Daina Renton Renton itibaren Ahmadpur, Bihar 811103, India itibaren Ahmadpur, Bihar 811103, India

Wow, wow and triple wow! As great as The Magicians was, The Magician King blew it right out of the water. Okay, to be honest, Quentin was an annoyance to me for most of the novel. Seeing as how he is considered the main character, you might be wondering why I rated this book so highly. While Quentin is a , there is still Julia. Julia was rockin' the backstage pass in The Magicians, but she comes full on center stage in this novel. She's an exciting combination of Lisbeth Salandar (from Larsson's The Millennium Trilogy) and Hermione Granger (from Harry Potter. Duh.)- two of my all time favorite female characters. Julia is brilliant and bitter with a side of self-conscious, everything that so many of the wallflower-quiet, band-geeky, fringe-goth, late teen/twenty-somethings aspire to be. She communes with animals, has all black eyes, does not use conjunctions (think that's no big deal? just try doing it for more than five minutes...) and, most importantly, played the oboe in high school (us oboists have to stick together). Getting back to the writing, with two separate storylines going on (Quentin's quest and Julia's journey) I got a little dizzy going back and forth between the two plots every now and then. But, as in most novels, everything came together at the end. I loved the various references to Harry Potter, LOTR and various other fantasy superstars. There were also quite a few quirky references to pop culture, which made this an even more fun read. Seriously though, there should be a new genre created after this book: "cool fantasy". It was original and bizarre, full of odd characters (randy leprechauns and angry goat gods included) and even odder plot twists. All in all a masterful literary quilt woven from black leather, gauzy fairy wings, a bit of denim, and some patches from Mickey Mouse's cloak in The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Last but not least, how can you not love a novel that includes a character called Pouncy Silverkitten??

Gimpy girl gets the dirty Scottish guy.

I never finished this book...I'm thinking I'm just NOT a Patterson fan. I may be the only one, but that's ok.