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The Magician King

The Magicians, Book 2

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The Magician King

By: Lev Grossman
Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
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About this listen

Meet Quentin Coldwater, king of the bizarre and wonderful land of Fillory. But he is getting restless, even in heaven a man needs a little adventure. So when a steward is murdered on a morning's hunt Quentin gets exactly that. But this quest is like no other. What starts as a glorified cruise to faraway lands soon becomes the stuff of nightmares....

The Magician King is a grand voyage into the dark, glittering heart of magic, an extraordinary journey that allows the imagination to run riot and proves Grossman is the modern heir to C.S. Lewis.

This is a book like no other.

©2016 Lev Grossman (P)2016 Penguin Audio Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Royalty Magic Users Magic
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I can't really explain why it isn't a 5 star without spoilers so I'll just say the positive stuff.

Some have commented on the narrator's boring voice and while I may have agreed to begin with (coming from a previously very animated narrator), it quickly became a non-issue. It's just a different style and probably quite suitable given the personality of the main character.

It's not a new thing but I love love love the Harry Potter meats Narnia theme. It's about time there were books with similar themes for adults!

I don't know if the author, or someone he knows, has a mental illness but one character in particular has thought patterns described that are almost identical to mine (I have Bipolar, predominantly depression). I felt very connected to this character and almost felt like the story was happening to me. If only I had the genius IQ and could be whisked off to a magical world everything would be dandy :)

I highly recommend listening to this at night, lights off, so you can completely lose yourself in the story and forget about the real world.

Loved it

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Really enjoyed this next chapter. The characters have all matured, the magic gets wild and deep & english profanities come into vogue amongst the fantastical Filorians. The narrator does pathos, humour and dark sarcasm equally well. Looking forward to the next book and the TV series.

Excellent Sequel

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loved the story. but the audio quality is strange. you can hear the edits between phrases and different recording sessions. strange shifts in tone and volume

messy audio

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It ticked all the boxes. Love the different style of writing that Lev uses and the complexity of the characters and their magical universe.
The narrative was brilliant and it was very easy to listen to. I'm downloading the third and final book now.

Compelling

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In book two we see Quentin and the gang in Fillory becoming Kings and going on quests.
For me these following books in the series have been somewhat of a quest of my own. I am too stubborn to let them go yet my interest is waining and the going is tough.
Grossman is a borrower, borrowing from everything from your childhood and most popular fantasy ideas you've read. The most original thing in his books were the magic, and now they have left Breakbills that is nothing but secondary info in the stories.
Yet I continue because these damned characters keep calling to me to keep reading. To finish their story.
If you don't mind a book of borrowed concepts from your childhood, with mostly unlikeable and deeply flawed characters then keep reading. If book one started to piss you off then leave it.

The Magic continues...

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Love the story, can get a bit slow but the performance is good. Everything except how he’s voiced Poppy - terrible tone and terrible accent, sounds like he’s never heard an Australian accent before. As an Aussie myself, bit offended this got published.

Great story, worst Aussie accent I’ve heard

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Great story and well narrated for the most part. The Aussie accent was god awful though. It was like the mutant offspring of a Kiwi, a Cockney, and an impersonation of Steve Irwin by someone who'd only heard dodgy impressions of Steve Irwin. It was distracting at best.

Pretty good - dodgy Aussie accent though

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i feel like I have connected with the characters in the book quite well and each is very developed in their own way, it's a strange twist to magical world but we'll worth your time

interesting read.. I do recommend

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Not quite as engaging as The Magicians, but nice to finally hear from Julia's perspective.
As an Australian I found Poppy's accent difficult to listen to otherwise an engaging narration.

More Julia Please

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The single worst attempt at an Australuan accent I've ever heard. It was part cockney, part South African and laced with the narrators natural voice. Has he ever heard an Australian in real life?

Patchy

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