It's funny, I'm finding Magicians to be more complicated than I expected. It evades genres ... is it young adult, is it fantasy for twenty-somethings some parts just don't seem to fit in ... I got bogged down about 17% of the way in and I've devoured the rest of it in the 48 hours or so ....

It starts off very Hogwarts and segues neatly into Narnia. There's a weird pause after graduation that seems like Friends, except they drink, so maybe more like a disaffected 90s movie. Then they move back into Narnia, but darker, like Narnia was allowed to age and sour for centuries.

I also like how Quentin is constantly looking ahead, yearning for more, unsatisfied and depressed, even when in Fillory. It rings very true, as do all of the characters never being pure true heroes or pure true mean.

Of course, when Quentin becomes a .1%er to sequester him from magic, the book ends with a wide opening for future adventures.