This is a hard book for me to rate because I enjoyed the second and third parts. Grossman does a decent job at world-building and even if it was a satire/criticism(?) of Narnia it worked well overall and was interesting. Nevertheless, I felt that this volume lacked in several key areas: 
 1) The professors at the school seem mostly flat. They are not really seen as individuals but more as the adults walking around who seem to be in charge. 
 2) The main character Quentin is hard to like. I understand that this is part of his character but he is always looking for the next thing that will make him happy. He never seems to grow up--this is a similar problem with many other characters in this volume as well. Even though they are supposedly at a magical college, they all act as though they were in junior high. 
 Furthermore, I highly disliked the fact that Quentin and other magicians felt that the normal world was beneath them. Quentin hardly goes back home to visit his parents or friends and when he does he decries how boring it is and can't wait to get back to his magical reality. The entire lack of real community in this story disturbed me as well. There is no real connection between any characters in this book. To me, it feels as though each of the characters thinks he/she is the hero(ine) of his/her own story and the rest of them are bit players and sidekicks. 
 3) Grossman leaves too many loose threads hanging about which distracts the reader from the story. Upon his first return home, Quentin meets up with his high school friends who are not doing well. It's not until well later into the volume that we find out the reason Julia is so miserable (view spoiler)[She was invited to test for the magical school but was unable to gain entrance. Nevertheless, she still remembers it and is determined to get in. (hide spoiler)] This particular plot point is never fully dealt with which I found disappointing. 
 4) There is a lack of real character development through either growth, repentance or reform. Quentin is a miserable little shit in the beginning of the book and up until the end he stays much the same way. Even when he does something that causes immense pain (view spoiler)[having a threesome with Janet and Eliot while dating Alice (hide spoiler)] or even costs somebody else dearly (view spoiler)[while playing a prank in class he inadvertently lets in a being from another dimension who proceeds to kill a student (hide spoiler)], Quentin never thinks to change himself. Even after the tragedy at Ember's Tomb, Quentin throws himself into magical learning and in my mind becomes as much a monster as the one they fought in the tomb itself (view spoiler)[Quentin kills a group of field mice and brings them back to life simply because he can (hide spoiler)] Which brings me to my fifth point. 
 5) The ethos of Alistair Crowley is the foundation of the morality of this book. Crowley stated, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole law." This is true for the whole of the magical community. There is no higher purpose or meaning behind anything that they do. It's simply I have these amazing powers and I'm going to use them to do what I feel like doing regardless of any morality or external reasons beyond my own wants. This begs the question, why teach anyone magic in the first place? 
 The final thing is also the one that disturbed me most about this volume. It is how Grossman uses and explains magic in this book. Magic, he says, is available to those who are really intelligent and also emotionally hurt. Magic can be found on the internet--though there is a lot of garbage there too--as well as in D&D. This causes me unease because I can see many readers, especially younger ones, decide that magic is cool and since they are intelligent--or at least think of themselves as being such--and emotionally hurt, they will try magic out for themselves. For those who are materialists, they'll say oh well, no harm done. However, I do think there is "more in heaven and on earth than is dreamt of in [the materialist] philosophy." And, therefore, there is a risk that some may find themselves dabbling in things that are better left alone. I'm certainly not saying that all magic in fiction is bad or that this is a gateway book to dabbling in the occult, however, I think it would be irresponsible to not recognize the appeal that such a presentation of magic and the occult has especially to readers who would identify with the two characteristics mentioned above--intelligence and emotional pain. 
 Two stars is the most I can give it because it was a frustrating read that I hoped would be better than it was. I don't see myself reading any other volumes in this series and can't in good faith recommend it to others.