Rogues, Gods and Magicians

Whoops, falling behind again.

Book # 18 is another short story collection edited by GRRM, Rogues. It had stories from some of my favourites, Abercrombie, Rothfuss (I wasn't expecting to like his short story about Bast as much as I did, but I rather loved Bast running something like a black market for the nearby children) and of course, GRRM himself. Once again, GRRM's contribution was written as a historical account of the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. I'm enjoying getting a good handle on that time period in Westeros.

Book #19 was Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. My dear husband picked this book up because an aborted attempt at making it a movie back in the 70s became the pre-production materials used by the CIA in the 'Canadian Caper' (aka Argo). The concept art was done by Jack Kirby, so yeah, in geek circles, this is big stuff. Now as we know, I'm not much of a sci-fi fan, but I'm trying very hard to branch out this year (...ok, this is really only my second attempt, but two is better than none!) so I decided I'd try it, especially since I've read other Zelazny (although I haven't got very far with his Amber stuff). Well. It took me a long time to realize that much of this book was actually told in flashback. heh. I'm not usually so narratively challenged, but I sure was here for some reason. The book follows Sam (aka Siddhartha, Buddha, Mahasamatman and another name I don't remember right now) in his attempts to defeat the fellow colonists he travelled with who have set themselves up as representations of various Hindu gods and are ruling (and kind of suppressing) the normal population. Now that I think about it, the book is nicely divided up into each of Sam's various attempts, but yeah, something about it I found confusing at the time. Overall, it was very interesting, and Zelazny parcelled out what was going on very well. I think my favourite of the stories was Sam becoming 'Buddha' and turning the assassin Kali had sent to kill him into his greatest disciple.

Book #20 is The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman. Need we say how much I was looking forward to this coming out? No? Yeah, I definitely was. Last we had seen Quentin Coldwater, he'd been kicked out of his beloved magical land Fillory and could never return. He was dealing 'ok' with this loss by returning to Brakebills as a teacher... but then he got fired from there too, and so strikes off on his own. The whole 'Magicians' trilogy was originally marketed as 'Harry Potter for grownups', but really, it's far more 'Narnia without all the Christian allegory for grownups'. The only true Harry Potter part is the school of Brakebills, because after that, it's pretty much all Narnia, all the time, and that is not a complaint, because damn do I love those books, heavy handed Christian allegories and all (which, for one who was raised in a very non-religious household, didn't see the Christian allegories until they were pointed out to her). Because while Quentin and friends went to a school to learn magic, Quentin didn't want to be Harry Potter, he wanted to be a Pevensie. He wanted to find his way into Fillory and have grand adventures and rule as a king there. And he did. The second book was a reflection of Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and Magician's Land is very much a fun-house mirror held up to The Last Battle. So much so that I want to re-read the Last Battle just so I can compare and contrast the apocalyptic descriptions better. Because that's what this is, the final race to save Fillory from reaching the end of it's lifespan. And it's a hell of a quest. The book does feel a tad disjointed and perhaps a little too... pat? And yet it worked for me. I love the techno babble of Grossman's magic system, and I loved all the familiar faces (it actually managed to make Janet slightly more interesting and less of 'stock bitch' character). And I loved how Quentin has, over the course of the books, grown up and is less of a prat. He's still not perfect, not by any means, but he's reached a level of self awareness where he is capable of seeing his own mistakes. And I loved how we see the psychological effects that Fillory had on those from our world who have journeyed there. And it's not always the nicest thing. That was something we never really got from the Narnia books; Peter and Susan seemed to take their ejection from Narnia not too badly (we only ever hear that Susan rejected it for 'bad' reasons, not that perhaps she did because she was hurt by being rejected by Narnia first), and that being in Narnia made the rest of them 'better'. That wasn't the case for Fillory and I liked that the fantasy aspect of it destroyed, because living in a fantasy isn't usually a good thing. Anyway, I could go on and on about this book (and the others), but suffice to say I really freaking enjoyed it.

The next book, number 16 of this year, will have a very important footnote added to it. The book, The Magician King by Lev Grossman, is the first book I read in digital form. That's right, for my birthday, I got a Kobo e-reader. I won't talk about my feelings on the Kobo here as I'm still working those feelings out, but as I got it last Thursday and finished the book on Monday... I guess I don't hate it as much as I thought I might.

Of course, the speed with which I read it can also be attributed to the fact that The Magician King is a good book and a worthy successor to The Magicians.

When we catch up with Quentin and the other king and queens of Fillory, they're living the high life of... well, not doing too much at all. This lifestyle really suits some of them (Eliot and Janet), but Quentin seems bored and Julia, she's still broken. After a rather scary hunt for the Wishing Hare, it is revealed that things are not all right in Fillory and Quentin seizes upon this to go on a Quest. For he believes that a quest is just what he needs.

The narrative of this book is different from the last, and I found it an excellent departure. While most chapters deal with Quentin and his quest, the others focus on Julia, who was only a minor character in the first book, and tells the story of what happened to her and her journey to becoming an extremely powerful hedge witch. Of course, her story ends up being important to the main narrative as well, and it does all tie nicely together.

The Quest itself is simple, but not, just as all good quests should be. There is a lot of... coincidences, but that being a rather large trope of fantasy, it didn't bother me even if it did become predictable a couple of times. Grossman obviously knows his heroic quests, heck, there's even a harrowing of 'Hell' at one point.

The book ends up at a surprising place though. Well, it was a suprise and wasn't. It puts Quentin in a VERY unhappy place (whereas all those closest to him are very happy) and I'm not sure what that means. I don't know if there's another sequel coming or not, but if there is, I'm wondering if Quentin might go the Martin Chatwick route and if so, man that'll be a helluva read.

Number 15 this year is The Magicians by Lev Grossman. This book really is Harry Potter x Narnia but written for adults. I know that probably sounds really banal, but did I love this book? Damn right I did.

The main character, one Quentin, is such a perfect study of 17 year old teenaged ennui that it's almost hilarious, but not. Just like real teenaged ennui. He's incredibly smart and incredibly unhappy, and obsessed with a series of children's books about the imaginary country Fillory (this would be the Narnia stand-in). When Quentin finds himself suddenly accepted to a school for learning magic called Brakebills (this would be the Harry Potter part), Quentin thinks that finally, he can be happy, he'll be learning something few learn, and maybe, maybe he can go to Fillory.

But unlike Hogwarts, Brakebills comes across as much tougher. Cause you see, in The Magicians, magic is more like computer science or advanced chemistry or electrical engineering. You have to be prepared for long, hard study and practice to master, complete with incantation, confounding variables, deep thought, passionate virtuosity, and great precision. It's kinda awesome.

The first parts of the novel deal with Quentin's time at Brakebills and the weirdness that goes on there (the 4th year trial is particularly wicked), and the various characters. Quentin doesn't really find himself much happier, despite everything. He still hangs on to the idea that maybe one day finding their way into Fillory will make him happy.

Fillory, when they get there, is everything that they never thought it would be. It was brutal and and dangerous and in their arrogance, everything goes completely wrong. Once again, also awesome.

I have to go out and the sequel to this right away.