The Magician's Land - Lev Grossman

Date Started: 11/18/14
Date Finished: 11/28/14

I swore I was not going to read this book. Even though I'd read the previous two in the trilogy, I was NOT going to read this one. But here's the thing...when you realize you can check out books on your kindle from your local library, you start trying to figure out books you wanted to read. And once you get past those, you move on to the ones that you figure, well, it's free, why not. This is one of those. But here's the good news: I'm glad I read it!


I think the thing that bothered me the most about these books (aside from the Narnia issues) is that I didn't find any of the characters likable, except perhaps for Alice, and she was killed off in the first book. But when we meet up with Quentin this time he's actually grown up. Imagine that?! He's 30 and he's finally starting to get there. So that, in itself, made this a much more enjoyable read. You were primarily with a character you liked a lot more.

There was a lot of action, of course, and then Fillory starts dying, bringing all of our original characters back together again. And I do mean all, because Quentin has figured out how to get Alice back into her human form and out of being a niffin (which, incidentally, she is super-pissed about at first). But, yay, Alice is back!

So Quentin figures out - at literally the last minute - that he has to kill Ember and Umber, the Gods of Fillory - in order for the land to continue. After he kills them, he himself becomes a God and puts Fillory back together piece by piece until it is whole again. Then he gives the power up. Like I said, he grew up. He even leaves Fillory, figuring he was of the last age, the one that died. He and Alice go back to NYC where they work on a spell (originally found in the Interlands) to create a new land. And in doing so, he creates a bridge from Earth to Fillory - and finally meets the Cozy Horse (which they figured never existed).

So after all these books, we finally end, and it's actually a happy ending. Best way I could imagine it ending, in fact. My only suggestion in reading the series is that you read them in closer proximity than I did. I found I really didn't remember who some of the characters were by the time I got to this conclusion and that made some of the scenes a bit hard to follow.