"The study of magic is not a science, it is not an art, and it is not a religion. Magic is a craft. When we do magic, we do not wish and we do not pray. We rely upon our will and our knowledge and our skill to make a specific change to the world" 
 The Magicians is basically the cynic's answer to Harry Potter. We are introduced to Quentin, a nerdy and smart kid who feels isolated and wishing he could escape his world and exist in a the fantasy world of his favorite childhood storybook, and be something else, something more. This book is like all other fantasy books in that regard. I started feeling sympathy for Quentin as he finds out about a magic school and its complicated test to enter. He is chosen because he has innate magical powers and suddenly his wish comes true. This should make Quentin happy because his life was so devoid of meaning until then, right? 
 No. Quentin is not happy. He makes friends with a punker named Penny and another introverted girl named Alice. Together then navigate the schools many rules. Now Quentin experiences a whole different kind of first year in school as he is 17. He meets a guy, Eliot, who is an alcoholic and who he later finds giving another guy head. He befriends a girl who is into orgies--Its a very grown up Hogwarts; or in this book, Brakebills. 
 The book breezes through his 5 year matriculation and has its strange moments (fox sex), yet after all is said and done Quentin is still unhappy and eagerly awaits graduation. He hooks up with Alice and gets everything he wanted in life; magic and a girlfriend. And he feels unfulfilled. So he spends months binge drinking and drugging and feeling sorry for himself because magic did not bring him the storybook life he read in his books. He cheats on Alice and then blames her just as he realizes that the world of his storybook is real and he can access it. 
 Penny, who he now hates, found the world and they set off together with his other fellow binge drinkers to explore this world. The storybook world mimics Narnia (Fillory here) where some siblings discovered it a long time before. The siblings, the Chatwins, have a complicated life weaved to this place and the offer the more powerful points in the book, but Quentin arrives at his dream place and finds that he is still not happy and constantly makes it a point to bring everyone down with him. 
 By that point I felt the same thing I felt for Tris in "Insurgent", just kill yourself already if you are so damned unhappy. The overarching story line had some powerful plot points and some very interesting perspectives on magic and the "real world", but Quentin's obsessive bitterness was overwhelming and it just bogged down the book. The problem I had with it is that in the end Quentin is nowhere near redemption. He is still full of himself and insists that his sorrow is so much worse than everyone else's. 
 I can understand character flaws, but this guy was a giant character flaw with no change in course and no end in sight. I'm not reading the rest of this series. I liked Harry Potter and I think I'd have to be a lot more cynical about life before I can accept that this is a good book.