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story identification - Fantasy novel: magic school, talking rabbit, character bites off another character's fingers


The plotline as a whole is completely lost to me, but it was a big inspiration to my preteen self at the time and has shaped my creative development up to now. I'll list some of the big points that I can recall from it, if anyone has the vaguest idea what book I am referring to I would be so appreciative for any guess! I just want to reread it.



  • Main character is a delinquent of sorts, goes to a magic school.

  • I don't remember there being any pictures in this book.

  • There is a threesome between the main character and his two friends

  • I believe it is a talking rabbit that says something along the lines of "My dear child, you are incensed", followed by one of the characters saying something like "Damn right I am!"

  • A character that had been mentioned earlier but never made an appearance (he was banned for doing bad magic I think) shows up to fight and he bites off another character's fingers.

  • Main character seeks out a magical white stag near the end of the novel because the stag can grant a wish if it's caught because he wishes to reset his timeline. The stag is able to speak.




Answer



You seem to be describing Lev Grossman's The Magicians, and at least one of the sequels (The Magician King, and The Magician's Land)


Cover of Lev Grossman's The Magicians Cover of Lev Grossman's The Magician King Cover of Lev Grossman's The Magician's Land




  • The main character, Quentin Coldwater, is a brilliant emo kid who is really good at (stage magic) card tricks, and who is obsessed with the magical land of Fillory (a kind of grimdark-ish version of Narnia). He is recruited into Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy along with many other kids. His high school best friend, Julia, is also recruited, but fails the entrance exam.




  • These were text novels, not picture books. That said: there is a television adaptation that has produced four seasons of material loosely based on the books, so there are some visual representations of the books.





  • Quentin, his best friend Eliot, and their other best friend Janet do indeed hook up. That's one of many configurations of Brakebills students and other characters hooking up in the series.




  • I do not recall the specific line with the talking Rabbit, but Fillory, where Quentin and friends (in various combinations) spend time adventuring in across the three books, is simply infested with talking Animals. They mouth off, and generally have earthier personalities than the twee characterizations of talking Animals in C. S. Lewis' Narnia books.




  • One of the baddies in the books, does indeed show up, and bite off the hands of one of Quentin's classmates (Penny's), which present difficulties in Penny being a magician, and driving him towards a certain shift in career aspirations.





  • Quentin and friends do indeed go hunting one of several magical beasts (can't recall if it was a white stag, but that sounds about right), which can grant wishes in one of their Fillorian quests.




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