The Magician King by Lev Grossman

4

Following the events of the magicians, Quentin Coldwater is now one of the Kings of Fillory. It’s something he never dared to dream he’d have…but he’s still not happy. He’s restless. In trying to find occupation in adventure, Quentin stumbles upon something much more cosmically important leading to revelations and undesirable outcomes.

Though this is a sequel to The Magicians, this book doesn’t really feel that way to me. There are some references to Alice and Brakebills (the magic school) days, but they are almost pointless in the grand scheme of things. If you haven’t read the Magicians, it won’t be a problem in terms of understanding the story. I mean, if the names had been changed this could have easily been a separate stand-alone novel. For me, this wasn’t the best choice since what I like about sequels is those nods to the first book or when something in book one directly affects book two. For me these weren’t really there, and though I can appreciate the book it doesn’t feel like too much of a sequel to me personally.

The magic aspect was also elusive. The world was fantastical and there were other times when the magic of landscape was obvious, but other times it felt like the book had forgotten it was a fantasy book and things like magic were forgotten. Book one was a bit like this, but not to the extreme of the Magician King. There is only really one bit that this seems to go away, when Quentin is blasting magic left, right and centre.

But this highlights the crafting that has gone into the book. One thing Quentin says is that he doesn’t feel like a king, let alone a magician, most of the time. By the lack of magic and these things, we really feel this too. And it annoyed me, even enraged me, which only meant I could understand Quentin better.

This was the same for the general idea of Fillory and “real-life magic”. Quentin reminds us every few chapters that magic in books is often good and there is always a happy ending. Even the sadder endings are not so harsh on the characters. This book is not like that though. Even though book one improved at it’s very, very end, the whole final sequence was heart-wrenching and one of the most depressing endings I’ve ever read. In the Magician King, I’m reminded of this again. I don’t want to give anything away, but Quentin’s fate is almost unforgiveable. That one line that Elaine gives just made my heart sink, since I knew it wouldn’t end well after that.

There are also other dark elements involved, especially in Julia’s story. She was never accepted to magic school so she pursued magic however she could and sacrificed almost everything dear to her to get it. And how did that end up? For a long time it was horrifying for her. There’s this one scene which I shan’t repeat and which I don’t even like to think about which disgusted and depressed me so much. But at the same time I couldn’t stop reading. It’s was gripping and, though it pains me to say, realistic.

On a personal level, I struggle to read Grossman’s book. I get headaches from trying to process so much and some of the events genuinely affect me and my view of life for a short. I’ll be depressed, or feel lost, if only for a few hours. That could just be me (!!!) but I credit some of it to these books and these stories that seem to affect me so much. Sometimes I was just reading in a daze.

This book is something else, in a good and bad way. It’s bad in that I sometimes just want to walk away from this book and turn my back on some detestable truths, but then it is just so good at the same time that I can’t even begin to explain. This whole review is my trying to just give you a glimpse of how I feel about these books because in all honesty it’s so mixed up and indecipherable even for me. So read these if you want something magnificently compelling, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Flame of Surrender by Rhiannon Paille

3
This is kind of Young-Adult Fantasy Romance, where our two narrators are actually elves. Both of them are said to have great potential to either enhance or destroy their world, yet both have no control and no aptitude. They seem less than average and, among their own kind, almost lesser. But as one might imagine, this book delves into how this isn't exactly the case.

This book reminded me of how I feel when I read Garth Nix. The fantasy element is there, but it's how the world  created by the author- no matter how wonderful and interesting- is something I can't grasp. I tend to feel that I'm thrown into something that I don't understand. Then, when I do learn something, I end up feeling more confused but just as out of place because I feel that I don't understand their world. It's not easy to explain, since it's just a feeling for the book, but I sit there and find myself reading merely hoping to understand something- anything- before its too late. For someone who likes if not needs are believable interesting world, this is something that (in my opinion) the book didn't seem to have. On the positive side, what I did see and understand was really marvellous. The trees and the lake were pristine in my mind's eye and the atmosphere was well done.

After the first section of the book (probably the first third) things started to make more sense. By this point I doubt I was completely engrossed or involved, but I was more interest by now. Seeing the attempts to train our pair- Krishani (the boy) and Kaliel (the girl)- and the results gave me a better idea of the characters than the pages I had read already. This was probably when I really saw the best parts of the book- especially Krishani's fight. I like the feeling of "I told you so" in that Krishani had warned his mentor what could happen. I think after good parts like these, by feelings towards the book improved and I enjoyed it more.

I kind of liked the romance too. In this world, Elves aren't taken with love as other creatures are. They dedicate themselves to the land and the universe, and any matrimony is at the whims of the land. So their love isn't forbidden, but it's unusual for it to happen. Most people just seem a bit sceptical, and argue that their duty is more important. I like this idea of their love- it isn't forbidden (because I think forbidden love is often unbelievable) but its treated with disbelieving delicacy. Krishani accepts that he is in love before Kaliel and is happy to tell her, but she- despite day dreams about him, and despite an obvious attraction to him- keeps turning him away. His undying yet unrequited love didn't bother me, but I feel it went on to long. As a reader, I can tell when something is going to happen and I get annoyed when it is constantly delayed. Another point is that at some times this love also seems a bit of obsessive.

The Flames were a nice touch. They, I think, represent a kind of open wilfulness and confidence and, for Kaliel, represent the opposite of what she thinks she should be. She wants to be loyal and dutiful, not carefree spirit of mirth. She also doesn't want to be special, but the Flames ("The jewels of the universe") are anything but that. I was perhaps bothered by the lack of display of this Flame power, since I like a bit of awe-inspiring demonstrations of potency, but I can't complain on this front.

One thing I really liked was the very last section of the book. The ending itself was much easier to read and it flowed smoothly and interestingly. There was also the first part of book two at the end and it's made me determined to read book two, merely because I want to know what's going to happen.

There are unanswered questions in this book, which bothered me. The fact that so much of this just didn't click for me is quite a personal thing, but I can see where the good parts of this book where and how I need to avoid focusing on the start which I didn't like, and the end which I did.