'Even Quentin, with his almost limitless capacity for ignoring the obvious ...'

[sholio]

I'm rereading the Magicians books, and this evening Orion happened to pick up The Magicians after watching me haphazardly rereading the series for the last few days ... and is now halfway through it and can't seem to put it down. I really wasn't sure if these books would be his kind of thing; he's really more of a sci-fi guy. He did like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings though.

These are definitely my favorite book discovery of the past year, and even though they are by no means without flaws (and in fact there are a few parts of the first and second books I'm skipping on the reread) overall they are just so delightful. I'm picking up a ton of foreshadowing this time around I didn't notice when I was reading them for the first time. I also love Q so much more after spending three books with him, something I noticed in particular at the start of the second book, which is significantly more cheerful and funny and just generally fun than the first book. Originally, of course, I had just come off of book 1 and Q in book 1 is definitely ... something, so it took me a while to warm up to his somewhat less depressed, self-centered, and hard-to-handle self in the second book, but after three books of character development, my reaction to him now in book 2 is mostly "BAAAABY" with occasional interludes of "Q, stoppit."

I think one thing I'm really noticing on the reread is how well these books capture the overall feeling of growing up and realizing that your flawless childhood favorite books are actually flawed as hell, rejecting them out of a combination of disillusionment and early-20s Wokeness, and finally reaching a point of "fuckit" where you re-learn how to love the best parts of the things you used to love with a clearer-eyed awareness of their flaws.

Except dialed up to 11, because epic fantasy.

But in general, the books do a lot of things well. I really like what they have to say about creativity, and about the interplay between losing yourself in fantasy and forgetting how to appreciate the real world, vs. losing your childhood dreams and only thinking of reality without aspiration. I like how they handle depression and the way that it can rob you of the better parts of yourself. (Being able to see flashes in the first book of who Q is later on, after getting to know what he's like when he's not utterly miserable and mired in self-hatred, is really something.) The worldbuilding is goofy and neat, obviously derivative in some ways but also very interestingly its own thing. These books make me feel again what it was like to be a little kid and find (I kid you not, this is actually where I found it) The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe in a random box of books under my parents' bed with no idea of what it was - that sort of magical, serendipitous discovery of beloved books and the way they make you feel when they're fresh and new. Except with a more grown-up worldview that clicks nicely into my more cynical and jaded 40s-aged brain. I remember scoffing at the whole idea of these books being Harry Potter for grownups, which is essentially what they were billed as, but that is actually exactly what they feel like, not because they're mocking or sneering at it (even if the first book does occasionally go there, at times) but because they really get at the same feeling except, well. Grown up.

I just really like them.

Comments

[lunabee34]

I really need to read these books!

[sholio]

I'm finding that they're very much comfort reading for me. I don't think they'll be for everyone, and I know a lot of people bounce off the first book in particular (it's pretty bleak in places and the narrator is often hard to like) but I really love them.

[lunabee34]

Noted. Perhaps I will save for a little later when there's less bleak in RL. :)

[epeeblade]

I never read past the first one since it was so depressing, but now I may have to check out the second based on your post!

[sholio]

The second and third books are definitely WAY less depressing. They're still dark and sad in places, but they're also a lot funnier and more fast-moving and just generally fun. The overall tone is much more optimistic and hopeful.

(There is a graphic rape in the second book; you might already be aware of that, but just in case so you don't go into it unawares ...)

[mific]

I really like them too. Lots better than the TV series, although I now imagine the TV cast in the book's roles.

[sholio]

Yeah, I tried some episodes of the TV show and couldn't get into it, but they cast them really well, especially Q and Eliot and Margo/Janet. I picture the actors too!

[cathexys]

I love how you describe the conflicted emotions toward beloved books and the complicated way back to loving them despite all their flaws and with full awareness.

I just never could get that from The Magicians...I'm not sure if it's because i never had CS Lewis as an important text in my childhood, and the parallels are just too obvious? Or it's just the writing... I want to like these books so much and yet I never could...

[sholio]

Oh sure, they're not going to be for everyone! I think for me it was a case of "right book at the right time" (I was just talking about that in a completely different context in a comment thread elsewhere!) and they happened to slot into a certain kind of headspace that I was in when I read them. A perfect find for me, but perhaps not so for other people.

[sartorias]

I need to finish the third. I picked them up on your recco, and was very much enjoying them (especially the second, mostly) and a lot of the third, but I set it aside to begin another reading project and fell into that rabbit hole. I do want to get to the end!