The Magicians Trilogy Box Set by Lev Grossman (9-Jun-2015) Paperback

what can i say.... lev grossman can flat out write... my mistake.... create with words a setting of reality with fantasy where neither can exist without the other. i have reached the middle of book 2 as i write... the book i was reading.. is patiently waiting .

it is a joy for the mind... creating what is happening while the book is read, like HD digital between page and mind.

After watching the Television version, I discovered this was a trilogy of books! I could not be more thrilled. What was so great was that with the books you get so many more mind pictures than any TV show could ever offer. Also, each book stands solidly on it's own, even though you need to understand the characters and how they came to be who they are... So I guess that I am suggesting the trilogy because not only do you get the full 3 stories, you also get to see how the characters grow and change. These are much richer and more complex characters than the Television has time to develop. I love the show, but these books deliver the real story.

Well written; creative and complex plots throughout the 3 books. Highly recommended for science fiction lovers, creative thinkers and writers.If you enjoyed reading Tolkien and JK Rowling you will enjoy this author's development of a new world complete with unique adventures, characters and practices.

I purchased this series because I had caught the first season of the television adaptation on SyFy. The TV show does a great job of covering the story, and oddly, in what I think is a first with a book series, goes into more detail than the books. I am use to watching a movie or TV Show where there isn't enough time to go into great detail or every plot twist that a book can- but with this series the TV Show seems to delve more into the story than the books. It is interesting and unexpected outcome.

The books are good- I might actually like the TV show better- but I did see it first, so maybe it has to do with expectations. I still easily recommend reading the book. I am currently giving this series to a friend as a gift.

Shipping, packaging and everything was on time and fine. No complaints. The actual trilogy was just OK. Definitely prefer the show and the characters on it. One of the first books that I have ever read where I can honestly say the show is MUCH BETTER!!!

The tv series is actually better. The books are decent, but the TV series does a much better job of intertwining the events of the books (i am 3/4ths of the way through #2), as well as doing a better job fleshing out most of the chars. It's still a good read, so no negatives there.

I bought the books because of the television show. I'm currently struggling with boredom trying to read the first book. Today I realized why I found it so boring. It's a bunch of tell without much show. It's full of page filler and not much action.

I read a review of Grossman's trilogy that described it as Harry Potter for adults and I knew Syfy had bought the rights to it, so I thought I would give it a try. The cosmology created is not at fun as the one in Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, but the characters were well-developed. I liked the way Grossman used flashbacks to fill in the backstory. I read all three back to back because I really did want to know where the story went. The characters are sympathetic and the situations have verisimilitude. I have recommended these books to several friends.

A lot of people described this as the adult version of Harry Potter so I expected the series to occur in and among the wizard school but really they blow through school in the first book and then dive in to the rest of the plot. Full disclosure I have not finished the whole series as of this review. I very much like the concepts involved here but many of the characters decisions are just tragically stupid and although they exhibit wildly powerful magic throughout many of them do not use it when they should it seems just to further the plot.

This book was torture to get through. 3rd person point of view. Quentin (protagonist) was a jerk and very cocky. The book was so slow moving, but abrupt in so many spots. All three books were the same. Overall I suggest it is a waste of time and there are much better books. Try reading "The Darkest Minds" trilogy. It's amazing.

I absolutely hated this book. I say book because I didn't bother to read the second and third after struggling to finish the first. I hated the main character. The only time I have ever said this..."the tv show is MUCH better than the book".

I honestly love this series, and since the show came out, I was looking for a trilogy to reread them all.

The box is beautiful, the books designs are fantastic, and I'm super excited to read them again! ... The sad thing about this box set (which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5) is that each of the covers has a purple "Coming to Syfy 2016" printed on it. I'm not super picky about anything, but I'm not a fan of this logo on the covers; the illustrations are beautiful, but they're unfortunately ruined (just my opinion) with that purple emblem.

These books could have been amazing. There is some truly good stuff here. Some of the characters are very engaging and they evolve, just as in real life. Sadly the author seems so busy trying to impress his audience with his 'superior' intellect that the story is rife with cutely esoteric references requiring an Ivy League education and several advanced degrees in unrelated fields of study to "get" them all at a glance. Think Dennis Miller doing Monday Night Football. Most of this knowledge is, of course, attributed to [tiny spoiler] a first year university dropout suffering a major personality disorder among other things. I do agree with Mr. Grossman that very high intellect can be it's own kind of hell, euphemistically speaking, and I know that damnable black dog well....too well.

My only real issue with this series, which I do recommend, is that it reads like something actually written by someone who was an adult in the 1970s or thereabouts. Who else still says *dink* these days or thinks computers must be super-huge, "as big as the world," to do math proofs, however complex, or ..countless other oopsies far too numerous to be smartly placed easter eggs for Boomers?

The entire tone of the books reads as if one is eavesdropping at "The Club" on a group of ever and always over-privileged middle aged white men from the 1960s. The cultural and entertainment references are hilarious. RIP Alan Rickman, who was at least still handsome in the early '90s. A reference to *cigarette advertising* was even overlooked in editing... I mean is actually mentioned in the second book, in present tense! The references to current technology thrown in here and there are absolutely jarring and take one completely out of immersion. The end result detracts from a whopper of an adult and earthy coming of age tale suitable for readers 16 to 106.

I will not get into his treatment of accessories, I mean women, other than to say in fashion as well as attitude it is pure 20th century. Also in the pet peeve department, Mr. Grossman's (again dated) snub of Norse beliefs during his Ganymede dissertation would have made me throw my book had I been using one. Hmm, humans raised to live with the gods. Nah, nothing Norse (VALHALLA!) rings a bell... and no, a side mention of a Loki-like being hassling a black Madonna does not count. Are you effing kidding me? In fact I just took away a star for that slight alone.

In the end it's a good story with some new ideas (no matter from whence they originated) about magic but it is bogged down by an ever-present feeling that the writer simply did a half-assed job of modernizing a dead elder's work. That is my feeling, not an accusation. If this was an intentional conceit, bravo!

Harry Potter fans were told they would enjoy this series. The first page had vulgar language and it never stopped. This series is about the life of a college student including graphic sex and drug/alcohol use. My kids read Harry Potter before they were in middle school. No way would I advertise this series for that age. I read 3/4 of the first book and couldn't continue.

I was a little disappointed when I started reading these books. Most of the plot is very predictable and it feels like Grossman took most of his ideas from other young adult authors. I love young adult books and normally have trouble setting them down because I want to know what happens next. With these I don't really care. I'm kind of disappointed I bought the whole set because I can barely get through the first book.

I honestly do not understand the hype of this series. Much like the main character, this book is almost unbearably pretentious and continuously strives to make itself seem better than it is. I started reading this excited to enter into a new magical world but instead got an unfinished plot and a series of events that contributed nothing to the story. There was a notable fixation on sex, alcohol, and the female form which takes away from the fact where we are supposed to be as excited about magic as Quentin originally is.

I finished book one and was left asking "what was the point?" So Quentin can do magic. Great. What does he do with it? He gets drunk, does drugs, and has sex. He spends four years learning it, and does absolutely nothing with it. Any character that actually has an edge gets relegated to the background so we can suffer through more of Quentin's pitiful whining of how bored he is.

I'm not sure if I can finish the rest of the series. I just regret that I actually wasted the money on a series that is mediocre at best.

Interesting so far. The dour, socially awkward, self-doubting 'hero' is appeals, because he's also rather proud of his mental prowess. The tv character walked around hunched shouldered and somehow tongue-tied in most conversations. The books explains that. I've started the 1st book of the trilogy, which is apparently the first season of the Sy Fi TV series "The Magicians". I notice that there are many references to Harry Potter in reviews, however, I find the story to more parallel the first book of the Narnia series, "The Magician's Nephew" by C. S. Lewis, which was my favorite of the set as a child. In fact, the going through the place of the Neitherworld where the portals to many worlds are through fountains echoes the multitude of pools in the woods in the "Magician's Nephew". I noted the Dean manipulates our dreary hero Quentin's fingers to make magical gestures in the "exam". I thought that was a great visual feature of the tv show. Sometimes we see diagrams of mudras, etc. but I am glad there is no explanation. It seems that magic is really delicately balanced upon many ephemeral factors, and that it has its cost. I like the psychological study as a socially inept person finds some talent and strengths to finally out grow childish hopes. It's written with common English as dialog, and the tv show has several sexual encounters, so this is not a kiddie's night time story book. It's a philosophical study, that fascinates me. What if? And then what? Life doesn't get easier, it seems, with magic, it gets way more complicated, and deadly serious. I'm still reading!

Man can Lev Grossman write! I would highly recommend this series it is full of characters you'll love and twists and turns you'll never see coming. I would recommend reading it before you watch the TV adaptation.

I purchased this series because I had caught the first season of the television adaptation on SyFy. The TV show does a great job of covering the story, and oddly, in what I think is a first with a book series, goes into more detail than the books. I am use to watching a movie or TV Show where there isn't enough time to go into great detail or every plot twist that a book can- but with this series the TV Show seems to delve more into the story than the books. It is interesting and unexpected outcome.

The books are good- I might actually like the TV show better- but I did see it first, so maybe it has to do with expectations. I still easily recommend reading the book. I am currently giving this series to a friend as a gift.

After watching the show, i partially knew what I was getting into when I bought the books. The timeline of the first book to me by suprise, but by the end I couldn't get enough! I finished the final book about a week ago and already want to re-read the entire trilogy because it was just SO GOOD