![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockI am currently halfway through this absolutely fascinating first-time novel by Susanna Clarke. It only came out in 2004, and I stumbled across a very nice copy in a used book store. I suspect the copy I found has not been read been before myself; JN&MN is an enormous novel even in paperback, over 800 pages with very small print, and no human could get through a book this size without creasing the spine. No human should-- books grow more precious with the show of wear, not less. But back on topic: I urge you all to read my review and if you are the least bit intrigued, then go to the library and pick this up. If you like fantasy novels, pick it up. If you like historical fiction of the Napoleonic era, pick this up. You might discover you love it too. And then you'll be running around asking all your fellow fantasy readers, "WHY DID YOU NEVER TELL ME ABOUT THIS AWESOME BOOK?"
Amazon.com summary:
It's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved. A sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust.
--Regina Marler
Opening:
My thoughts so far, nonspoilery:
This is a fascinating novel. It unlike nearly everything I've ever read. The only possible comparison that comes to mind is a fantasy novel I once read where the plot mimiced the events of the French Revolution in a fantasy world setting (I can't for the life of me remember the title or the author), but even that is only vaguely comparable, since that took place on a fantasy world and JS&MN takes place very firmly in England, and the plots were entirely different. Frankly, this is a better book even halfway through. I'm just... fascinated! it's so weird and different.
It's about two men, the first real magicians in a couple centuries, as they rediscover the old magic lost to modern academics, and use that magic against Napoleon's armies. It's about their relationships-- between the two men, with their families, with their friends, with their servants, with their academic/political peers, with their patriotism, and even with their magical forefathers. Both men have dramatically different views about what makes good or bad magic, about how it should be used, when, and by whom. This comes out gradually over the course of the novel-- nothing is rushed here. Which isn't to say it's slow, it merely takes its time in tracking the course of these two magician's carreers, fully developing events and relationships so that when things build up and Stuff Happens, you have a deep, grand understanding of all the players involved.
This book will not be for everybody, I can tell you. It ought to be, but a few might give up because it seems so long, with such tiny writing, and the overall plot feels slow even if the in-between events move alogn at a brisk and enjoyable pace. But then again, pace is often subjective. I found American Gods to be painfully boring, and couldn't finish it. I find JS&MN to be long but not boring in the least, and the pure enjoyment I get from reading it makes me sad to know that one day I'm going to reach the end and it's going to be over.
If you like historical fiction, if you like traditional ideas of British fantasy along the lines of Faerie realms, magical items, spells that turn out more trouble than they're worth, magic in warfare, and a great love of knowledge in the form of books, you'll like this story. A huge theme of the novel is the conflict between learning by reading and learning by doing: being a theoretical magician is safe but ultimately limited...being a practical magician means no end to the knowledge and power you can acquire, but the danger in learning is infinitely higher. Is it better to study or invent? Is it even possible to separate the two acts? That's the source of philosophical conflict in the book, and as a premise if fascinates me. I can't wait to see how fate continues to mess with my two magicians... will magic see them through the day or will it ultimately destroy them? Honestly, it could go either way.
I can't even look up fanart for it yet because I'm terrified I'll be spoiled for the ending. And 800+ tiny tiny words is a lot of work to get spoiled for.
Amazon.com summary:
It's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved. A sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust.
--Regina Marler
Opening:
Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians. They met up the third Wednesday of every month and read each other long, dull papers upon the history of English magic. They were gentlement magicians, which is to say they had never harmed anyone by magic-- nor ever done anyone the slightest good.
My thoughts so far, nonspoilery:
This is a fascinating novel. It unlike nearly everything I've ever read. The only possible comparison that comes to mind is a fantasy novel I once read where the plot mimiced the events of the French Revolution in a fantasy world setting (I can't for the life of me remember the title or the author), but even that is only vaguely comparable, since that took place on a fantasy world and JS&MN takes place very firmly in England, and the plots were entirely different. Frankly, this is a better book even halfway through. I'm just... fascinated! it's so weird and different.
It's about two men, the first real magicians in a couple centuries, as they rediscover the old magic lost to modern academics, and use that magic against Napoleon's armies. It's about their relationships-- between the two men, with their families, with their friends, with their servants, with their academic/political peers, with their patriotism, and even with their magical forefathers. Both men have dramatically different views about what makes good or bad magic, about how it should be used, when, and by whom. This comes out gradually over the course of the novel-- nothing is rushed here. Which isn't to say it's slow, it merely takes its time in tracking the course of these two magician's carreers, fully developing events and relationships so that when things build up and Stuff Happens, you have a deep, grand understanding of all the players involved.
This book will not be for everybody, I can tell you. It ought to be, but a few might give up because it seems so long, with such tiny writing, and the overall plot feels slow even if the in-between events move alogn at a brisk and enjoyable pace. But then again, pace is often subjective. I found American Gods to be painfully boring, and couldn't finish it. I find JS&MN to be long but not boring in the least, and the pure enjoyment I get from reading it makes me sad to know that one day I'm going to reach the end and it's going to be over.
If you like historical fiction, if you like traditional ideas of British fantasy along the lines of Faerie realms, magical items, spells that turn out more trouble than they're worth, magic in warfare, and a great love of knowledge in the form of books, you'll like this story. A huge theme of the novel is the conflict between learning by reading and learning by doing: being a theoretical magician is safe but ultimately limited...being a practical magician means no end to the knowledge and power you can acquire, but the danger in learning is infinitely higher. Is it better to study or invent? Is it even possible to separate the two acts? That's the source of philosophical conflict in the book, and as a premise if fascinates me. I can't wait to see how fate continues to mess with my two magicians... will magic see them through the day or will it ultimately destroy them? Honestly, it could go either way.
I can't even look up fanart for it yet because I'm terrified I'll be spoiled for the ending. And 800+ tiny tiny words is a lot of work to get spoiled for.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 12:55 am (UTC)They're not on the same scale (the only novel I've ever read that matched JSMN for scope is probably Kay's Tigana which remains my all-time fave high fantasty novel ever) but they are definitely SC's precursors in terms of creating the whole genre.
Also, Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint, and Gaiman's Stardust, but I assume you might ahve read those already...
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 01:02 am (UTC)