2014 Series Challenge

 

I was cruising the blogoshpere (you know, as one does) and I came across this challenge hosted by Octavia at Read. Sleep. Repeat. Her thought is that we all have a giant list of series that we have started and never finished or keep talking about starting and never do. This challenge is to give you a kick in the pants to finish as many series as you can in the year 2014. There are of course rules, (taking directly from her site) they are as follows...

• You have to FINISH the series
• If the series isn’t complete yet, or will not be completed before December 1st, 2014 read up to the most recent book in said series.
• Novellas count, but are optional.
• HAVE fun
• If you decide to break up with a series after book one, it does not count!
• You do not have to START the series in 2014, you just have to FINISH it in 2014
• Series that you started prior to 2014 are fine as long as you FINISH the series in 2014
• The series has to have at least 2 books out prior to December 1st, 2014
• Proof that you finished the book is required. It could be a full review, a mini review, or a rating with a few lines.
• DNF’s do not count. PERIOD.

And thanks to Anya of On Starships and Dragonwings I’m going to sweeten the pot for you folks. Even though finishing a series is motivation enough for some of you, I know that 4 months in a lot of you will quit, and because of that I am implementing a badge system. For more information check out this link.

I will be keeping track of my progress in the tab above labeled "2014 Series Challenge" and will be posting the badges I win on my main site. I'm totally jazzed to win the platinum badge!

Here is a list of series that I have planned to include on my list for this year.

Series I Have Started and Haven't Finished(last book I read shown)

A Song of Ice and Fire

The Magicians

Caster Chronicles

Gallagher Girls

The Giver Quartet

Percy Jackson Seri

Series I Haven't Started But Want/Plan To (first book pictured)  

The Grishna

Across the Universe

The Lunar Chronicles

The Darkest Minds

Abandon Trilogy

Gem Trilogy

The Maze Runner Trilogy

Anna Series

That is 14 total series for the year. My plan is at lease one series a month some months will have two or even three. Some series will be easier than others to complete. For example I only have one book to read in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series but four in the Gallagher girls series, I may add a few more series on the list as the year goes on and I see how I am doing. I have a few series on the back burner that I'm probably add. My goal is to get at least a dozen so I can be certified platinum! Stayed tuned on the "2014 Series Challenge" Tab above and if you want to get involved GO HERE NOW!

#ThrowbackThursday... Before I Blogged I Read The Luxe Series by Anna Godberson

I first saw the idea for this post from Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner’s Blog. I love this concept.  My blogging over the past few years has been very subpar. I’ve read a lot of books that I want to talk about and discuss with people but I never wrote anything about them on here. So I am adopting the concept and making it coincide with Throwback Thursday, because it just makes sense.

My first pick is The Luxe Series by Anna Godbersen. It includes The Luxe, Rumors, Envy, and Spendor. The series is Young Adult Historical Fiction and Romance set in New York City at the turn of the 20^th Century. But it’s not your average Historical Romance, its Gossip Girl in petticoats and corsets.

I initially started the series in 2008 when I worked for Americorps. I brought the book to a retreat I was attending and I ended up leaving it there. I wasn’t too brokenhearted because I wasn’t totally in love with the series at the time. It was good not great. The Luxe suffered from what I call “First Book Syndrome.” It spent a lot of time just setting things up that weren’t going to develop much later. Then I was again reminded of the series in 2011 when I was at a Border’s that was closing (a moment of silence for Border’s) and I picked up the second book in the series for $2 when I was travelling for work. I started it but never finished it because it was again a little slow. Then when I was moving to Pittsburgh I realized I had a substantial amount of books that I half read and so I picked it back up determined to finish it and I devoured the rest of the series. 

I will try and make my review as spoiler free as I can but that is often difficult when you are trying to review an entire series.

In The Luxe we are introduced to the myriad of characters that are the centerpiece of this series. First and foremost are the Holland sisters. Elizabeth, the elder sister, is the darling of the high society set. She wants nothing more than to please her family and is a perfect and demure young lady. This is in contrast to bold and brash Diana, her younger sister, who has a bit of a rebellious streak and does not want to be the kind of lady that her place in society dictates. The Holland’s father died leaving them bankrupt and Elizabeth is forced to marry Henry Schoonmaker. The Schoonmakers are the wealthiest family in the city and Henry is known as a bit of a cad, a womanizer, and kind of a drunk. Henry and Diana meet when he comes to the house to meet Elizabeth and they are instantly smitten with each other and find kindred free-spirits in one another. To complicate things further we have Penelope Hayes, Elizabeth’s best friend. She is a member of an upstart new money family who had a fling with Henry and is still in love with him. She’s jealous of Elizabeth and will do anything to get Henry to marry her instead. As if that weren’t complicated enough Elizabeth is actually in love with William Keller, the Holland’s coachman, who she grew up with. He is also in love with her and wants to run away and start over in the West. The Holland’s maid Lina is desperately in love with Will and extremely jealous of Elizabeth. The characters are scheming and plotting against one another for their own personal gains by spreading salacious rumors to each other and in the press.

As the love hexagon may lead you to believe this is not a typical romance. There is no insta-love that you see a lot in these kinds of stories, Young Adult romances often being the most guilty of this phenomena. If you don’t get that then you get the “love can conquer all” trope that feels so disingenuous. In the case of The Luxe series there is the idea that your first love isn’t necessarily your only love, which is a concept I think more YA romances need. It was incredibly refreshing and I loved it. The romance in this series was dark and a little torturous. They were EPIC in the Logan Echolls sense of the word. They spanning years and continents, ruined lives, bloodshed. EPIC!

My favorite part of the series was probably the characters. Anna Godbersen created a host of deep and complex characters who live in the grey area between good and evil. There is no clear villain and no clear hero of this story, all the characters were scheming and plotting against one another for their own personal gain. I think it’s a testament to the writing that I didn’t actually like the character that was arguably the most villainous. They were all very different and interesting and had elements that made you like them and dislike them at the same time. And while they could have very easily fallen into the stereotypical, from the beginning it really seemed like they were going to, but they were all full of surprises. The biggest surprise among them was the Holland Sisters. They are both hopeless romantics and have a bit of a Sense and Sensibility vibe but things do not turn out in the way you expect for either of them. As the series goes on they both become strong female characters who learn to do what they want instead of what is expected of them. They become quite the feminists and they do it all in fancy dresses!

The uniqueness of the characters is further developed by the fact that each chapter is told from a different character's perspective. And while that can often make a story muddled, in the case of this series it worked to move the plot along in a steady and interesting pace. It gave each chapter a unique voice and never left you wondering about what someone was thinking or feeling. The character's lives intertwined in such an intricate way the story was improved by the multiple perspective approach. It also added to the fact that you empathized with even the most malicious of characters because you learned their deeper motivations.

      

The situations that the characters are faced with, while they are taken directly from the issues young people were faced with during the specific time period, also felt like issues people today are faced with. These included concepts like family dynamics, love and marriage, friendship, responsibility, and feminism. These ideas can often devolve and end up being too fluffy but this series walked the line brilliantly. It’s something I think everyone can relate with particularly young women.

If you are going to read this series, and I recommend you do, my suggestion is to marathon it. Only the first book feels like a unique story. For the rest of the series they build on one another to create one larger narrative full of intrigue and surprises. Forewarning, the ending is not at all happy, it’s very bittersweet but it’s more satisfying than a happy ending would be. And don’t give up after the first one like I did, they get better and better as it goes on building to a big crescendo in the ending that leaves you incredibly satisfied. 

I recommend this series to anyone who likes Historical Fiction, realistic romances, characters that are both good and evil, or strong female characters. This series is one of my favorites and Splendor was one of the best books I read this year. If you’ve read it already let me know your thoughts in the comments section, and if you haven’t check it out! 

December TBR: A (Mostly) Supernatural Christmas

So far I've been liking the idea of having a theme for the books I read each month. It helps me explore a genre and keeps me from reading a million books at once and not finishing a series like I tend to do. So when I was planning out what to read in December it seemed obvious... Christmas books. Tis the season as they say. So planned out my books and I noticed another trend within most of them. Most of them have an element of the supernatural. They have witches, magic, werewolves, murderous thieves, and other monsters. When I realized this I gave a hearty chuckle (much like Santa Clause) and realized that reading Supernatural fiction is my style. I get a little sick of the schmaltz factor of the Christmas season so this is a good way to balance this out.

My Classic
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Goodreads Amazon
Synopsis: The story of four women and their passage to adulthood 

So clearly this is not Supernatural. I'm just a sucker for this book. I've been known to audibly sob at certain parts and I'm just taking the opportunity to read it again and balance out the supernatural stories. I realize the obvious choice here is A Christmas Carol but that's too obvious for me!



My Recent Fiction Choice 

Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith
Goodreads Amazon
Synopsis: The true story of the Three Kings of the Nativity, a murderous band of thieves.

This will be my third book by Seth Grahame-Smith. I loved the other too and their take on classic stories. This is their take on the biblical tale of the Three Wise Men. I've heard really excellent things about this book and hear it's an action thriller full of violence so obviously I can't wait. And let's face it Biblical times in the Middle East were pretty barbaric!

My Young Adult Choice

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray
Rebel Angel Goodreads Amazon
The Sweet Far Thing Goodreads Amazon
Synopsis: A series about a girl attending elite private school with a secret, she has the power to travel to a magical realm. In the first book she released the magic but now she has to decide what to do with it.

I really liked the first book in the series, A Great and Terrible Beauty. It was full of mystery, suspense, and interesting characters. The second book Rebel Angels takes place at Christmas so I've been holding off finishing the series till now.

My Audiobook
The Wolves of Midwinter by Anne Rice
Goodreads Amazon
Synopsis: The continuation of the Wolf Gift Chronicles where the main character explores his werewolf powers during the holy yuletide season.

I actually did not know this was a sequel and I guess I should probably experience the first one first. I saw this book at a bookstore and thought it would be an interesting audiobook and it fit in with my theme this month. I've never read any Anne Rice and think it's about time I get on that so I'm taking the leap and will probably listen to both audiobooks this month.

Book Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Title: Ready Player One Author: Ernest Cline Publisher: Random House, 2012 Goodreads Amazon Synopsis: In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.    But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Two posts in one day... This is something I've never done before!

Ready Player One was an absolutely engrossing story about a group of misfits searching for a hidden egg, that's worth millions, inside a virtual reality video game. It's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets TRON.

Part of it's fun comes from the fact that it is chock full of 80's nostalgia. The developer of the game was raised in the 1980's and was so obsessed with the decade that he made it a huge part of his videa game. The egg hunters, or gunters as they are called, have studied the movies, music, television shows, and of course video games of the era like it is a religion. The book is full of basic and obscure references to the decade making me think that Ernest Cline was watching a whole lot of I Heart the 80's on VH1 while he was writing this book, either that or he has just as much love for the decade. I was a child of the 80's so I honestly don't remember much of it but I love the nostalgia. It's such a unique idea and the culture of the 80's fit perfectly within the SciFi near future story that Cline has created.

One of the best parts of the book was the characters. Wade, or Parzival, in particular was a perfect narrator for this story. He has a unique and interesting voice and very quickly into reading you start to empathize with him and him to win in the end.  He's kind of snarky and sarcastic at times but it adds to his charm and makes you like him all the more. Wade and many of the other secondary characters like Aech, Art3mis, and Shoto are pretty stereotypical geek tropes but anyone who has ever wanted to escape their own bleak reality can find a little something of themselves in the characters.

The book addresses many of the themes that people today are being faced with as the role of technology grows in our lives. It addresses the complicated issues of online control and censorship by way of the antagonist of the story, a pseudo-government corporation, who is attempting to cheat their way to the egg even intimidating the characters by threatening to reveal their real identities and even trying to kill them. This brings me to another interesting and complicated theme of your online persona versus your real life persona. Online you are able to be whoever you want to be and "exist as only raw personality." Throughout a lot of the story many of the characters are reluctant to reveal who they real are, owing to the fact that they have things about themselves that they are ashamed of. The idea of virtual reality versus actual reality makes this novel compelling and much deeper than it seems. It is particularly interesting if you are developing or cultivating an online persona (I promise I have nothing to hide).

But my favorite theme throughout the book was the coming-of-age dynamic that centered around friendship and relationships. While the characters don't really interact in the real world they have genuine interactions and communications inside the game in the exact same way that real friends interact. Some of their conversations even felt like conversations that I have had before. You get the distinct impression that they have real feelings for each other. They've cultivated these friendships and maybe even a romance without ever seeing each other face-to-face. It's an interesting contrast to the Catfish concept you hear a lot about in pop culture these days and is even a bit of a dichotomy from what they are concerned about in the story.

While the book did have a lot going for it, I felt like it did have some problems. The first issue I had was with the pacing. The plat was generally exciting and interesting but at times there were some serious lulls in the story.. It went from a lot of action to none at all, and it made me want to skip whole chunks of the book. There were entire scenes where I felt like it didn't move the story along at all and just seemed like filler. I think a lot of that was because there was an absurd amount of world-building in this book. I'm generally a fan of a lot of explanation of an interesting and complex world like this one but in the case of Ready Player One it was just overwhelming and actually took away from the plot of the story.

On the whole this was a great story with likable characters you rooted for, interesting, and topical themes, a plot full of action, and tons of fun 80's nostalgia. It's the kind of story that reminds you that dystopia is a subgenre of Science Fiction, and makes me want to read more traditional SciFi books. I listened to the audiobook version of this book which was narrated by Wil Wheaton. He was a phenomenal narrator for this story. He really gave Wade his voice and gave each secondary character a unique sound. He made the story interesting. His role in geekdom and the fact that he started his career in the 80's added a different level entirely to the audiobook.

I give it an 8.5 out of 10

I recommend Ready Player One to anyone who like SciFi, video games, 80's nostalgia, or stories with geeky characters. If you've read it already let me know your thoughts in the comments section and of course.. HAPPY READING.    

Top Ten Tuesday- The Top Ten Books of 2014 I Can't Wait to be Released

  

A weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

1.) No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale (January 7, 2014) 
I recently read an interview for NaNoWriMo with the author Kathleen Hale where she talked about writing an outcast type character and having an awkward narrator. Everything she said was brilliant. I then learned that her book was a murder mystery and I was hooked. I need more teen detectives in my life. Plus look at that super dope cover! Check out the interview.

2.) Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (January 14, 2014)
I read Miss Peregrine's and liked it despite it's many deficiencies [My Review], it wasn't what I was looking for in the month of October but it was interesting. I'm interested to see the direction that the next book is taken in. It sounds like it's going to be a little Urban Fantasy kind of story.


 3.) Veronica Mars Book (February 4, 2014)
This may be my most anticipated book of 2014. I'm a HUGE Veronica Mars fan and I've been waiting years to get closure on her story. I even donated to the Kickstarter to make sure to movie happened. I'm really excited that it doesn't end with the movie because I love this character and I love Rob Thomas' writing.

4.) Tsarina by J. Neale Patrick (February 27, 2014)
I'm a huge Russophile. I studied Recent History (it's a thing) in college because of it. This is also the supernatural take on a known story kind of book that I love. It sounds really interesting and I'm excited to read it.

5.) Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Page (April 1, 2014)
I keep seeing this book everywhere and it sounds really interesting. I'm a big fan of retellings on classic stories and I also like the idea of making Dorothy more villainous, because I like complicated slightly evil characters. The idea of a good character turning evil is completely my cup of tea. It's like the Wicked Years (which I love) but from a different perspective. 

6.) The Here and Now by Ann Brashares
(April 8, 2014)
I'm a big fan of Ann Brashares. I've read all her books and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is one of my favorite series. Her adult stuff is pretty good but her attempt to return to the Sisterhood left a poor taste in my mouth. I'm excited to return to YA and for her to take on a Dystopia story. I do feel a little bit like she is capitalizing on a literary trend but I like the genre and I like her so I'll forgive her. Plus her take is unique in that the characters return to the present to prevent tragedy... can you say Butterfly Effect?

7.) Ruin & Rising by Leigh Bardugo (June 3, 2014)
I feel like I shouldn't really put this on my list owing to the fact that I haven't read the first two books in the Grishna trilogy but I'm planning to read them next month and I don't anticipate hating them. I love high fantasy, I've heard great things from sources I trust, and it has loose references to Russia which as previously stated, I love. I'm adding it so... DEAL WITH IT! (Nobody cares do they?)


8.) Landline by Rainbow Rowell (July 8, 2014)
I love Rainbow Rowell's writing. She is such an amazing Contemporary author. She also seems like the kind of person I would get along with if we were to meet in real life (Call Me Rainbow!). I'm excited to read an Adult book of hers, and this sounds really interesting.

9.) The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman
(August 5, 2014)
I feel like a broken record with all this talk lately of The Magicians trilogy but this is probably my most anticipated book for 2014, and of course it comes out last! I just finished The Magician King [My Review] and I have to know what happens to Quentin. I'm so invested in him as a character at this point and I'm so invested in this world. I have so many unanswered questions and theories. August cannot come soon enough!



10.) Winds of Winter by George R.R. Martin (?????????)
I had such reservations of putting this book on the list. It sounded like Martin was furiously working on it so that the TV show would overtake his writing, but who knows. He may never finish it. He may also write another 3000 page book that they decide to split up further extending the release. I hope it comes out sooner rather than later but I do not want to pressure Mr. Martin at all. He's said that everytime some one does he'll kill off a fan favorite character. Stop toying with my emotions George. It's no wonder your initials are GRR!!!


What are your most anticipated reads? Are any of these on your list?
Cassi

Wrap Up: November

The month has come to a close, and let me tell you, it was an interesting one. I'm am insanely proud of myself for what I have accomplished. It was my first time taking part in NaNoWriMo and I wasn't really sure how I would do and... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I won, I wrote 50,280 words of a novel. I know a lot of people don't get that far and I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm not finished but I know where I'm going with it so my plan is to take a few days of a break and then finish it. I'm not really interested in publishing it but it was really fun to write it. I'll probably do it again next year, this experience has really got the creative juices flowing! I'm also proud of that because on top of work, family time, and writing I still managed to read three books and listen to two audiobooks. I kind of underestimated myself and ended up reading an extra book in addition to the ones I had planned.

QUICK REVIEWS

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Full Review
Rating: 9 out of 10
Quick Review: Great Contemporary novel with interesting and characters you can relate to. A story that is the perfect combination of fluffy and thought-provoking. The ending felt a little rushed and it left me wanting more, but on the whole a great read.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Full Review
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Quick Review: Historical Fiction about comic books! The book had phenomenal writing and unique storytelling, you easily become attached to the characters and want them to win in the end, which was a bit in satisfying.

Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Full Review
Rating: 8 out of 10
Quick Review: The final book in an amazing series. Great world-building, page-turning action, thought-provoking, and complicated characters that are flawed but likable. It was a heart-wrenching read but a satisfying if not bittersweet ending to the series.

The Magician King by Lev Grossman
Full Review
Rating: 9 out 10
Quick Review: The second book in a series that takes identifiable fantasy stories and turns them on their heads. It's an epic adventure story and heroes journey that addresses a lot of relatable themes and continues to build an interesting world. The characters are complex and flawed but you still want them to succeed. The ending has a shocking twist and makes me really want to read the final book.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Full Review
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Quick Review: an engrossing tale about an 80's pop culture induced adventure within a video game. The characters are interesting and likable, ithr plot is full of action, and there are numerous topical issues people today are faced with as technology. The flow was a bit slow at times but an amazing read on the whole.


It was a great month of reading, I read some of my favorite books of the year. Clearly there is a trend that I like an relate to geek type characters, and enjoy stories that have larger themes about society and humanity. Check out the full review for each book and let me know your thoughts on them. Tell me about what you read in the comments section and of course... HAPPY READING!

Book Review: The Magician King by Lev Grossman

Title: The Magician King (The Magicians Book #2) Author: Lev Grossman Publisher: Penguin, 2011  Amazon Goodreads  Synopsis: Quentin Coldwater should be happy. He escaped a miserable Brooklyn childhood, matriculated at a secret college for magic, and graduated to discover that Fillory—a fictional utopia—was actually real. But even as a Fillorian king, Quentin finds little peace. His old restlessness returns, and he longs for the thrills a heroic quest can bring. Accompanied by his oldest friend, Julia, Quentin sets off—only to somehow wind up back in the real world and not in Fillory, as they'd hoped. As the pair struggle to find their way back to their lost kingdom, Quentin is forced to rely on Julia's illicitly-learned sorcery as they face a sinister threat in a world very far from the beloved fantasy novels of their youth.

This book as been in my TBR pile for nearly three years, ever since I finished reading The Magicians [My Review]. As soon as I started reading it I realized why I not only hate waiting too long between books in a series, but why I prefer to binge read a series. I started reading and realized that I had forgotten practically every detail about the first book. It took me about fifty pages to get acclimated and remember the many cast of characters.

What I did remember was how whiny Quentin is, and when this book starts out he's no different. It takes quite a lot to satisfy the eternal pessimist in him. Even getting his heart's desire of becoming a king of Fillory, the magical land he was obsessed with, doesn't do the trick. He's still restless and longs for an adventure (yeah, Quentin, because the last adventure worked out so well for you). So he commissions a ship and embarks on a tedious errand that turns into a quest for "The Key That Winds the World," thinking that will give him some pleasure. He very easily finds the key but when he starts to use it, it takes everything away from him and he ends up back in the real world. So he's forced to go on a different adventure, this one to get back to Fillory.

The story takes a very different tone than the first book. It's more of an epic quest kind of story. The characters travel throughout not only Fillory but our world, and the Nietherlands as well. They encounter some old characters and make new friends that help them along the way including (spoiler alert) a dragon. It still pulls from recognizable fantasy classics and turns them on it's head but instead of Harry Potter we get a lot more of the sweeping adventure stories in the fantasy genre like Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, A Wrinkle in Time, Wizard of Oz, and even a Dr. Who reference (Quentin's a Time Lord). Of course it also pulls quite a bit from the Chronicles of Narnia.

But in it's heart The Magician's King is a Hero's Journey. Quentin must figure out what it means to be a hero and find the strength within himself. He must go on an epic adventure to save what he holds dear and it will completely change him in the process. He has to give up what he holds most dear. This book is quite a reality check for Quentin.

Quentin is of course not alone on this mission. On his Fillorian adventure he surrounds himself with a cast of characters just as miserable and depressed as he is, including a teenage boy he sees himself in. Also along for the ride is Julia, his oldest friend who failed the Brakebills entrance exam but wouldn't give up on magic. She becomes a hedge witch and when they end up back in the real world Quentin has to rely on Julia and her magic to get them back.

Julia is arguably the shared protagonist in The Magician King, and if she's not she's definitely the most compelling secondary character. The present-day adventure of trying to get back to Fillory is punctuated by flashbacks of how Julia learned magic. The experience of failing the Brakebills exam basically ruined her life. She was supposed to forget everything, but she couldn't forget. Everything didn't come easy to her like it did Quentin, and she was forced to take matters into her own hands. The others look down on her because she wasn't educated in a fancy school, but deep down they're jealous of her connection to Fillory and are kind of scared her powers. She's even kind of scared of herself. She's undergone a pretty serious transformation since we first met her in The Magicians, and I have to say I like this more badass Julia better, but then again I typically like dark and villainous characters. She's on a similar Hero's Journey but for her it's a journey of power. She needs to learn magic and meets people who are taking it to it's limits for their own game. She get's to a point where she fears they've taken things too far but she can't turn back and like they say in Once Upon A Time, magic comes with a price.

The book also explores the idea of belonging. Quentin always escaped into Fillory when he was a child, he clung to it's loving arms far longer than he should have. But then he learns that magic is real and starts studying to do real magic and finds a place where he thinks he belongs. Eventually he gets bored with it, but Fillory is there for him to escape into again and this time it's for real. But even Fillory can't make him happy. He spends a lot of the book desperately trying to get back to a place that he didn't seem to appreciate anymore (absence makes the heart grow fonder, eh Quentin). Julia meanwhile feels the same way. She thought she belonged at Brakebills and turns to learning magic by any means necessary to get there. Then when she gets to Fillory, where she seems to assimilate easier and better than the others, she's even more depressed than Quentin. Throughout their quest to get back to Fillory Julia keeps repeating the phrase "I can't stay here," no matter where they are she doesn't seem to belong. I found myself wanting to ask her why.

The end of the book takes a complete turn and I'm honestly still processing it. When I wasn't looking I ended up sympathizing with Quentin and wanting him to be rewarded for his heroics. I'm not sure if it was him or I who changed and I didn't even realize it had happened until that final twist. 

On the whole this was a great second book in a trilogy. It pulls a lot from the first and makes you want to read the first but it also it's own individual story. The writing was impeccable. I found myself tweeting, marking, and writing down more quotes than I ever have before. The story was interesting and compelling book with larger themes I think everyone can relate to. Definitely read this if you liked the first book. I also recommend this series to anyone who is a big fantasy fan. I give it a 9 out of 10.

If you've read The Magician King, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Leave me a comment and of course... HAPPY READING!