The Sword and Laser discussion

When I have time to read, it's been going pretty quickly. Alas, my time to read has been rather limited with work. I'm off tomorrow, I'm hoping to knock it out then..

read it in two days, hated it but wanted it over and done with.

How far in do most people think it goes bad? I'm a little over half way and I'm not hating it. Its not the best book I've ever read but so far I'm not seeing why people are heaping such grief on it.

Tom - don't read the next bit.

So far I've found "Empire State" a much more painful read than this book.

I hit the halfway mark as well and am not finding much to hate. I get the comparison of Quentin and Holden Caulfield but I think it's slim really. Or over arching. I think Salinger is a far better writer. But that's besides the point. I am actually very much enjoying so far. I like its hand gestures and ideas behind how they do magic. Of course I will hold my opinion until the end. But digging the read.

Nick wrote: "How far in do most people think it goes bad? I'm a little over half way and I'm not hating it. Its not the best book I've ever read but so far I'm not seeing why people are heaping such grief on ..."

I'm with you. This one is much better than Empire State.
Past the 50% mark, it got interesting, for me at least...


(Back to topic)
I think it took me 3/4 days to finish The Magicians

Eli wrote: "I hit the halfway mark as well and am not finding much to hate. I get the comparison of Quentin and Holden Caulfield but I think it's slim really. Or over arching. I think Salinger is a far better writer. But that's besides the point. I am actually very much enjoying so far. I like its hand gestures and ideas behind how they do magic. Of course I will hold my opinion until the end. But digging the read. "

Count me in as another one in this camp, at 73% through.

It's taken me three days to get to 18%. I have been only reading it before bed, though, which considerably slows things down.

I have around 40 pages to go, which I'll probably knock off before today is over. It's taken me about two weeks of 20-30 minute sessions snatched here and there (I don't often get big stretches of time just to sit and read).

For sure the book has its low points, and some highs too, but I think Grossman's "take", while not compelling is certainly holding my interest. In any case I generally find "broken" characters to be more interesting than straight up heroes and villains. Definitely not a hater.
I've stayed away from most of the discussions to date though to avoid being spoiled, so I don't know why so many seem to hate it.

It took me about 5 days to read the book at 1-2 hours a day. There were some parts that I had to force my way past, but it was a fairly quick read for the limited time I had to do it.

I read it in about 24 hours, I was in a hotel on business though, so there weren't any pressing distractions.

This thread makes me wish my Kindle would provide a "Read-Time" statistic!!

Goodreads says April 6th to April 11th, so it took me six days.

Mohrravvian wrote: "This thread makes me wish my Kindle would provide a "Read-Time" statistic!!"

Oh, me too - especially since I usually have multiple books on the go so start-finish dates can be misleading. I don't think I read anything whilst I was reading this one, though; Goodreads says April 6-9th. Two long car trips plus less time than usual in the evenings probably works out at 8-12hrs-ish? I read quite fast usually.

Mohrravvian wrote: "This thread makes me wish my Kindle would provide a "Read-Time" statistic!!"

HAH! That kind of statistic would be hysterical for me, given how often I've fallen asleep ONTO my Kindle and have woken up with it (the 2nd gen version) in sleep mode.

so far earthsea kicks this books butt. also HPs :)

took me 4 days while at work... in a call center so it was a slow week and read between calls. I was adament at kicking through the book before the youtube cast came out. I didn't feel it was too horrible though definitely not my favorite book to read

I read it in about 3-4 days (a weekend). I wanted to finish it before the video was posted, so that was my impetus.

Nick wrote: "How far in do most people think it goes bad? I'm a little over half way and I'm not hating it. Its not the best book I've ever read but so far I'm not seeing why people are heaping such grief on ..."


I got as far as when Q & A are trying to get into the new house. After the other physical kids come into it I got very bored and started to hate Q a whole lot more

I started on April 10th and have about 100 pages to go. The book I have has exaggerated spacing, like HP, so it's quick to read. It's just that I have not found it that interesting so went off and read a couple of other books at the same time. Trying hard not to 'lem' it and should finish this weekend.

I just realized that I'm a complete idiot who didn't think to search for The Magicians in the library database in her native language. I didn't even realize we had a translation! (When I search for Grossman, Lev, nothing shows up; I'm gonna have to bring this up with the tech support.)

I could've been reading The Magicians this whole time. Wonder if I have the time to read it until Tuesday, hmm...

It took me a week fo reading off and on to get through it, but I was reading a few other books as well. If you read it straight through you could easily knock it out in a weekend.

I think it was 8-10 hours? I read The Magicians, The Magician King, and the second 2 Hunger Games books that weekend so I can't remember exact times.