Every now and then, I need a break from seriousness and find something light, fun, and fictional to read. I heard about The Magicians by Lev Grossman from a friend. This book came out in 2009-it’s a cross somewhere between fantasy and science fiction, but is really about ordinary people trying to grow up and find meaning in their lives.

The story follows the path of a high school student name Quentin who outshines his peers academically in every possible way, but at the same time is reclusive and a prototypical nerd. As he is preparing for college, he somehow finds himself visiting and being accepted into a school of magic (shades of Harry Potter here, but this book is definitely meant for an older crowd-though to be honest, I never read any of the Harry Potter books so I am not a great judge of these comparisons). The school even has its own magic game the students play against each other (just like Harry Potter). However, the big differences involve rather serious illicit romantic escapades, illegal drugs, and often a few gruesome (and surprising) deaths. Quentin escapes the boring and ‘meaningless’ life in the real world and pours his great brain power into becoming a magician; though he quickly finds it is not just about waving a wand, but rather takes a lot of work and study to become skilled (like anything in this world).

As Quentin moves from high school to a magical college to Antarctica (don’t ask) to New York and finally to a magical world, he keeps waiting to be happy and to find meaning. When he graduates, he finds himself adrift with his friends and no real purpose. What meaning does work have to a person who can magically alter anything and everything? What value does mundane reality provide to someone smart enough to see through it? He whittles his time away drinking and partying. When he finally happens upon an adventure and a quest to a magical land of talking animals and an all-powerful God-like ram name Umber who speaks in a deep voice (strong shades of Narnia here), he sees it almost as a sarcastic joke. Along the way, the book confronts the realities of death, growing up, moving past your parents (who obviously never understand you), and the same journey all of us must take as we move from the protective and routine life of regimented learning in high school and college to finding a job and a purpose (and a job). In short, the book shows us our reality as we all try to find meaning and make a difference in our own mundane everyday existences.

Grossman definitely understands irony-students are constantly making fun of magic, their ancient teachers, and themselves as they go about growing up. For example, the giant talking black bear seems to solely want to talk about the finer details of different types of honey (it is best when found downwind from a field of lavender). Or when the adroit band of magicians is offered the thrones of the magical land of Fillory, this magnanimous offering is explained by the locals as making “perfect political sense-we have reached the point where ignorance and neglect are the best we can hope for in a ruler.” The best joke is when the group struggles with bringing firearms to the magical land (which obviously must still be a pre-industrial revolution civilization); one character refuses to allow guns, stating “Fillory is a pristine society-have you ever even watched Star Trek-this is basic Prime Directive stuff!” In the end, Quentin finds that (spoiler alert) the villain is a child who desperately does not want to grow up—almost like the book is obviously meant for adults who never grew out of the time they spent as children with Narnia, Tolkien, Shannara, and Harry Potter.

So what did I learn? As Quentin is told, there is no “secret door that will lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it. There is nothing else. It is here. And you had better decide to enjoy it or you are going to be miserable wherever you go for the rest of your life.” In other words, its important to find a way to have fun along the way.

So what was missing from this book? I’m not sure. Certain sections did drag on (though they kept me awake driving across a few states and during some rather long runs), especially when Quentin spent a semester abroad in Antarctica. There were a slew of questions left unanswered, but that is the reason they make sequels.

I definitely enjoyed this book (maybe I don’t want to grow up). Give me another few months, and I will probably go hunt down that sequel (there are now 3 books in this series) and see what happened to Quentin and if he ever found meaning and purpose. Score: 8.