The Magicians - 'Consequences of Advanced Spellcasting'

Oops.

Okay; it's time for backstory.

At Quentin's instigation, Alice opens up to Margo, the school's gossip in chief about the loss of her brother, and Margo leads her to a former student who might know what happened to Charlie. They find this girl and learn that Charlie was consumed by magic while trying to jury rig a spell to repair the damage she did to herself attempting a beautifying spell after her married lover dumped her. He vanished into the ether, becoming a niffin (which I assume to be a little like nothing and a little like tiffin.)

Naturally, Alice is determined to bring her brother back, casting another summons at the site of his disappearance and trying to restore him with a desperately jury rigged spell of her own. As the niffin tries to kill her and her own magic looks set to niffinate her, Quentin activates a binding spell to trap Daniel-niffin forever. Naturally, in Alice's view this makes him the asshole and she opts to leave now that her chance of rescuing Daniel is gone.

"Well, there's something you don't see everyday."

Back in the world of Quentin actually being an arse, Eliot - far and away my favourite character, with his waistcoats and his latter-day Oscar Wilde attitudes - ropes him into the search for a book which Kady bunged to the Hedge Witches. He does this by getting Volume 1 to search for Volume 2, the books being both animate and apparently a mated pair. The sight of the two volumes humping in the Hedge Witches' loft after Eliot and Quentin bust in like the magic police ("Yes, we are classically trained and we want our book back.") just confirms my suspicion that Eliot is inhabiting a parallel and much campier series that occasionally intersects with this one. During the visit, Quentin realises Julia has joined the Hedge Witches and opts to repair the damage caused by being a prick when she asked him to talk to the Brakebills authorities by telling her she's slumming it with losers.

Go Quentin.

Meanwhile, it's sorting hat season, as the class is tested to determine their primary aptitudes. Kady and Alice are assigned to the physical cabin, while Penny - to his own horror - gets sent to the Psychics loft, at least until he turns out to be a traveler, capable of moving through space and between worlds, leading to a one-on-one teaching schedule. And Quentin shows no aptitudes and gets dropped on physical by default as they have space.

'Consequences of Advanced Spellcasting' finally gives some depth to the characters - well, most of them anyway; Quentin is still pretty much just a tool - and introduces a bit of theory, explaining that magic is controlled through will and complex, precise finger gestures. The world is actually starting to feel... finished, which is good. But Quentin is still pretty much a tool, which is not an appealing trait in a hero-protagonist.