Justyn Ng Ng itibaren Relha, Chhattisgarh, Hindistan itibaren Relha, Chhattisgarh, Hindistan

A brilliant thing about The Magicians is that it is fully aware fo the books that came before it. Not only is Grossman deft in weaving through and past Narnia and Harry Potter but his characters are well aware of magic in pop culture as well, and where it could be repetitive, it does something new. Not only are his magical twists clever and non-traditional, his characters are grounded bymature ideas and issues that anyone leaving (or who has left) adolescence can relate to. Just as the characters are adults, so to is their world. The injection of disillusionment into a world of magic is also notable but well done. The magical world, like our own, can be a bit boring and the future isn't necessarily filled with grandeur simply because magic is in it.

I picked this one up from the Valentine's display at the library and read it in a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon. I like to read a marriage book once a year and this was a good one. It is a straightforward analysis of how men think and feel. I like the statistical, survey approach. I like the Christian perspective. Some of the writer's analogies and comparisons were helpful and memorable. This quick read is a good reminder about men's yearning for respect, their performance anxiety, the intensity of their pressure to provide, their view of romance, how sex affects their well-being, and many more topics. It goes beyond "man are visual" to explain exactly how this tendency operates in their lives. It goes beyond "men see romance differently" to explain what is romantic to a man. This book helped me understand my sons as well as my husband better.

See my review of book one: The Maze of Bones.