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_Why Me?_, _Good Behavior_, _Drowned Hopes_, by Donald Westlake
_The Magicians_, by Lev Grossman
Three more Dortmunder crime farces, which brings me up to 7 or so. If you like this sort of thing, you will like these. Less amusing than Maijstral the Allowed Burglar, at least as amusing as the Saint on a good day.
Grossman's new novel is a sort of logical retort to Harry Potter: if, he is saying, if there really were schools for magic, then they wouldn't be much like Hogwarts at all. Apparently they would be more like New England prep schools. Also, if Narnia were a real alternate universe, it might not be quite so much fun to play in. Full of ideas which seem to have been generated in a fury of negative reactions, which is not all that bad an operating method. Has the J.D. Salinger problem: in the end, privileged whining emo twits are still previous three adjectives. Magic seems to be immensely powerful at combatting magic, not so good at solving real problems. This book is likely to be loved by some and hated by others. I'm torn.
_The Magicians_, by Lev Grossman
Three more Dortmunder crime farces, which brings me up to 7 or so. If you like this sort of thing, you will like these. Less amusing than Maijstral the Allowed Burglar, at least as amusing as the Saint on a good day.
Grossman's new novel is a sort of logical retort to Harry Potter: if, he is saying, if there really were schools for magic, then they wouldn't be much like Hogwarts at all. Apparently they would be more like New England prep schools. Also, if Narnia were a real alternate universe, it might not be quite so much fun to play in. Full of ideas which seem to have been generated in a fury of negative reactions, which is not all that bad an operating method. Has the J.D. Salinger problem: in the end, privileged whining emo twits are still previous three adjectives. Magic seems to be immensely powerful at combatting magic, not so good at solving real problems. This book is likely to be loved by some and hated by others. I'm torn.
