The Magicians : (Book 1)

In a secret world of forbidden knowledge, power comes at a terrible price... Quentin Coldwater's life is changed forever by an apparently chance encounter: when he turns up for his entrance interview to Princeton University, he finds his interviewer dead - but a strange envelope bearing Quentin's name leads him down a very different path. Instead of Princeton, he finds himself invited to study at Brakebills - a secret college of modern-day sorcerers.