I enjoyed this installment even more than the previous book; The Magician King felt just a bit better put together and cohesive than its predecessor.
As always, playing "spot the Narnia reference" was great fun, along with "spot the beef with children's fantasy".
Grossman has a feel for the perfectly wrong turn of phrase (this is a good thing, hear me out) in that he knows how to turn mystery and traditional fantasy feel into droll post-realism with a phrase. Mentioning USA today horoscopes in the middle of an enchanted sea, for example. His language and its ability to, not to ground you in the real world but to careen you wildly back and forth between Narnia and a 20-something's apartment in NYC is amazing.
I thought that this book was a bit less Holden Caulfield-y than its predecessor (and since I think Holden is a sanctimonious little $#*^, that's all for the good) and a bit more aware of what is true and always true about good fantasy. It's always nice to see the second book surpass the first; it makes you really look forward to book three.