Having read the first book in The Magicians series, I was able to follow along with the story pretty well. It's very much to the book, which I appreciated. I thought the artwork was well done, a little dark coloring, with darker and imperfect lines to fit the tone of the story. One of the things I liked most was that the characters in the graphic novel were true to the descriptions in the book (unlike in the TV show). I liked them better this way.

I always found myself having a love/hate relationship with Alice so I thought it'd be interesting to learn more about her and to experience things through her eyes. That said I wish that the story covered more than just following along with exactly what happened in the novel. I thought this would cover more of her at home life, her odd relationship with her parents (which was really a sticking point for her in the book) and how the loss of her brother affected her. That loss really turned her life upside down and I wish that more of the effect it had on her was explored. I also felt the ending was a little rushed. While the graphic novel does stay true to the original book, I thought it really lagged at times. It honestly gave me the same feeling I had when reading the original novel, which I admit that I wasn't the biggest fan of because it felt a bit dull. I thought reading it in graphic novel form would make it better, and it was but only slightly.

I'm glad that I read this though. I am curious to know what happened to Alice after the ending. She does make a reappearance in the TV series but I'm not sure about the book (because I stopped reading it). That said, it would be interesting to know if there's anything sentient left. This was not a quick graphic novel read, but it was still enjoyable. Thanks to Netgalley, the authors, and publishers for sending me the e-ARC for an honest review.

Not having read the novels, and only watching the fantastic SyFy show, I guess I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this graphic novel. I thought it was going to be a prequel that explains Alice's background and maybe explored her family dynamic more. What I actually got was an interesting point of view from Alice that shared the novel's story. Or that's what other reviewers said. I didn't get that context, but I don't think it mattered. I was thrown off by the very different portrayals of the characters versus the TV show. The story was a lot of fun though. I think it was a great graphic novel. Good story, good characters. The whole idea of other worlds and portal hopping is fantastic!

'The Magicians: Alice's Story' by Lilah Sturges and Lev Grossman with art by Pius Bak is a graphic novel based on a popular trilogy with an interesting twist. The events of the first book in 'The Magicians' series is retold here through the eyes of one of the characters: Alice Quinn.

Alice lost her older brother when he went to Brakebills College. She tries to get in, but doesn't, so she finds her way in by taking a taxi to the middle of nowhere and walking in. She gets in to the school and meets friends Quentin and Penny. She falls for Quentin, but Penny has always liked Alice too. When they find a way into a magical land only thought to be in a series of children's books, Alice must use her magic to help her friends.

I'm familiar with the series, but I've not read it. I really like the idea of a popular series being retold like this. Alice has a unique perspective on events, and not knowing the character arc of her story, I found some surprises along the way. The art is pretty good as well.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Archaia, Boom! Studios, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

I’ve no idea what I expected going into this novel and I think that why it just didn’t hit the mark for me. I can’t put my finger on why exactly, I was unable to connect with the story.

I was a bit lost because I didn't realize this graphic novel was connected to the book/show The Magicians until I got approved for it, and I feel bad giving it a low rating when it's completely my fault I just skimmed the description before I requested it.

I didn't read the previous Magician's novels, I have only seen the TV show. And sorry but I didn't care for this book. Another point of view books always intrigue me when I hear/read descriptions about it, and then when I finally read them I am like "Why did I even bother with this one?". I had to force myself to read as many pages as I did before just giving up on Alice and her point of view. Thanks #NetGalley for this opportunity but #TheMagiciansAlicesStory isn't my cup of tea.

Fans of Syfy's adaptation of Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" might be a bit confused here. Readers of the original book will be delighted beyond measure. This is an entirely new chapter, in that it revisits the events of the first book through a completely different point of view, one that feels utterly authentic to the character. Events mean something different, and emphases and focuses are diffused or strengthened, creating a narrative that fleshes out what I have traditionally thought of as the master narrative.

Readers who always need more Magicians in whatever form will love this. Those coming straight from the TV show may or may not; there will be a bit of polite confusion, and then ideally they'll settle in for this story, understanding that when a property jumps a medium, things change. But this is really a return to the beginning. To one of the people with whom it started, and her loneliness, her capability, and her snark.

There's enough here to ground total newcomers to the Magicians universe, and they'll be drawn in, as will experienced fans, by the dreamy art, reminiscent a little of Charles Vess, which is completely fantastical. Even on a tablet showing only one page at a time, some of the spreads were literally breathtaking. This is a beautiful new chapter by Lev Grossman, Lilah Sturges, and Pius Bak and heralds what promises to be an amazing run of graphic novels. Just gorgeously done, all around.

When I saw this on Netgalley, I just knew I had to request it. I haven't actually read the initial trilogy by Lev Grossman, however, I have seen the first season of the TV show. I absolutely loved it but I am yet to get up to date, but after reading this graphic novel, I really feel like watching it all right this second.

This graphic novel follows the story of the first book in The Magicians trilogy, but following it from the point of the view from the beloved Alice Quinn. I will admit, I don't know how closely the novel follows the original story plot wise, so I won't comment on that. From the parts of the TV show that I have watched, Alice was one of my favourite characters from the beginning so I was intrigued to read about her point of view.

I absolutely loved this book. The illustrations were wonderful, and the colours within each panel was phenomenal. I can't speak highly enough of the illustrations that Bak provided for this novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the multiple panels on each page.

The story line of this novel was paced wonderfully overall. I did feel like it was a bit slow in the beginning, but this was mainly to just set the scene of Alice venturing to Brakebills. However, once she gets into Brakebills, the story line and plot just goes up the next level. I absolutely loved the contrasting story lines that this novel entailed; at and during school, and then after graduation and entering the real world.

The only reason I gave this a 4 and not a 5 is purely because I want to leave room for potential (and hopeful improvement) once I finally read the initial trilogy and watch the TV show in full. I want to be able to compare this novel to the original story line and see if there are any small or major deviations from the original plot. I will also admit, I did expect Fillory to be a bit more magical and extravagant, but I think that's just how much I have built it up in my head, rather than what it may or may not be experienced as.

Thank you very much to BOOM! Studios for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

“One thing you learn about magic is that just when you think you know what it’s all about … it finds a way to surprise you.”

I’m a tad obsessed with Lev Grossman’s ‘The Magicians’. The only problem is that the best intentions in the world have so far only extended far enough to buying the trilogy, not actually reading it. It’s been on my ‘I must remedy this egregious error immediately’ list for too long already but at least I’ve binge watched the TV series so I haven’t missed out entirely.

This graphic novel is based on the first book in the trilogy and it’s told from the perspective of one of my favourite characters, Alice. I loved Alice’s arc in the TV series and hope to get to know her even better once I’ve read the trilogy.

If you’re a fan of the trilogy, the TV series or both, then I’m almost positive you’ll love this graphic novel. If this is your introduction to Brakebills and Fillory then it may pique your interest but you may not connect with some of the magicians, including Janet, Josh or Eliot, as their personalities don’t have much of a chance to shine in this format.

While I didn’t learn much about Alice or her magical friends that I didn’t already know I did love the glimpses into her childhood, particularly the brief interaction between her and her older brother, Charlie, before he left home to attend Brakebills. I would have liked the opportunity to get to know Charlie better though. I still love Alice, although in saying that, she’s socially awkward and nerdy, so I see myself in her a lot. Except for the whole magician thing. I wish!

I loved visiting Brakebills and learning how to become a magician vicariously through Alice and co., at least until I met the Beast. I did wait in vain for some information I learned about the Beast’s backstory from the TV series to be revealed in the graphic novel. I’m guessing when I read the trilogy I’ll find the information I thought was missing was a result of creative license for the TV series rather than anything actually being missing from the books.

I enjoyed getting to know Alice, Penny and Quentin all over again, although I missed Julia’s presence, who I fell in love with during the TV series but was MIA for the majority of the graphic novel.

Since we were all probably making comparisons anyway I really appreciated Alice’s observation of a difference between herself and those who attend Hogwarts. I love it when a series can poke fun at itself.

Besides attending Brakebills, I also travelled to Fillory, which is the magical land that our magicians thought only existed in their favourite books. My Fillory equivalent would be suddenly learning that Eleanor West from Seanan McGuire’s imagination really does have a home for wayward children, one that I can attend while I wait for my doorway to reappear. Although I would definitely tag along with Alice to Fillory if I had the chance too. If ever there was a book series within a book series I need to read it’s ‘Fillory and Further’.

Alice was a great choice for telling the overall story of Brakebills and Fillory. Hers is a story of love, loss, determination, hard work and courage. She begins the story an outsider, wracked by social anxiety and anxiety in general, and then she grows throughout the story in ways that you have to read to believe. And believe I did. I love this character and I can’t get enough of this world Lev Grossman has created.

I’d happily sign up for any future ‘Magicians’ graphic novels (I’ve already read this one twice) but I would absolutely love to see a companion graphic novel showing Julia’s experiences; her path is so different to anyone else’s that we meet in this series.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Archaia, an imprint of BOOM! Studios for granting my wish to read this graphic novel.

Content warnings include sexual content and violence.

Alice is a teenager with magical abilities. Soon she becomes one of the students of Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy. She is one of the top students in her class together with the other two boys Penny and Quentin. Together they become friends and as they spend more time together they got closer. Everything changes when love is being involved and Alice chooses one of them. They went separate ways and the friendship didn't exist anymore.

Everything changes after graduation when all three of them meets again in unlucky circumstances. They found their way to the hidden world named Fillory that until this time was known only as a fiction world inside the book.

The story has two parts: at school and after graduation. First, of them, I liked and enjoyed more than the other. The story was very interesting but the characters were a little bit too naive and a hypocrite. I tried to understand what lead them to make their decisions but most of the time I couldn't. It's not a bad thing though because it made it real. They are young and they don't actually know what they want from life. They don't want to stuck in one place but also they are afraid of changes.

The Magicians: Alice’s Story, a new graphic novel set in the Magicians world, is marvelously entertaining from start to finish. The settings are breathtaking to behold, complete with a hidden magical university and an alternate world straight out of a children’s book that’s filled with marvelous creatures both good and evil. Our protagonist, Alice, begins as a shy young girl, intent on entering the magical college to follow in the steps of her lost brother. She continues to grow into herself, becoming more sure of her power until she emerges as the most powerful one of them all. Her journey hits many rough patches, including the trials of school life and the rocky terrain of relationship drama, but in the end, she becomes the magician she always knew she could be.

Featuring spot-on artwork and a compelling story, The Magicians: Alice’s Story proves to be an action-packed adventure that delicately balances magical intrigue, a good versus evil motif, and the drama of young adulthood. It’s a definite must read.

I love The Magicians story. This adds to the story line of the first book. I was so excited to receive an early copy. Thank you!

With Alice's Story why I expected was something new, something different, in particular, what Alice experienced as a Niffin. Instead what I got was the entire first book of The Magicians trilogy told from Alice's POV. It was repetitive and lacked the power of the original book. What's more, there were errors. Elliot and Janet aren't in the same year as Alice and Q! Therefore they didn't go to Brakebills South with them and didn't graduate with them. Charlie is almost an unimportant plot point, when given what he became and what Alice became it's the driving force of her narrative, not her relationship with Q. Also where's Josh's girlfriend who went with them to Fillory? And how did the three some month time shift between Brakebills and the outside world get dropped? But what annoyed me most of all was the art was just so pedestrian. There was nothing special about it and all the characters wore such dowdy clothes. And why did Q look like Jason Ralph but no other character look like the actors from the show? And I think that's my biggest gripe, we have such an amazing visual source for this narrative with the television series now that this needed to be more and new and instead it was the same and boring.

I don't normally reach for graphic novels, but I'm a fan or the series and tv show. I enjoyed being able to see everything from Alice's point of view. I wish her life and family relationships would have been explored more. From the way it started, I thought the story would feature her relationship with her brother, but it was barely a blip. The art was well-done, and added value to the story. Thank you to Netgalley and Boom! Studios for the free review copy!

Awesome story. I don't get to read graphic novels all that often but fans of the Magicians must read this engrossing and darkly entrancing story! If you're an Alice fan, or just a fan of the universe, this story will give you some excellent background and further your immersion. Be careful though, there are spoilers for the trilogy so don't read this until you've finished that!

Do not read this book until after you've read the entire Magicians trilogy. You will be majorly spoiled. I have read all of them and my review for the trilogy is here. That being said after reading the synopsis for this I thought the entire graphic novel was going to take place during the last part and past the trilogy. It took place over the course of the entire trilogy. 

It's hard to remove myself from that expectation but I'm going to try.

The characters are all distinctive from each other. I never had a problem remembering who was who. This was obvious in characteristics, names, artwork surrounding them. 
It's 200-ish pages and it touched on all the important parts that I should have remembered from the trilogy.
I kind of dug the artwork. I feel like I say that about all the graphic novels I read but I'm just in awe because I fail at drawing.
**SPOILERS FOR MAGICIANS TRILOGY PAST THIS POINT**



This graphic novel takes the reader through Alice's life, from the time she's walking through the forest to get to Brakebills and through when she becomes a niffin. Going in I thought it was going to be an extension of the universe. It felt very repetitive based off of the trilogy and it had so many things you already know. 

I am planning on doing a reread of The Magicians trilogy so this was a great way to get back into the world and remember larger plot points. However, it wasn't what I was hoping it would be. 


**this will be published to the link below on July 16th.**

As an avid The Magicians fan I was extremely happy that my wish was granted on NetGalley! But at the same time this being an avid fan somewhat ruined all the surprises in the comic book for me as I had already either read about them in Grossman's novels and/or seen it happen on the TV show (which is amazing, by the way, GO WATCH IT).

So if I rated this according to the story itself and the writing, well... I wouldn't be able to. But if you're someone that doesn't know anything at all about the books or movies and aren't planning to read or watch them, at least read this. But if you're planning to watch the TV show, I wouldn't recommend reading this beforehand as it would definitely spoil it for you.

I very much enjoyed the artwork in this, even though most of the characters were depicted differently than what I'm used to. Especially Penney. And the fact I can't recall if he was the same way in Grossman's books definitely means it's time for a reread.

All in all, as this comic book is really quite gorgeous, I'd buy it simply because of that! It's lovely as a collector's item, in a way, I guess!

The Magicians is a dark Portal Fantasy trilogy by Lev Grossman that was adapted into a TV series. This Graphic Novel is based upon the original books – not the TV show.
Think College after Hogwarts with sex, drugs and bad mental health – and then give them firepower and access to Narnia to really party!. The original trilogy dragged the reader through some dark corners of the main characters souls before showing any light. This Graphic Novel parallels the events of the first novel in the series, The Magicians – anyone who has already read the novels will find this story very familiar.

The Magicians Original Graphic Novel: Alice’s Story – as the title suggests is all about Alice. This book shows us what happens from Alice’s perspective. But if you haven’t read the original books, fear not – this Graphic Novel stands on its own merits and requires no knowledge of the series at large. (But reading this will give you spoilers for the main books, so be warned)

I really liked this and had fun coming back to a series I’ve enjoyed before. It felt familiar but new. Still dark, but for unexpected reasons – and made me feel for Alice all over again.

Alice’s Story deals with outsiders trying to fit in amongst other outsiders. Obsessions pushed too far, the realisation that not everyone grows up at the same pace (or at all in some cases) – and the scars of bereavement and grief that never completely heal.

Lev Grossman and Lilah Sturges have together managed to write a story anew, bringing something for both existing fans as well as those new to the worlds of The Magicians. Pius Bak has brought to life the characters and worlds in such a way as to radiate their essences.

This graphic novel is published by Boom! Studios. Written by Lev Grossman and Lilah Sturges. Illustrated by Pius Bak. Colour by Dan Jackson. Lettering by Mike Fiorentino.

The Magicians: Alice’s Story will be available from 16th July 2019. (A free digital copy of this book for review purposes was kindly provided by the publisher through Netgalley.)

4 out of 5 stars.

Wow.

I loved this story. It was everything I hoped for and more.

To see the events from Alice's perspective was something new and unexpected, that I didn't know I desperately need in my life until I read through this graphic novel. Authors took everything that was amazing about the Magicians and made it into such an icredible story.

Quentin's whining was much more bearable when he wasn't the star of the show.

It was amazing to see these characters again, I need to go buy this one, now.

Alice travels through the wilderness, knowing exactly where she wants to go but only able to guess how, making her way to Brakebills, a university for magicians.

This graphic novel is the story The Magicians by Lev Grossman - but told by Alice instead of Quentin. I love the Magicians Trilogy, and have read them multiple times, also watched the first three seasons of the tv series.
Since this is the story of the first of the three books, you don't have to any kind of knowledge before delving in, just an interest in magical schools or wizards in training.

I found it interesting that this graphic novels follows the descriptions of the book instead of the actors that portrayed the characters in television, which mostly means that Janet has been left with her name that starts with a J - in the book series it got confusing with so many names starting with J, but as two of them mostly play into Quentin's experiences, they don't feature at all or only in a minor part in the graphic novel.
Also, Penny got to keep his green mohawk and got plugs and ridiculous large piercings to match, and he's white. Everyone at Brakebills is so, so white. Doesn't feel right.

The drawings. Each chapter ends in a black panel with speech bubbles, which is a nice way of allowing your readers to picture something as they like to. We are shown that spells include signs done with your hands, but instead of going the Naruto-way of showing every single hand position, we get a time-freeze of one sign to get that they're doing something and then have to imagine the rest to allow the story to flow.

I had fun with this one despite knowing what will happen. Quentin is such an ass. I never realised that while reading from his PoV.
If they should do another graphic novel about Alice's shenanigans as a Niffin, I'd like to read it very much. As it is now, I'd recommend this one to people who already love the story or maybe are curious about the plot. It works both ways.

I recieved this book in exchange for an honest review.