This has a lot to do with the casting, which was perfectly done. However, the characters who remain at the helm are astonishingly perfect replica’s of their book counterparts. They also changed some character arcs and names around to better fit what the show runners are doing. For example, they attend Brakebills South (the final capstone to their magical education) as first years rather than fourth years on the show. The characters are older and thus accelerate through the University program faster than in the books. The show is quite different from the books so far in plot. As the books deal with real contemporary adult issues – mental illness, sexual identity and more, SyFy network is taking those issues to the screen. However, now that I’ve seen what SyFy is doing with the aging, it makes sense. On the show front, I originally had trepidation about watching a TV adaptation that admitted to aging its characters to four years older than what is written in the books, as the process of character growth is an integral part of the series. Much more than just a “grown up Harry Potter” as the books have been called, they take you through the journey of a character’s evolution from a boy into a man, and it’s one you can witness and think – Ah! that is what SHOULD happen to boys when they finally grow up. The changes he goes through are staggering. Quentin Coldwater is 18 when the book series starts and nearly thirty when it ends.

Beyond magical mayhem, the trilogy is seriously worth reading because it delves deeply into the narrator’s growing up process. The protagonist, Quentin Coldwater, spends 5 years at Brakebills and then finds his way into the magical world of Fillory.

The three books take you to and beyond Brakebills, a University secretly nestled in Upstate New York where the students chosen through an arduous testing process become magicians. So, Hogwarts University is now a thing? Just kidding! Instead, if you crave the pull of a secret magical world once more, pick up The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman.

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