Of my hobbies, I invest the most time and the least research in reading science fiction and fantasy books. I love sci-fi/fantasy, and I've probably devoted a significant percentage of my life to reading the genre, but my method of finding new works is haphazard and often entirely random. Usually, I go to the book store and buy based entirely on the cover art or the blurb on the back. I read one book by an author and, unless the first was Category 5 Horrible, I then compulsively devour everything else in her oeuvre.
I end up knowing everything about a few tried and true authors, but having no idea what's new, cutting-edge, happening in the industry, or going on with those authors. This can have bad repercussions. One time, to my very great shame, I inadvertently gave a ton of my dollars to the homophobe writer Orson Scott Card, by buying more than a dozen of his books without realizing that he's a conservative Republican, Mormon homophobe, and a member of the board of NOM.
So lately I've been trying a different tack. I've been reading reviews and asking friends for recommendations. The Magicians, by Lev Grossman, came via the latter route, and thanks very much to Kyle for the suggestion.
After finishing the book, I surfed the net for other reviews, as a little research before I stuck my foot in my mouth on this blog. I didn't want my first review to recommend a homophobe! Fortunately, Lev Grossman seems to be a decent guy. He's a senior writer and book critic at Time, and he has written for a long list of publications that starts with The New York Times.
I also learned that other reviewers have been as unable as I to come up with a better description for The Magicians than "Harry Potter for adults." Though I have not read the Potter books, I have seen the movies, and invoking that story as the main comparative work feels like a grave injustice to Grossman. The Magicians references a long list of other fantasy works, and in the end it is far more than the sum of those parts. I highly recommend it.
