Grossman's novel is a postadolescent Harry Potter, following apprentices in the art of magic through their time as students at an upstate New York college to their postcollegiate Manhattan misdeeds, with jaded ennui tempering the magical aura. Mark Bramhall, a smooth baritone with a supple speaking voice, reads carefully, with a slight air of heaviness and sorrow. He pauses frequently and freights the silences with a tenderness well befitting a coming-of-age novel. A Viking hardcover (Reviews, June 1). (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Tremendously gifted 17-year-old Quentin Coldwater sets out for a college interview only to find his interviewer dead and himself undertaking a strange and strenuous entrance exam to Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy. Time book critic Grossman's (levgrossman.com) intriguing third novel-following Warp (1997) and Codex (2004)-is the whole package. Touching on themes of happiness, love, magic, and ennui, it features a highly imaginative fantasy world populated by realistically flawed characters whom Mark Bramhall (The Last Theorem) lets shine with his skillful narration. Highly recommended, particularly for adult fans of Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia. [The Viking hc, published in August, was a New York Times best seller.-Ed.]-Lisa Anderson, Metropolitan Community Coll. Lib., Omaha (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

*Starred Review* This literary fantasy, drawing heavily from the fantasy canon but unique in its reworking of it, can be seen as a sort of darker, modern-day response to the magic-in-the-real-world of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (2004). When Quentin, a brooding and insecure teenager gifted with sleight of hand, is invited to enroll in a university for young spellcasters, he is thrilled beyond words. He grew up fervently rereading a series of fantasy books in which a group of children pass from this world to the magical realm of Fillory (read: Narnia), but it turns out the pursuit of magic is just about as boring as studying anything else. At school and in New York City after graduation, Quentin's life seesaws between the mind-numbingly dull application of rote spellcasting and the typical twentysomething pursuit of booze, sex, and repeat. Until, that is, he and his friends figure out that Fillory is real. Grossman sometimes gets bogged down in the minutiae of explaining how practicing magic is tedious, which itself gets awfully tedious. But when the friends endeavor to go on a heroic quest, the matter-of-fact fashion in which their fantastical adventure transforms into a nightmare is as absurdly sobering for the reader as it is for Quentin. Deep fantasy fans can't afford to miss the darkly comic and unforgettably queasy experience of reading this book and be glad for reality.--Chipman, Ian Copyright 2009 Booklist