The magician's land: a novel

From Booklist: The third and concluding volume in Grossman's epic Magicians trilogy finds former High King Quentin ejected from the magical kingdom of Fillory and, in short order, given the boot from a too-brief teaching stint at his old alma mater, Brakebills. What is Quentin to do? At loose ends, he joins a ragtag group of magicians-including Plum, an expelled Brakebills student-on a quest to find a mysterious case, contents unknown but presumed to be invaluable. Meanwhile, it appears, amid intimations of apocalypse, that Fillory is coming to an end, and the novel's action begins bouncing back and forth between the kingdom and the real world, where Quentin and Plum are now living in a New York town house, with Quentin determined to use an arcane spell to create a new magician's land. At this point, Quentin's former inamorata Alice shows up; but wait! Isn't she dead? Hmm- there is much more to the story, but suffice it to say that it is endlessly fascinating and always proceeds apace. In sum, this is an absolutely brilliant fantasy filled with memorable characters-old and new-and prodigious feats of imagination. At one point, Quentin muses, "Magic and books: there aren't many things more important than that." The Magician's Land is ineffable proof of that claim. Fantasy fans will rejoice at its publication.