The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Type of Read: 
Dark-ish Fantasy

Plot Summary:
It seems like Quentin has everything going for him. He's a genius on his way to graduating high school and headed to an ivy league college. But for Quentin, this isn't enough. He would rather bury himself in his childhood fantasy stories surrounded by magic and adventure. One day he finds himself taking a mysterious test that gains him entrance into a school of witchcraft and sorcery. Suddenly his fantastic dreams become a reality...but so do the dangers.

Strengths:
This book has been described as a "grown-up Harry Potter" and it's true. It's filled with magic and sorcery with much more adult themes such as drugs, alcohol, and sex, added in. Now, some of you might think that ripping off Harry Potter would be a weakness, but Grossman does it in a way that makes it respectable. Instead of ignoring the similarities between his story and J.K. Rowling's, he plays with it. He gives little salutes to the magical world of Hogwarts that says "yeah, I know what I'm doing."
Another strength comes from the writing. It truly transports the reader to a different world. It's one of those books that when the reader raises his/her head after a while, they have to blink a few times to come back to reality. The reader feels what Quentin feels. There is a moment in the book where Quentin is close to graduating from school and he realizes that he doesn't know what he's going to do with the rest of his life. I personally can remember this feeling after graduating with a B.A. in English thinking "Yay! I did it! ...Now what?"

Weaknesses:
The biggest weakness of the book is Quentin himself. He is just not a very likable person. He is constantly unhappy with where he is in life and is always looking for something better. He makes horrible decisions that reap even worse consequences. This wouldn't be bad if this was a coming of age story, but Quentin doesn't really ever grow-up or learn from his mistakes. It can be frustrating to the reader.

Opinion and Recommendation:
I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the first half of the story when Quentin is in school, but once he graduates he resorts to drinking heavily, doing drugs, and ignoring his girlfriend. This part of the book was really frustrating and difficult to read. I wanted to reach into the pages and shake Quentin out of his stupidity. But alas you can't...mainly because he's a fictional character and books don't allow for 3-D interaction.
I would say pick up a copy from the library (like I did) and see what you think before you go out and buy it.