Where do I even begin with this book?

THE MAGICIANS was recommended to me by a very excited friend. And, after reading, I can tell why he was excited. While other novels try to re-create Hogwarts, THE MAGICIANS goes beyond. The brilliant magic system is a cross between archaic languages, geometry, and finger gymnastics. Right off the bat, international schools are mentioned, and characters make fun and are aware of how absurdly obsessed with English boarding school tradition their school is. The school, Brakebills, has a forced study abroad in Antarctica, which is my favorite plot sequence of the entire book. There are a frickton of diverse characters and diverse magic. There's a morally ambivalent Narnia. The summary-esque prose makes for easy, quick reading, to the point where it's nothing to start reading at 12pm and be surprised it's 12am when you stop.

It's just the characters that gum up the works.

Imagine Severus Snape. Imagine a seventeen year old Severus Snape. Now, take his emotional intelligence, and drain it to the size of half a teaspoon. THAT's how dumb Q , our main character, is. Color me frustrated. Instead of priorities, Q has THE GRADUATE movie level lost-ness, boredom, superiority complex, and Alice. Alice is his partner. Alice is supreme in every way. I love Alice. I'm super sad about what happens to Alice. Take three guesses what happens to Alice. Yes, it's that sort of book.

So, I'm divided on whether to read the rest of the series. On the one hand, what if Alice? On the other hand, how many pages until Q grows up?