Home
/
Fiction
/
The Magicians
The Magicians
Jan 12, 2026 10:10 PM

Author:Lev Grossman,Mark Bramhall

The Magicians

_____________________________________

'The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea . . . dark and dangerous and full of twists' – GEORGE R. R. MARTIN

THE BESTSELLING BOOK BEHIND THE HIT SYFY SHOW

_____________________________________

In a secret world of forbidden knowledge, power comes at a terrible price...

Quentin Coldwater's life is changed forever by an apparently chance encounter: when he turns up for his entrance interview to Princeton University, he finds his interviewer dead – but a strange envelope bearing Quentin's name leads him down a very different path. Instead of Princeton, he finds himself invited to study at Brakebills – a secret college of modern-day sorcerers.

Quentin plunges deep into a secret world of obsession and privilege, a world of freedom and power; and for a while, it seems to answer all Quentin's desires. But the idyll cannot last. There are others powers than sorcery, powers that are as seductive as they are dangerous – and when the illusion of safety shatters, Quentin is drawn into a world far darker than he ever imagined.

After all, power corrupts. No exceptions.

THE FIRST BOOK IN LEV GROSSMAN'S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED MAGICIAN TRILOGY

_____________________________________

Praise for the Magician Trilogy:

'Stirring, complex, adventurous . . . superb' – JUNOT DIAZ, author of DROWN and THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO

'A sophisticated, subtle novel that is also magical fun' – THE TIMES

‘Lev Grossman has conjured a rare creature: a trilogy that simply gets better and better as it goes along . . . Literary perfection.’ – ERIN MORGENSTERN, author of THE NIGHT CIRCUS

'The Magicians ought to be required reading . . . Lev Grossman has written a terrific, at times almost painfully perceptive novel of the fantastic' – KELLY LINK

'The best fantasy trilogy of the decade' – CHARLES STROSS

'The Magicians is angst-ridden, bleak, occasionally joyous and gloriously readable. Forget Hogwarts: this is where the magic really is.' – SFX

'The Magicians is fantastic, in all senses of the word. It's strange, fanciful, extravagant, eccentric, and truly remarkable – a great story, masterfully told.' – SCOTT SMITH, author of THE RUINS

Reviews

The best fantasy trilogy of the decade.

—— Charles Stross

Stirring, complex, adventurous . . . Grossman delivers superb coming of age fantasy.

—— Junot Diaz, author of Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

A darkly cunning story about the power of imagination itself.

—— The New Yorker

Dark and dangerous and full of twists. Hogwart's was never like this.

—— George R. R. Martin

The Magicians ought to be required reading... a terrific, at times almost painfully perceptive novel of the fantastic.

—— Kelly Link

Brilliantly explores the hidden underbelly of fantasy and easy magic, taking what's simple on the surface and turning it over to show us the complicated writhing mess beneath.

—— Naomi Novik , author of the Temeraire series

The most entertaining and compelling fantasy I've read in a long time.

—— The Times

Lev Grossman has conjured a rare creature: a trilogy that simply gets better and better as it goes along...Literary perfection.

—— Erin Morgenstern

The Magicians is fantastic, in all senses of the word. It's strange, fanciful, extravagant, eccentric, and truly remarkable.

—— Scott Smith , author of The Ruins

The Magicians is angst-ridden, bleak, occasionally joyous and gloriously readable. Forget Hogwarts: this is where the magic really is.

—— Jayne Nelson , SFX 5 star review

This is a book for grown-up fans of children's fantasy and would also appeal to those who loved Donna Tartt's The Secret History . Highly recommended

—— Library Journal

The Magicians is the most dazzling, erudite and thoughtful fantasy novel to date. You'll be bedazzled by the magic but also brought short by what it has to say about the world we live in

—— Gary Shteyngart , author of The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Absurdistan

The Magicians is a spellbinding, fast-moving, dark fantasy book for grownups that feels like an instant classic. I read it in a niffin-blue blaze of page turning, enthralled by Grossman's verbal and imaginative wizardry, his complex characters and most of all, his superb, brilliant inquiry into the wondrous, dangerous world of magic

—— Kate Christensen , author of The Epicure's Lament and The Great Man

The Magicians is Harry Potter as it might have been written by John Crowley...This is one of the best fantasies I've read in ages

—— Elizabeth Hand , Fantasy & Science Fiction

The author has taken all that is held dear in the fantasy genre, reverently (most of the time) tipping the hat to Rowling, Tolkien, Lewis, Le Guin and others, and shown it from a completely different and unique angle

—— Fantasy Book Review

...a gripping fantasy thriller that will please all the older Harry Potter fans out there

—— Yours Magazine

Sumell’s compulsively readable novel in stories introduces a restless underachiever as irresistible as he is detestable, surely one of the most morally, violently, socially complex personalities in recent literature…. Sumell’s debut is humbly macho, provoking outrage, pity, and finally tenderness. Perhaps this is a book readers will hate to love, but only because it feels, like Alby, all too real

—— Booklist

There's a special alchemy here that you are going to want to witness...offhand and funny, and then the tender heart emerges from the shadows, so tender, and comes at us with a knife. Every story here is two: one the fun, the other the blade

—— Ron Carlson

Focusing on the single reality that human beings die, Sumell wakes up, and boy oh boy is he ever pissed off... Sumell, on Alby's behalf, fights back, and he fights dirty. Using cunning, reckless rage, and bravura comic timing, he kicks death's ass... Bystanders get hurt, the reader got hurt, but at least I was reminded that I was part of this whole shitty deal. You'd like to believe that there are consolations, and there are. Being sentient, for example. Being able to read, for instance. Having read Making Nice

—— Geoffrey Wolff

The self-destructive narrator lashes out with reckless intimacy, random violence, and an often hilarious misplaced rage that shoots to wound rather than kill. What saves its victims and the reader is a naked rendering of a heart sorting through its broken pieces to survive. The result is an eloquent empathy, an uplift of hope-filled grace

—— Mark Richard

Making Nice will grab you by the throat, raise your blood pressure, and cause you to chortle in a crowd. It will also break your heart. When they're writing the history of the best characters of our time, Alby will be there, telling the others to get in line

—— Matthew Thomas , author of We Are Not Ourselves

Making Nice is a little bit special. A truly original portrayal of grief

—— Benjamin Judge , Book Munch

Making Nice has an anarchic humour and a goofy, ingenuous humanity that makes every page feel new… Some jokes…aren’t just funny, they are insightful, unexpected and hilarious. In its rampage to nowhere, Making Nice achieves the remarkable feat of making it feel better to travel hopelessly than to arrive.

—— Sandra Newman , Guardian
Comments
Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdbook.com All Rights Reserved