i don't even know how to rate this book. an emotional trainwreck. what really makes this brilliant is that we get to learn Julia's story.
Also: "The hero pays the price." That was just freaking heartbreaking.
Loved Penny's appearance!
I can't really decide if I liked this book better than the first. It's hard to really put them next to each other because the setting and circumstances are so entirely different. In the end The Magician King was very hard to put down and while I knew about certain things in advance, it was still intriguing to read how it plays out.