magician's land

Quentin, you old dog!

Quentin Coldwater and the gang--well, some of them--are back for Lev Grossman's third and final book* in the Fillory Trillory. yeah, I made that up Brakebills has only a supporting role is this book, much like the second. We pick up Quentin's story a little while after the end of the second book. Quentin is beginning to heal, deal and un-feel some of the damage done to him, and as always, damage he has done to himself. Both physically and emotionally.

Quentin gets his feels on more deeply and complexly than his archetypes, Harry Potter and  Peter Pevensie. Everyone knows who King Peter is, right?  What makes Grossman's characters so much more compelling is that they DON'T fit the standard fantasy story mold. Grossman's characters, settings and personal interactions are just as fun, magical, and fantastic as Lewis's or Rowling's, but they are more real, adult and complicated like Tolkien's. I think that's because Grossman's audience is not kids, or even young adults, I think he's writing for adults.

Its been a little while since the second book came out and I found that I remembered the first book very well, but I had forgot a lot of the details in the second book. So I went back and read both of those after I finished this one. If I had more time, I might have put this one down and re-read them first, but my daughter was waiting for me to finish, and she was headed back to school.

The Magician's Land--the whole trilogy--is about finding your dreams. About making your dreams come true, because, in the end, that's the only way we find them. Quentin Coldwater is normal guy, who works hard, and knows what he can expect from his hard work, but above all, Quentin never quite knows whether or not he's good enough or deserving enough. In this book, I feel like he is finally making headway. Everyone has to grow up, and it seems like Quentin has done that too. And maybe his dreams came true, or maybe they didn't. But if anything is true, I think he's grown up enough to dream new dreams now.

Read this book. Read all of them, and then write me a note and tell me I was right.


* if you ask me, and I know you didn't, Grossman left room for more books if he decides to revisit Quentin and Co. 

... and I know you didn't ask me this either, but the Fillory Trillory one would make good movies, if done right.

hitchhiker's guide

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is another book that I've had on my reading list for a long time. If I had know it was as short as it was, or as funny, I might have read it a little sooner. They made a movie a little while ago, but I didn't see it and I got the impression it wasn't well received, but I'm not sure.

The book has that British humor twang to it, that is so funny, but somehow not really identifiable, unless its the sarcasm. The Brits do sarcasm better than anyone. The storyline is big, and it jumps in pretty quickly. The galaxy is filled with inhabited planets and a great way to get around is by hitchhiking. Its not easy, so there is a fair amount of street cred that comes with it. But once you get out there, its not too long before you find that many of the same problems that we have to deal with on earth, are also problems just about everywhere you go.

That's what sets this book apart I think, and some of the other sci fi stories like it, its written in opposition to the two main trends in sci fi: utopian futures and dystopian futures. There aren't a whole lot of sci fi stories that predict a future that's pretty much just like the day-to-day crap we deal with now. But if the expanses of the galaxy are the same where ever you go, why would anyone travel? The answer is simple: the more things stay the same, the more they change. Each of their adventures is wild, screwy, unpredictable, and funny. And the funny, often verges on the ridiculous. Like a lot of British humor.

Read this book. Its funny and relevant now, just as when it was first written.

Then read it again in 20 years.