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The Magicians

Published
Aug 2009
Main Genre
Fantasy Fantasy
Rating
Series

About This Book

The New York Times bestselling novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world, now an original series on SYFY

"The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea. . . . Hogwarts was never like this."
—George R.R. Martin
 
"Sad, hilarious, beautiful, and essential to anyone who cares about modern fantasy."
—Joe Hill
 
"A very knowing and wonderful take on the wizard school genre."
—John Green
 
"The Magicians may just be the most subversive, gripping and enchanting fantasy novel I've read this century."
—Cory Doctorow

"This gripping novel draws on the conventions of contemporary and classic fantasy novels in order to upend them . . . an unexpectedly moving coming-of-age story."
—The New Yorker

"The best urban fantasy in years."
—A.V. Club


Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A high school math genius, he's secretly fascinated with a series of children's fantasy novels set in a magical land called Fillory, and real life is disappointing by comparison. When Quentin is unexpectedly admitted to an elite, secret college of magic, it looks like his wildest dreams have come true. But his newfound powers lead him down a rabbit hole of hedonism and disillusionment, and ultimately to the dark secret behind the story of Fillory. The land of his childhood fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. . . .

The prequel to the New York Times bestselling book The Magician King and the #1 bestseller The Magician's Land, The Magicians is one of the most daring and inventive works of literary fantasy in years. No one who has escaped into the worlds of Narnia and Harry Potter should miss this breathtaking return to the landscape of the imagination.

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Paperback

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May 2010 Plume ISBN 0452296293
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Penguin ISBN 0594858585
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Sep 2009 Arrow (UK) ISBN 0099534444
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Nov 2015 Plume ISBN 0399576649
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Jan 2021 Del Rey ISBN 1529102162
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Sep 2023 William Heinemann (UK) ISBN 1804943207
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Hardcover

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First Edition Aug 2009 Viking ISBN 0670020559
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May 2010 Turtleback Books ISBN 0606147845
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eBook

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May 2009 Penguin Books ISBN B002AU7MJU
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Aug 2009 Penguin ISBN 0594256151
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Aug 2009 Penguin ISBN 1101082283
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Aug 2011 William Heinemann (UK) ISBN 1409067149
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Nov 2019 -- Not Selected ISBN B07ZL5CK1F
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Audio

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Audio CD
Aug 2009 Penguin Audio ISBN 0143144391
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Aug 2009 Books on Tape ISBN 1415962456
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Aug 2009 Penguin Audio ISBN B002L7KSR0
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Feb 2016 Penguin Books Limited ISBN B01ATVP90K
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Large Print

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Hardcover
Feb 2010 Thorndike Press ISBN 1410422542
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