The Magicians
by Lev Grossman
★ Top 25 book of 2009 · #21 on Best Books of 2009
Quentin, a gifted but unhappy young man, is admitted to a secret college of magic. Real power brings him less joy than hoped, and the fantasy land he loved as a child proves darker than expected.
Best for: Adult fantasy readers who want a grounded, morally complex take on magic
The Magicians is #21 on BookWard's Best Books of 2009, out of 42 2009 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Magicians is about
Quentin Coldwater is a Brooklyn teenager who loves Fillory and Further, a series of children's books about five siblings who visit a magical land much like Narnia. Then he is whisked off to Brakebills, a college of magic, and finds that real spellwork means tedious study, old languages and precise hand positions rather than wonder. Alongside classmates such as Penny and Alice, and later the Physical magic group, he learns how much power a person can hold and how little it fixes. After graduation, he and his friends drift through Manhattan, still searching for a purpose. Then Fillory turns out to be real, and far darker than the books let on. Dark, wry and melancholic, this is a story about growing up, outgrowing escapism, and what happens when a childhood dream comes true.
The Magicians on the Best Books of 2009
The Magicians came out in 2009. Of the 42 books first published in 2009 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #21 on our Best Books of 2009 list.
Why it made the list: 342 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.5 out of 5 (66 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2009 list
- Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Grace Lin, #19
- 1Q84 村上春樹, #20
- Too Big to Fail Andrew Ross Sorkin, #22
- The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi, #23
See all Best Books of 2009 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2008 Best Books of 2010.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 235 want to read it, 14 are reading it now and 93 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.5 out of 5 from 66 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 60 | 55% |
| Reader love | 5 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 62 | 20% |
Questions about The Magicians
When was The Magicians published?
The Magicians by Lev Grossman was first published in 2009.
Was The Magicians one of the best books of 2009?
The Magicians is #21 on BookWard's Best Books of 2009, out of 42 2009 books that cleared our data bar. 342 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.5 out of 5 (66 ratings).
Why is The Magicians on the Best Books of 2009 list?
342 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.5 out of 5 (66 ratings).
More of the best books of 2009
- The Last Olympian Rick Riordan, #1
- Catching Fire Suzanne Collins, #2
- The Maze Runner James Dashner, #3
- The Help Kathryn Stockett, #4
- Dork Diaries Rachel Renée Russell, #5
- I Will Teach You to Be Rich Ramit Sethi, #6
See the full Best Books of 2009, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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