Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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97 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm with Neil Gaiman, 8 Oct 2004
This is truly a fantastic book. I can't praise it highly enough. The plot, characters, pacing and, above all, the back story, make this a brilliant novel and a fantastic début. And, being a Yorkshire lass myself, it was certainly gratifying to find a novel that doesn't rampantly stereotype all Northerners.
The story begins in 1806, when two theoretical magicians with the wonderfully Dickensian names of Segundus and Honeyfoot encounter the reclusive scholar, Mr Norrell. Their quest is to find out why magic, which was once so common in England, particularly in the North under the 300 year reign of the Raven King John Uskglass, is now a distant history to be studied by gentlemen like themselves. But they discover that, for all his bookish and condescending ways, Mr Norrell is in fact a practical magician, which he proves by bringing all the statues in York Minster/Cathedral to life. Having brought his powers to the attention of the public, he immediately sets of to London, where he plans to help in the war effort against Napoleon, and in the process resurrect English magic.
At first he is not taken seriously, and it soon becomes clear Norrell will go to any lengths to become the only magician in England. But when he encounters Jonathan Strange, another magician, he seems to wake up to new possibilities. He takes Strange on as a pupil. But the two men are too different for the partnership to last. Norrell is secretive and unfriendly, hoarding magical knowledge and desperately preserving his own prestige. Strange is charming and gregarious, and becomes a hero in the wars. What starts off as mild rivalry soon escalates into a feud, with far reaching consequences.
If you've see the size of this book, you'll understand it's a hard thing to summarize. At almost 800 pages it's not a coffee table book, it's a coffee table. But don't be put off. It's fast moving, brilliantly written, wryly amusing and full of nods to the ghosts of literature past. It's also quite beautiful, and I'm not just talking about the pretty cover. It's part Lord of the Rings, part Harry Potter, part The Crimson Petal And The White and part Jane Austen. I raced through it in 3 days, and am already halfway through my second reading. Apparently there's a sequel in the pipeline, and at the minute I'd gladly put back Harry Potter 6 by years to have that instead.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply magic, 24 April 2007
I have had this book on my shelf for ages but I allowed the hype to influence me (I just couldn't believe it was as good as people said) and, as such, I have only just got round to reading it.
When I started to read this book I made the mistake of trying to place it in a genre. Fortunately, I soon realised that to do so is impossible and I quickly gave up and allowed the story to flow all around me.
But, I suppose, for the sake of this review, I should try again: take a little bit of any of the better historical novels out there, a little bit of the magical realism of Rushdie, a little bit of the fantasy of Neil Gaiman, with a liberal dose of Austen's social humour and give it a very good shake and you get somewhere near to the genre of this book.
But, again, I am missing the point entirely; in writing this book Clarke has created her own genre and this book belongs in a class of her own. It is a stunning achievement of writing as a craft and art. It is alarming, disturbing, funny, moving, in short, wonderful, and needs to be experienced with no preconceptions or expectations. I only wish that I had read it earlier.
So, a book very much on its own, hey? Hmmm...I doubt that will last...I can see publishers up and down the country scouring the nation for the next Jonathan Strange. There is no point. I doubt they will find anything that quite matches this (but let's hope I am wrong).
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88 of 98 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunnig debut, 15 Jun 2004
I had the very good fortune to borrow a pre-publication proof copy of the book and was bowled over by it. The story is gripping, of mythical scope and beautifully written - I cannot recommend it strongly enough.Mr Strange and Mr Norrell, the eponymous (anti?)heroes are the two great magicians of their age (the early 1800s). They are drawn together by common-talent, but driven apart by differing aims and personalities into a fearsome rivalry. Norrell is self-serving, vain and insecure; Strange is bold charismatic and iconoclastic. The book is set in an alternative version of the past, peopled with figures like Wellington, the wars in Spain and other late Georgian-era facts in a very heady and convincing mix. Through the actions of the two magicians England and the Kingdom of Faerie are brought into violent conflict. If this all sounds very fantasy and like a children's book - it's not. The writing is sophisticated, gritty and humorous. The characters are visceral and the tension and drama of the story masterfully handled. It is an immensely well-crafted book that heralds the arrival of a very original and imaginative literary writer.
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