jon gruden is smirky smurf.

i've made it to pg 53 in lev grossman's the magicians and i do believe it's going to live up to its billing as "harry potter for grown-ups". [in case you have forgotten where i got this book.] if you like the harry potter stories or patrick rothfuss's the name of the wind, you'll like the magicians. i cannot tell you too much b/c as soon as i get done with it, it's going straight to mini-me and i don't want to spoil her fun. i will tell you that it's rich with detail, sly humour, true feeling, and a touch of mystery. i know i'm not too far into it, but already it's revealing itself as sturdily crafted - with a tight plot and good pacing. characters spring well-rounded from their first appearance, fully described with a minimum of description, if you know what i mean.

so far, i've followed quentin to the school, but based on the official synopsis's rush to graduation, i'm guessing post-grad will make up a majority of the book. i mean, a synopsis usually doesn't give away the ending.

the cover's compelling, don't you think?

official synopsis:

Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. He's a senior in high school, and a certifiable genius, but he's still secretly obsessed with a series of fantasy novels he read as a kid, about the adventures of five children in a magical land called Fillory. Compared to that, anything in his real life just seems gray and colorless.

Everything changes when Quentin finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the practice of modern sorcery. He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. But something is still missing. Magic doesn't bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he thought it would.

Then, after graduation, he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real.