海角大神

In Narnia, once a king or queen, always a king or queen.

But in Fillory, the magic land in Lev Grossman鈥檚 genre-bending fantasy trilogy, once you鈥檙e out on your ear, you鈥檙e on your own.聽That鈥檚 where Quentin finds himself in The Magician鈥檚 Land, Grossman鈥檚 thoroughly satisfying finale to a series that references C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling while remaining refreshingly original.

At the end of the second book, 鈥淭he Magician King,鈥� Quentin was exiled by Ember, one of twin rams who serve as the somewhat-less-benevolent Aslan figures in Fillory.

鈥淪ix months ago he鈥檇 been a king in a magic land, another world, but that was all over,鈥� Grossman writes. 鈥淗e鈥檇 been kicked out of Fillory, and he鈥檇 been kicked around a fair bit since then, and now he was just another striver, grim and desperate, trying to scramble back in, up the slippery slope, back toward the light and the warmth.鈥�

In need of a job, he wanders back to Brakebills, the wizarding school in upstate New York that trained him, where he learns that his specialty is the 鈥渞epair of small objects.鈥� Like a chair, he wonders? More like a coffee cup, he鈥檚 told.

鈥淚t was a bit of an anticlimax. You couldn鈥檛 call it sexy, exactly,鈥� Quentin muses ruefully, which is his new default mode. 鈥淣ot breaking new ground, so much. He wouldn鈥檛 be striding between dimensions, or calling down thunderbolts, or manifesting patroni, not on the strength of repair of small objects. Life was briskly and efficiently stripping Quentin of his last delusions about himself, one by one, shucking them off in firm hard jerks like wet clothes, leaving him naked and shivering.

鈥淏ut he wasn鈥檛 going to die of exposure,鈥� Quentin thinks.

Being the decidedly Not-Chosen One proves good for Quentin, who finally does something the 30-year-old had been putting off for years: Grow up. And it鈥檚 incredibly bracing for a fantasy series, which often center 鈥� as the first book did 鈥� around a lonely teenager suddenly discovering that everyone has been all wrong about him or her, and that he or she secretly had fabulous powers all along.

鈥淭he Magician鈥檚 Land鈥� is that rare novel that looks at what happens after the child prodigy grows up and has to get a job.

鈥淨uentin knew he was a little old to be wrestling with questions like this 鈥� probably he should have had them wrapped up by around puberty 鈥� but he鈥檇 always paid more attention to magical problems than to the personal kind,鈥� he thinks (ruefully) after his estranged dad dies.

As Quentin starts learning how to put things right in the real world, Eliot and Janet and the other two kings and queens of Fillory are fighting off invaders (in as ethical, casualty-free a manner as possible, per Eliot), only to learn that victory doesn鈥檛 matter: Fillory is dying.

Grossman consciously echoes 鈥淭he Last Battle鈥� (my least favorite of 鈥淭he Chronicles of Narnia鈥�) while turning that novel鈥檚 conclusion on its ear in a wholly gratifying way. 鈥淭he Magician鈥檚 Land鈥� also features the return of a character sorely missed by both Quentin and readers alike, as well as Grossman鈥檚 trademark witty dialogue.

鈥淚 bet it鈥檚 because of heresy like that that the world is ending. Your earthy, irreverent sense of humor has doomed us all,鈥� King Josh tells Queen Janet. (If Peter was 鈥淭he Magnificent,鈥� and Edmund was 鈥淭he Just,鈥� in Narnia, Janet of Fillory should just be known as 鈥淭he Awesome.鈥�)

If that鈥檚 not enough of a selling point, 鈥淭he Magician鈥檚 Land鈥� also features a motto that should be emblazoned on T-shirts, embroidered on pillows, and hung on walls in dorm rooms everywhere: 鈥淕ive a nerd enough time and a door he can close and he can figure out pretty much anything.鈥�

As rallying cries go, you could do a lot worse.