honey and sting

am reading "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman, a fanboy if ever there was a fanboy.

kinda sorta Harry Potter if Harry Potter were a cool, smart, snarky New York kid. described in one review as an attempt to write a novel which is both fantasy novel and post-modern novel -- a very different sort of enterprise. the result is a sort of dual vision of the satisfactions of fantasy as well as critique of the sort of addictiveness of the attraction. what does it mean to prefer the "other" world to one's own? succeeds in being generally highly meta about the entire fantasy genre, but in a very, very loving way, without losing the actual storyness of it.

is good. some very lovely writing along the way. excellent summer read.