(no subject)

[bedlamsbard]

On finishing The Magicians, my thoughts are mainly along the lines of, "What the fucking fuck?"

Gods, I'm offended as a fantasy fan, I'm offended as a Narnia fan, I'm offended on C.S. Lewis's deceased behalf, and I want to kill things.

Scathing review and vague meta to follow later.

IT IS AS IF PETER PEVENSIE BECAME A MONSTER AND LUCY TURNED INTO THE WHITE WITCH WTF.

Comments

[aella_irene]

Oh my.

[bedlamsbard]

It's not a bad book, but -- I mean, I have my head full of Narnia 24/7, and, well.

[be_themoon]

EWWW.

[bedlamsbard]

Full on review, meta, and spoilers coming later!

[go_gentle]

My theory on that book is that Grossman took all these tropes of YA fantasy, and then tried to write a Serious Adult work of Literature with them, so of course that means sexual abuse, fucked-up sex, meaningless sex, drugs, alcohol, unhappiness, the meaningless of life and the ruin of everything you've ever wanted. (Actually, if you're at all interested - and I get it if you're not - I wrote a paper arguing that very point for a class last term.)

[bedlamsbard]

But the thing is he didn't take all the tropes of YA fantasy, or even most of them. Or rather, I think he took all the ones that didn't relate to character at all -- Harry Potter's the classic example of the poor orphan boy who grows up to find he has a great destiny, while Quentin and all his friends come from really privileged environments. (This is the thing that keeps tripping me up, that and the fact it's really, really obvious that Grossman himself grew up in a really privileged environment, and I never notice that sort of thing.)

But yes. Serious Adult Work of Literature. Taking the fantasy out of fantasy.