The Magicians: The New Class

July 1, 2020
In this soft reboot of Lev Grossman's popular Magicians series?set years after the originals?Brakebills University admits a new class, which, for the first time, controversially includes hedge witches, those who learned magic outside of traditional channels. As the school's incumbent students protest the change, three of them are paired with three hedge witches in a secret battle-magic class, and sparks fly?literally. After a spell-gone-wrong ends with the death of a student, her shocking return leads to the emergence of an infamous rogue magician?but is there a larger threat looming? This volume collects the first five issues of an exciting new direction for the Magicians franchise. Sturges has taken its beloved world and populated it with a refreshingly diverse and engaging core cast. A wealth of queer character arcs, including that of a leading trans woman, address relevant themes of identity, privilege, and oppression. Bak adds to the enchantment by employing brilliant visual twists, such as the characters' magical manipulation of speech balloons. Take the high-profile IP out of the equation, and what's left is still an undeniably engrossing magical mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)