Another favorite Magicians book bit

[sholio]

A little while back I posted scans of some of the bits I found charming from the Magicians books, and I just ran across this one that I also scanned. (Spoilery scene from near the end of The Magician's Land that really doesn't mean a whole lot out of context.)



There is a whole lot of that book I love, honestly - other parts are more sublime or evocative or thoughtful, but this just really gets to me.



I cut it off before Alice straight-up punching him in the face because there's a page or so of intermediate stuff and I didn't want to put the entire thing here, but that's my other favorite part of this scene.

I love it especially because it's not actually something life-threatening; Penny's not trying to kill him, and it hits harder because of that. I love that they're just all FUCK OFF, LEAVE QUENTIN ALONE without even having to think about it, even Plum. And I love that over the course of three books he's become a person who inspires that reaction in his friends. Book 3 Quentin is such a sweetheart.

And also I love Plum and Alice so hard. And Eliot. This scene is just full of my faves being faves.

Comments

[sovay]

". . . a loose clump of people with complicated feelings about one another to a single defensive phalanx."

That is very good.

[sholio]

These books have their flaws, especially early on, but they're so optimistic and full of feelings in the end.

[maplemood]

Gosh, I need to reread these books!

[sholio]

They make me happy! I didn't expect to love them like I do.

[kore]

Fully matured (like a fine wine) Quentin is such a good character! And PLUM <333

[sholio]

PLUM!! She's so great. She's in a story role that often doesn't work for me (new character introduced late in a series who becomes BFFs with the core group) but I'm team Plum all the way. :D

I keep thinking about how the trilogy in general reads like Lev Grossman falling back in love with the things he loved as a kid, and becoming kinder to his self-insert as well. I think one of the reasons why this book is my favorite of the three - well, okay, there are many reasons, but watching Quentin mature into a mentor/teacher role is so great, especially combined with his gentle bafflement that this is his life now. (And, I mean, I also love everyone else, but I did not expect to love Quentin this hard in the end.)

[ceitie]

I also love that part - just the universal drawing together of "oh hell no", it's so satisfying.

[sholio]

Yessss. I'm such a sucker for that kind of thing - characters coming together to protect one of their own.

[schneefink]

I just finished the series (I mostly liked the first two and really enjoyed book 3) and went through your reaction posts and I enjoyed your enthusiasm a lot :)

[sholio]

Hee! I did NOT expect to love these books as much as I did - especially the third one, which was delightful (and also pretty nearly a masterclass in book structuring; it was really well designed).

[schneefink]

I wonder how I would have reacted to them if I hadn't watched the series: often I inevitably compared how the books vs. how the show did something, which was especially interesting because the show didn't follow the books' plots at all, or only barely.

I didn't especially notice the book's structure in particular, what do you mean by well designed?