By Susanna Clarke. If you tend to play wizards, pick up this book and read it right away. If you can imagine John Bellairs (The Face in the Frost, The House with a Clock in its Walls) writing in Jane Austen's voice, give it a whirl.
Loved it.
brilliant book
brilliant book
Would you still say so if I let it slip that "Susanna Clarke," rather than being an Englishwoman, is actually the nom de plume of American game designer Nicolas Logue?
Just kidding. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that she's the reincarnation of John Bellairs.
Fantastic Book- it's like Pride and Prejudice gets a shot of the Fantastic- the Sidhe get a great look in and are genuinely disturbing, even at their best. Strangely, after both reading and listening to the AudioBook, I find the AudioBook a good deal more compelling, I think it has a lot to do with Clarke's literary voice; it just seems more suited to floating across a drawing rooom.
I'd also recommend The Ladies of Grace Adieu, the short fiction "sequel".
How many pages is it that everyone seems so put off?
I'm writing my first fantasy novel and I'd really like to know people's tipping point. How many pages can a book be without looking daunting? Do you guys take font size into account when sizing up a book's length?
If you have a reply for the question I asked above, please post it HERE so I can stop the threadjack.
Excellent book. It also shows a good grasp of the manners of the time, the culture, the political scene, and it's a clever, enjoyable tale. Clarke's fey are wild, frightening and strange. I love the historical Raven King and all of the bits of "English magic" within the book. The illustrations, I think, truly help a lot. And yes, the book of short stories mentioned has a lot of nice short tales for those who want to test the water before swimming the English Channel.
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I loved it too. If you're having trouble getting into it, get the unabridged audio read by Simon Prebble. If you're not having trouble getting into it, get the audio anyway. It's fantastic.
All I have to say about that story is Best. Villain. Ever. And I mean it. Better than Darth Vader. Better than Sauron. Better than... ...you get the idea. I have seen some awesome bad guys in my day, but nobody tops the villain in this book.
Some favorite scenes MASSIVE SPOILERS:
The moment at which you realize John Childermass is also a wizard.
The encounter with Childermass and John Uskglass at the end.
The final fate of the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair.
The final fate of Lascelles.
Jonathan Strange showing up as an avatar of wizardly might, Gilbert Norrel being terrified of him, and Jonathan Strange going: "I'm looking for my wife!"
Jonathan Strange deliberately driving himself mad to increase his magical insight.
Confirmation of Arabella not being dead.
Jonathan Strange, John Segundus, Vinculus, Arabella Strange, The Gentleman With the Thistledown Hair, and John Childermass in general.
Also, if you liked it, you might want to try Naomi Novik. The Temeraire series isn't QUITE as good as Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel, but it's still excellent. The difference between and A+ and an A, if you will.
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I first read the book by borrowing the hardback from a friend. However, when I finally got around to purchasing it for myself (I always read books multiple times), I got a paperback edition that is a three-volume boxed set with the three parts separated into individually bound volumes. This is significantly less daunting and easier to pack around (I mostly read on the bus).
I just searched Amazon and couldn't find it, but this certainly doesn't mean that it isn't still out there.
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Personally, I enjoyed this book a great deal. The use of magic and that universes personal paradigm were both very interesting.
What I liked most about it was that it felt like a tome. I would go home, pour myself some sherry, and kick back with soft light. It felt very appropriate to be doing that. The words in this book were to be savored. The language was beautiful and flowing. The pacing was a bit slow, but I liken it to a leisurely stroll through thick wood. There is a path, but if you hurry, you will miss much that was meant to be seen.
Tis a meaty text, for sure, but well worth taking the time to enjoy.
With sherry.
I love this book. I think that it's a great way to look at the differences between Hermetic-style casters like Wizards (Mr. Norrel) and inborn casters like Sorcerers (Jonathan).
It is interesting that I described this the same way to a friend of mine, when I was attempting to convince him to read the book (which he did, and LOVED).
As for questions regarding the length of the book, I would comment that there are those books that you grip with white knuckles, because they are a thrill ride; there are others, however, that beckon you to lose yourself in them. JS & MN is the latter kind. It is written to evoke a scholarly tone, complete with footnotes that can be short stories in and of themselves, and this stylistic convention allows you to immerse yourself so completely as to doubt what you may know of history. I double checked my geneaological records of English kings to make sure there wasn't a John Uskglass!
As for the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair, as with many characters of weight (Pai Mei of Kill Bill Vol. 2 fame, anyone?), I remember reading that he was a recurring character (villain?) in McDonald's novels. The most dangerous aspect of the fey villain, however, was not his mastery over the wilder powers and magic, but his utter superficiality, his vapidness - if you will. The Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair would swat you out of existence with the same amount of thought you would stomp a cockroach. Chilling, isn't it? It is this quality that makes the character stand out in my memory. . . Because he surely was not particularly intelligent, or even clever.
If I remember correctly, this book took Clarke 10 years to finish, and it shows. . . I can only hope that her follow up works in this world are as charming and immersive as this one.
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Wow.
I finished this a few nights ago, and it is amazing.
The beginning of the book was interesting, but it took me a while to really get into it ... a week or so to get halfway. But there's a point somewhere about the halfway mark where you're hooked. I couldn't put it down, finished the second half or so in a day.
Fantastic villain, excellent depiction of the era, great depiction of magic and magicians, and I just love the take on Faerie.
I really wanted to love this book. I really did. I enjoyed the first 100 pages tremendously, laughing out loud a few times and thoroughly enjoying the prose.
And then, it
j.u..s...t
...
s.t..a...r...t....e....d
...
...
s..l..o...o...o...w...w...w...i...i....n....n....g
...
...
...
down.
I probably shouldn't have been reading it just before going to bed every night.
Anyway, I never got past about page 250.
Hurm.
I love the book and recommend it.
I only find the begining a bit long, but once Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair and Strange are on the scene, the book really gets good.
It IS a long book, but only because it takes it time to capture its time and setting nicely.
I can't really comment on the prose, as I read the german translation.
BTW ... has anyone read the new book by Clarke yet?
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It's a classic of modern fantasy. Really is, and I don't think I'm putting things out too much by saying that. Stands with the incomparable ASOIAF in my view. The Ladies of Grace Adieu is similarly good, and a bit shorter. Check it out first if you want a taste of her style.
What really fascinated me was the way the book was put together, with all the annotations and the preface. It made it seem so much more real. The magic felt really magical, the fey were utterly otherwordly, but most importantly, NOT evil. They just had a completely alien world view to the humans own.
Utterly brilliant, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Between this thread and the fey thread of Sebastian's I've become interested in checking out this book.
I started it. I'm on page 160 or so. Wondering when it's going to get good. I'm getting really, really fed up with the tone. Did people really ever talk like that or is it some vast conspiracy to make all of us feel like uncouth savages because we can't get through a day without accusing each other of having sexual relations with farm animals? I'll give it another couple of chapters, but it's really wearing on my patience.
I'll give it another couple of chapters, but it's really wearing on my patience.
If it doesn't captivate you immediately, maybe it's best to give up.
BTW, the title story in "Ladies of Grace Adieu" REALLY makes me not want to read the rest. "Norrel & Strange" was whimsical and fun. "Ladies" is just straight-out amoral man-bashing.
I enjoyed this book. Susanna Clarke is a member of Neil Gaiman's circle, and I think it shows somewhat. (I remember reading a story of hers in a Sandman short-story compilation.) I don't see the Bellairs similarity, though. T.H. White ("The Once and Future King") might be a better comparison.
I hear they're thinking of making a movie of this book, but I don't see how they could. Too long and too little "action" for a theatrical audience. They'd be better off doing it as a BBC miniseries which could then be imported to the U.S. via "Masterpiece Theater" or BBC America.
I liked the 19th century pastiche idea of the book. A good read for someone who likes to read fantasy and likes Jane Austen, too.
Yeah, I loved both LGA and JS&MN. It's the fey thing and the fact that I love 18th and 19th Century British Literature. If you can't stand earlier Brit Lit, then Susanna Clarke won't be for you. It was fun reading the Duke of Wellington story, and having Clarke's England hook up with Gaiman's Wall.
I was really hoping that the Temeraire series would be as good (being a Patrick O'Brien fan), but as of the third book I have to say that it isn't living up to the promise of the premise.