The Magicians
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  • Published: 25 February 2016
  • ISBN: 9781473537408
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 17 hr 24 min
  • Narrator: Mark Bramhall
  • RRP: $32.99
Categories:

The Magicians

(Book 1)

Formats & editions
Paperback
26 Sep 2023
Paperback
2 Mar 2021
EBook
1 Sep 2010
Audiobook
25 Feb 2016
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The unputdownable new novel by the bestselling author of CODEX

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'The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea . . . dark and dangerous and full of twists' – GEORGE R. R. MARTIN

THE BESTSELLING BOOK BEHIND THE HIT SYFY SHOW
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In a secret world of forbidden knowledge, power comes at a terrible price...

Quentin Coldwater's life is changed forever by an apparently chance encounter: when he turns up for his entrance interview to Princeton University, he finds his interviewer dead – but a strange envelope bearing Quentin's name leads him down a very different path. Instead of Princeton, he finds himself invited to study at Brakebills – a secret college of modern-day sorcerers.

Quentin plunges deep into a secret world of obsession and privilege, a world of freedom and power; and for a while, it seems to answer all Quentin's desires. But the idyll cannot last. There are others powers than sorcery, powers that are as seductive as they are dangerous – and when the illusion of safety shatters, Quentin is drawn into a world far darker than he ever imagined.

After all, power corrupts. No exceptions.

THE FIRST BOOK IN LEV GROSSMAN'S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED MAGICIAN TRILOGY
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Praise for the Magician Trilogy:

'Stirring, complex, adventurous . . . superb' – JUNOT DIAZ, author of DROWN and THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO

'A sophisticated, subtle novel that is also magical fun' – THE TIMES
‘Lev Grossman has conjured a rare creature: a trilogy that simply gets better and better as it goes along . . . Literary perfection.’ – ERIN MORGENSTERN, author of THE NIGHT CIRCUS

'The Magicians ought to be required reading . . . Lev Grossman has written a terrific, at times almost painfully perceptive novel of the fantastic' – KELLY LINK

'The best fantasy trilogy of the decade' – CHARLES STROSS

'The Magicians is angst-ridden, bleak, occasionally joyous and gloriously readable. Forget Hogwarts: this is where the magic really is.' – SFX

'The Magicians is fantastic, in all senses of the word. It's strange, fanciful, extravagant, eccentric, and truly remarkable – a great story, masterfully told.' – SCOTT SMITH, author of THE RUINS
  • Published: 25 February 2016
  • ISBN: 9781473537408
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 17 hr 24 min
  • Narrator: Mark Bramhall
  • RRP: $32.99
Categories:

About the author

Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman is a novelist and Time magazine's book critic. A graduate of Harvard and Yale, he has written articles for the New York Times, Salon, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York and the Village Voice. In 2005 his debut novel Codex was published to great critical acclaim. He is also the author of The Magicians, The Magician King and The Magician's Land. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Also by Lev Grossman

The Bright Sword
The Magician's Land
The Magician King
Codex
See all

Praise for The Magicians

Stirring, complex, adventurous . . . Grossman delivers superb coming of age fantasy.

Junot Diaz, author of Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

A darkly cunning story about the power of imagination itself.

The New Yorker

The Magicians is fantastic, in all senses of the word. It's strange, fanciful, extravagant, eccentric, and truly remarkable.

Scott Smith, author of The Ruins

Dark and dangerous and full of twists. Hogwart's was never like this.

George R. R. Martin

The Magicians ought to be required reading... a terrific, at times almost painfully perceptive novel of the fantastic.

Kelly Link

The Magicians is angst-ridden, bleak, occasionally joyous and gloriously readable. Forget Hogwarts: this is where the magic really is.

Jayne Nelson, SFX 5 star review

This is a book for grown-up fans of children's fantasy and would also appeal to those who loved Donna Tartt's The Secret History . Highly recommended

Library Journal

The Magicians is the most dazzling, erudite and thoughtful fantasy novel to date. You'll be bedazzled by the magic but also brought short by what it has to say about the world we live in

Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Absurdistan

Brilliantly explores the hidden underbelly of fantasy and easy magic, taking what's simple on the surface and turning it over to show us the complicated writhing mess beneath.

Naomi Novik, author of the Temeraire series

The Magicians is a spellbinding, fast-moving, dark fantasy book for grownups that feels like an instant classic. I read it in a niffin-blue blaze of page turning, enthralled by Grossman's verbal and imaginative wizardry, his complex characters and most of all, his superb, brilliant inquiry into the wondrous, dangerous world of magic

Kate Christensen, author of The Epicure's Lament and The Great Man

The Magicians is Harry Potter as it might have been written by John Crowley...This is one of the best fantasies I've read in ages

Elizabeth Hand, Fantasy & Science Fiction

The author has taken all that is held dear in the fantasy genre, reverently (most of the time) tipping the hat to Rowling, Tolkien, Lewis, Le Guin and others, and shown it from a completely different and unique angle

Fantasy Book Review

...a gripping fantasy thriller that will please all the older Harry Potter fans out there

Yours Magazine

The best fantasy trilogy of the decade.

Charles Stross

The most entertaining and compelling fantasy I've read in a long time.

The Times

Lev Grossman has conjured a rare creature: a trilogy that simply gets better and better as it goes along...Literary perfection.

Erin Morgenstern
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