The Magician's Land: A Novel (Magicians Trilogy) / Grossman, Lev

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, August 2014: In The Magician's Land, the third book in Lev Grossman's Magicians series, Quentin Coldwater returns as a jaded, slightly humbled, white-haired 30-year-old whose life hasn't turned out exactly as he thought he would--exiled from both the magical land of Fillory and then fired from the magic school Brakebills in quick succession. The series, infused with heavy doses of Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and Lord of the Rings, used these fantasy tropes in the first two books to explore adolescent alienation and twenty-something excess. Now, Grossman ushers the sarcastic, pretentious, and flawed cast of magicians into a painful maturity. Traumas from their youth tinge their life with regret, love lost doesn't stay lost, and magic--which despite making almost anything possible--doesn't simplify the complexity of adulthood. This is a book about grown-up fantasy nerds for grown-up fantasy nerds, but it's also a page-turner with some serious literary ambition. Adult readers longing for that lost childhood sense of awe that can only be found in make-believe will feel it here, the best and most mature book in the series. --Matt Kaye