What did he want?... He wanted his life to be exciting and important and to mean something. And he wanted to make Julia better. He felt like he would do anything to help Julia...

In the midst of all the LCD humor juxtaposed against familiar fantasy tropes, Grossman sticks in this stuff every once in a while. It's a good reminder -- that everyone is searching for meaning, even the cynics -- but its also a little tough to chew and swallow. Like, "See, Quentin is basically a good person," except that he's really kind of an asshole on almost every other page.

This note was recorded by Joshua Neds-Fox from page 252 of The Magician King.