Review: The Magicians - Lev Grossman

The Magicians
Lev Grossman
Series: The Magicians, #1
Genre: Fantasy, Magic
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Well, Different.
On Goodreads

DNF.

Don't hound me, I do have reasons. I would have kept reading, and I really did want to but I'm sorry, I just couldn't anymore

This book does have some good qualities, which is why I haven't shut it down completely.

It's light and reads fairly easily to read. There's lots of sarcasm! Some of the lines are just absolutely brilliant and some of the scenes are thoroughly exciting and well transitioned and oh so fluid. The commentary on Harry Potter through the modern, realistic eyes of our narrator is pretty cool. The school and Quentin's obsession with Fillory are fantastically portrayed.

And that's where it stops. I can't simply praise and love a book for the few gold nuggets it contains.

The reason it's light and reads easily is because there is no 'showing', there's just a hell of a lot of info dumping, description, delineation, so that the book becomes more or less completely perceptive to the surrounding of the book, rather than placing the reader in the active plot. So it's the anti-contemporary Fantasy novel, yeah? Yeah. There are different ways to critique and display a different style of writing from the genre of the book you are writing . . . this is not one of those ways. It conflicts with one of the main tenants of such a book: the reader has to be engaged.

Yes, I understand there is a small group who wish to be floored with the 'tell' aspect. Yes, I understand that being anti-fantasy is all this book is about, but one has to be deceptive about an anti-book. Grossman simply scares us off with this, makes the first half of the book, the "Harry Potter" half, much more awkward than it has to be. I can't even gather myself to analyze this anymore it's so frustrating.

The entirety of the first half reads like this: "Here's something I didn't like in Harry Potter. Here's my cool, modern version. Ooh let's talk about something else, like Quentin's alcoholism. What a guy, eh?"
Literally, check it out . . . I'm too mad to copy lines from this book, I can't look at it anymore.

And the worst part of this whole anti-genre crap? There is no social message. You won't walk away thinking "wow that guy really had something to say about the fantastical and fallacious portrayal of human beings". Here's a hint: he doesn't. He takes the saying "people never change" and stretches it to the sun and back. Fantasy novels portray humans of all kinds, the best and the worst, and we usually find ourselves in the eyes of the 'best', growing alongside them, however dark it may become or they may become. Human nature is not so facile to be reduced to Quentin Coldwater's less-than-tepid selfish arrogant buttfacery.

See, I know that people suck. I'm not an idiot. People like to think they are the centers of the universe, or in the opposite, that they don't matter at all. People like to just suck. But that's not the point. Grossman had a chance here. A wonderful opportunity to portray Quentin slowly realizing the fallacy of the fantasy world he's being chucked in. But no, he's just a little prick and dresses it up as depression, which it isn't, ruining it for anyone who suffers. He's a cynic, and dresses it up as skepticism, which ruins it for any freethinkers . . . I just don't understand what Grossman was trying to do. He seems to be tackling so much that it just collapses.

I predicted the end and couldn't bring myself to finish, I'm sorry. I quit.

- Marlon

I'm anti-question so no questions. Ha!*

Let us know in the comments!
I'm still angry about this book.

Review: The Light Tamer - Devyn Dawson

The Light Tamer
Devyn Dawson
Series: The Light Tamer, #1
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Ambivalent.
On Goodreads

Well, it was alright. I picked this up as a free e-book, and well, I got what I paid for. It was nothing special. What I can tell you about the book is that it certainly lives up to it's genres . . . it did well as a paranormal romance novel. It had all the key elements that are targeted these days: young adult girl who is a bit unlike other girls, falling for an incredibly attractive guy with insta-love sprayed all over their faces, a couple of comedic relief bits, and a high-strung plot. It even has an atrsy-looking cover with a pretty girl who I suppose represents the main character, and an abstract, matching title emblazoned below her neck.

As much as I'd like to bank on the total originality here, the book does have good elements. Like I said, it does it's job as a Paranormal Romance novel well. It gets you hooked with a relateable narrator, the writing's forthright and flowery when it needs to be, and all of the usual crap. I did, at least, like the fact that the paranormal aspect wasn't just vampires or angels or what has become the staple of the genre, but something new that I hadn't thought of. I just wish Dawson had taken a bit more time to clearly explain the mythology instead of having Jessie gawk at it and say 'Oh my God' every five seconds.

I liked the characters for the most part. Jessie's internal dialogues are spot on and her foul language in the face of any situation gets me through the weaker chapters.

'Sick and tired, sick and tired, sick and tired . . . I'm sick of the griping, and I'm tired of being the reasonable one. I wish both of them would grow up and quit pretending to outsiders everything's okay. Everything's not okay. Everything sucks. It sucks that my dad took the credit card and bought a flight to Greece. . . It sucks I think everything sucks.'

The supporting cast is the usual brand of funny and not very important at all but for main character venting and development, and lots of snarky one-liners.

But back to Jessie. Though I like some parts of her, I honestly can't stand the fact that she doesn't take anything in strides or ever really reacts impassively to any situation. 'Okay' is usually what she says after massive reveals are loaded onto her and her world should be coming down. And her development is reflective of this. For example, when she figures out she's a Light Tamer . . . magically she is just able to practice Light Tamer magic or whatever the hell is going on. Why? What? What? Apparently she used to do some magic when she was a kid? Why is this relevant?

She hardly questions anything, and she simply falls into the Light Tamer world without rough patches or hard-earned development. I'd like to see Jessie bitch about how difficult it is getting used to the new world is, or at least explain why everything is normal to her. Am I supposed to assume that this teenager, which the author seems to have taken great strides in making 'normal' is, in fact, totally passive to supernatural happenstance?

And the instalove. It says a lot about a person when that person falls instantly for another. But it's even worse when that person is telling you things about your life, and you just accept those things, trust that person, and randomly have the ability to do those things when all you have for trust are the tingles you feel when he touches you. I'm glad our strong female readers love to know that all they need to succeed is a pretty boy who seems smart and has no other characteristics.

Well, I think I've said enough.

What would you like to see happen in the Paranormal Romance genre?

Let us know in the comments!