#the magicians book

[yuribuny]

i love sadistic posessive women

[vooruitmariek]

definitely one of my favourite scenes :)

[thatsfrickenace]

I’m reading the Magicians books by Lev Grossman because I adore the tv series, but Quentin’s commentary on the groapability every woman’s breasts is getting out of hand

[zangetsubornhollow]

Mixed Feelings

I'm not totally sure how I feel about this book. I was actually completely enamored by the book when I first picked it up. But, nearing the middle towards the end, it completely fell off for me.

Spoilers for The Magicians by Lev Grossman below

I don't know if I felt bitter that my ship didn't become canon ( Eliot x Quentin) or if I just didn't like the Alice x Quentin pairing, but the romance aspect of the book just didn't sit with me.

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Alice

I think it was dragged on and on. I really liked Alice's strong abilities and her being sure of them. But her character fell flat after they got together. She didn't bring anything except romantic drama afterwards. (I know she was the main hero in defeating Martin Chatwin, but still she was usually just a quiet bystander only appearing in scenes so Quentin could express some kind of emotion about her). I hated the whole Quentin cheating debacle and then he held very little accountability "Janet intentionally ruined a perfectly healthy relationship just to get at Alice [or whatever]"

I think I would have been happier if they had to get in a relationship that it ended after they graduated or no relationship at all. I would have been satisfied with a found family dynamic in the end.

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Eliot

... I can't be the only one who felt dragged along hoping for a glimpse of him. I was so sure he'd have a stronger impact on the story and on Quentin.

I found spoilers for the next books of him getting more scenes, but i wanted more of him in this book.

I felt like I was being teased by the prospect of a stronger bond between him and Quentin. Even if they did go out and party after graduation together and they felt they both need Fillory to find a purpose to their post-Brakebill's lives, their dynamic just wasn't fleshed out. I feel like we were told of their bond, but not showed.

Eliot had such an entrance and I'm not mad that when school started he wasn't a big presence in Quentin's story as he's focusing on school. But I'm surprised Quentin went home every break. I thought he would stay behind, knowing that Eliot stayed and did more bonding. Other characters would mention how it was strange that Quentin is on good terms with the Eliot and the he must be one of Eliot's. But even after getting in the Physical kids' cottage, they didn't really interact. Yes, you got a closer glimpse of Eliot's personality, but they never got closer.

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Quentin

I thought he started as a compelling character as a High School Senior who is secretly wishing that world was a bit more colorful and magical than the the black and white mundane life that he was living.

As a High Schooler

As a graduated college student. He got so whiny. Alice calls him out multiple times that he is miserable because he doesn't want to try to be happy because he chooses to be miserable. He kind of did a gifted kid spiral and never got back on his feet. It was so taxing to read about how miserable his home life was. How drained he was at the school. How he wasn't as driven as the other students. How he didn't excel at magic ( like he was at the top of his class and then went a year ahead. wtf is this guy on) I feel like we didn't really touch on magic either. Then after all the training went on we jumped into romantic woes, then the magic learning part completely disappeared.

(Also: I wished they got a clean breakup so bad

Which I don't even know if they liked each other because of their proximity and lack of other prospects or if they found something in one another that they were drawn to. In they end, they would have been happier pursuing their separate lives. )

The Magicians is seen through Quentin's eyes, so we have to deal with so much horniness. His eyes wandered everywhere and I didn't care that sometimes he was losing his focus on studying and wanted to just stare at his professor's breast. I really did not need to read that.

Also this made me so confused on who he wanted to get close to: Julia because he wanted her so bad, and she should have learned magic after all ???

The paramedic because she was pretty and mysteriously gave him the book and entrance to Brakebill?

Eliot because he was cool and liked boys, but never tried to get with him?

Alice because she was talented and pretty, but didn't want to get close to anyone?

Anaïs because she was hot and everyone else though so too??

Janet because she was hot and exciting?

As someone who did not finish the book, I don't know if he ever found closure and started to look within himself for happiness. But from outside sources (i.e. good reads, tumblr, and the magicians wiki) I am guessing definitely not!

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**Extra notes because I am a certified hater

Do I lack comprehension skills or did Quentin looking for Josh have no impact? Like Quentin was super worried about him in the moment, but never really showed his care for others like he did in that scene. Like ever again.

The whole 3some debacle ....wtf.....

i don't know why, but I wanted more from the original bar cast. Especially the bear.

Why was the fact that Eliot was a token gay brought up almost every time people talked about him?

I was so sad there wasn't more magical networking and communities. If they were briefly mentioned, they didn't really seem all that relevant.

What was the Plover story that he wasn't ready for?

Why did Alice not get an invite, but was accepted in?

Julia??? (I know she appears in later books, but still)

I wanted more interactions with other students.

[giantkillerjack]

Me: hm, I want something to put on the TV as background noise... Huh. Looks like YouTube is recommending something called The Last Unicorn. That's perfect, it's probably some old shitty animation that has aged poorly! I can watch it ironically!

Me, 2 hours later as the credits roll: *crying, cheering, buying the book, composing the songs*

Me, 2 weeks later: So I have compiled all of the quotes from the book that I think could make good tattoos, and also, HOW HAVE I NEVER LEARNED ABOUT HOW THE LAST UNICORN FUCKING SLAPS??? This gay-ass little fairytale fed my soul! Watered my crops! Transed my gender! Can't believe I heard of this story from youtube recommendations, of all places!!

[arithmonym]

re-reading the locked tomb, and i'm thinking about how harrow identifies alecto as a "girl" rather than a "woman."

obviously, john had other sources of inspiration... but did you know that the original barbie doll was only supposed to be nineteen years old?

[kasumidoodles]

You can’t tell me this wouldn’t be them in a Sailor Moon AU.

[smilelikeanhyde]

Asra’s route, book VII, yes, THAT scene.

But also, some “before the plague” soft/angsty mood, Asra and Musa at their second Masquerade:

“Asra is such a good dancer. What I don’t know is that they learned to dance because I loved it, I asked them to dance with me at every Masquerade. He got better and better every year just to impress me.

He stopped dancing altogether once I died.”

[puppyeared]

hello every nyan

fan character for Laika's Comet, by @catmask (go check it out!!)

[queenlucythevaliant]

So um. Anybody want to explain to me why the White Witch's name is Jadis when there's a perfectly good Green Witch elsewhere in the series? Or am I gonna have to go talk to Jack myself?

[vooruitmariek]

It showed no fear as Quentin approached. It reached back with its supple neck and grasped the arrow firmly in its square white teeth. With a jerk the shaft came free. It spat out the arrow at Quentin’s feet. “Hurts, that,” the Questing Beast said matter-of-factly. It had been three days since Quentin had spoken to anybody. The Magicians by Lev Grossman

[taiyami]

I was painting today so in between drying time I did a study over my DMG figure to keep myself busy. The little Yugis are for @toadstool32 because somebody else needed to draw Yugi tonight and I'm a man of my word.

[breebird33]

✨🦋 COVER REVEAL 🦋✨

I'm delighted to finally share the cover of my upcoming MG graphic novel—THE FIRELIGHT APPRENTICE!

In a city powered by magic and still recovering from a bloody war, Ada is concerned about her younger sister Safi’s developing powers. She understands that Safi could learn how to control her magic under the apprenticeship of a king's magician. But with the memories of war still fresh, Ada is conflicted by this prospect—despite her knowing that she can’t keep Safi safely at home with the threat of deadly, power-thieving liches prowling the kingdom.  When a traveling group of magicians comes to the city to perform, they immediately recognize Safi’s talents and offer to take her on as an apprentice. Safi is thrilled about her new adventure—even if that means leaving behind Ada and their sickly father. And Ada is right to worry about her sister, for there may be monsters hiding behind friendly faces…

Out October 29, 2024 with QuillTree Books/HarperCollins >>>Available for pre-order NOW<<<

[punkeropercyjackson]

"The Pjo show is bad because it has a lot of pop culture references and that's so fucking cringe!!!"Omg pop culture references in Percy Jackson?????Fork spotted in a kitchen momence!!!!!

[ellery-six]

All about Avdol 🔥

[headcanonsandmore]

Now that I'm reading books by Pratchett's male contemporaries in the 80s and 90s, I'm realising just how ridiculiously ahead of the curve Terry was in terms of writing complex female characters.

I'm reading through the Riftwar Cycle by Raymond E Feist at the moment and (aside from the sub-series that he co-wrote with Janny Wurts) his writing of female characters is incredibly limited (at least thus far; I'm on 'Shadow Of a Dark Queen' at the moment). Virtually every female character is allocated the singular role of either mother, love interest to a male hero, seductive villianess or sex worker.

This book came out in 1994 but it may as well be 1974 given how one-note the female characters are. And that's not even getting into the constant fridging.

Hoping that Feist's writing for women gets better as the series progresses because jeez...