or die trying.
The Magician's Land is an intricate and fantastical thriller, and an epic of love and redemption that brings the Magicians trilogy to a magnificent conclusion, confirming it as one of the great achievements in modern fantasy. It's the story of a boy becoming a man, an apprentice becoming a master, and a broken land finally becoming whole.
"Starred Review. [A] deeply satisfying finale... [Grossman's] characters' magical battles have a bravura all their own... The essence of being a magician, as Quentin learns to define it, could easily serve as a thumbnail description of Grossman's art: 'the power to enchant the world.'" - Kirkus
"An elegantly written third act to Quentin's bildungsroman...Fans of the trilogy will be pleased." - Publishers Weekly
"An absolutely brilliant fantasy filled with memorable characters - old and new - and prodigious feats of imagination... Endlessly fascinating... Fantasy fans will rejoice at its publication." - Booklist
"The Magician's Land is sumptuous and surprising yet deliciously familiar, a glass of rich red wine left out for a hungry ghost. Literary perfection for those of us who grew up testing the structural integrity of the backs of wardrobes." - Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus
"The Magician's Land is a triumphant climax to the best fantasy trilogy of the decade." - Charles Stross
"Poignant and messy, fearsome and beautiful - like a good magic spell, the final book in this trilogy is more than the sum of its parts. Also, damn. Just some of the best magic I have read, ever." - Maggie Stiefvater
This information about The Magician's Land was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Lev Grossman - Elena Siebert
Lev Grossman is a senior writer and book critic for TIME magazine and author of the international bestselling novel Codex. He has written for The New York Times, Wired, Salon.com, Lingua Franca, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York, The Wall Street Journal, and The Village Voice. He has served as a member of the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circleand as the chair of the Fiction Awards Panel. He is also the creator of the Time blog Nerd World.
His other works include Warp, The Magicians, The Magician King, and The Magician's Land.
Grossman holds degrees in comparative literature from Harvard and Yale. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.
The September House
by Carissa Orlando
A dream home becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.
The Wren, the Wren
by Anne Enright
An incandescent novel about the inheritance of trauma, wonder, and love across three generations of women.
25 Copies to Give Away!
A daring CIA operation threatens chaos in the Kremlin. But can Langley trust the Russian at its center?
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
