The Magician King is the sequel to The Magicians and picks up the story two years later. Quentin and his friends are the kings and queens of Fillory, but their life of luxury isn’t the paradise it appears to be. The days and nights of royal leisure are starting to pall, and after a morning hunt takes a sinister turn, Quentin and his old friend Julia charter a magical sailing ship and set out on an errand to the wild outer reaches of their kingdom. The Magician King also tells the story of Julia's education, and how she fought and scrapped her way through the seedy underbelly of the magical world to get a sorcerous education outside the ivory tower of Brakebills.