When I was growing up as the Harry Potter books were being released Harry was always a year older or younger than me. Harry, Ron and Hermione (who I pronounced Hermoyne for the longest time) were as much a part of my group of friends as my real friends were.
Now as a twenty something lover of fantasy it’s a lot harder to empathise with the main characters, I constantly feel like the YA fiction is full of whiny teen angst. This book/series is not, this series seems to have been written specifically for me and people like me, the twenty something’s who don’t know what they’re doing with their lives.
It’s a slow start but once you get into it this book is amazing, I opened with a Harry Potter reference because the first book at least is similar to being Based around Hogwarts if Hogwarts were college instead of High School.
When I started reading this series I had no idea whether it mentioned or had any gay characters in it, but Lev Grossman surprised me casting one of his main characters as gay, and veering away from the stereotype wonderfully. Any stereotypical traits seem more like coincidental character flaws allowing the character to have a depth often missed in the portrayal of LGBT characters.
I cannot recommend this series highly enough, if you liked Harry Potter, if you like Epic Sagas in the style of David Eddings, if you like the Dresden Files then this series is for you.
Final Note this Book is being made into a TV series by Syfy, which is fantastic because then my husband (who doesn’t read) can get into it as much as I am, the trailer is cringeworthy (see below) but I’ll definitely give it a go, and so should you.