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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
Hmmm this was a very long book. It was somewhat cozy in that there was a lot of lore and side quests and side stories. At times it was difficult to get through yes but I think worth it toward the end. A long amount of time went by and yes many things happened but also felt not a lot happened. Definitely an enjoyable read but a difficult read.
I tried. Hard. I wanted to like this book. It won a Hugo Award and a Locus Award. It has glowing reviews — more than one from my own Goodreads friends. But I read 17% of it (thanks to Kindle, I always knew exactly how slow I was progressing through this novel), and it was so dry, tedious, and lifeless — and the footnotes, they were even more dry, more tedious, more lifeless, and also painfully irrelevant. I'm going to put this down for now, read something else (or a few something elses) and try to come back to it. I'll update this review if I ever manage that.
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I picked up this book in 2023 and put it down because it wasn't the right time. I picked it up again in 2025 and started over.
I think that Susanna Clarke has successfully written the most amazing facsimile of a early 1800s novel I have ever seen (and I've read a lot from that era). The writing style, the pacing style, and character arcs, the footnotes: all of it so completely places you in that time and type of writing. As far as what she set out to do, Clarke hit a home run.
However, I just didn't like it. I quite enjoyed the beginning (just about the first quarter) but as it wore on, my goodwill shriveled away and I found myself thinking "I just don't care" in the depths of a novella length footnote. About halfway through, I found that I really hated Mr. Norrell and I didn't want to know what he was up to. His selfish, arrogant instincts made me hate every moment he was on the page. Then I thought that he was simply meant to be the 'brain' contrast to the 'heart' of Mr. Strange, but that didn't really end up happening either. I liked Strange at first, but has he consistently neglected everything else to pursue his studies, I found that I didn't really care for him either.
Now, with no one left to root for and 300 pages to go, I had to turn my attention towards the plot. Unfortunately, the plot was full of fae fuckery. I rarely like fae plotlines and this one had everything I hate the most.
I think that this book was well made and incredibly accurate to the time period, but I didn't connect with the characters and I didn't feel like the plot deserved its ending emotionally. I very complicated 3 stars from me.
I think that Susanna Clarke has successfully written the most amazing facsimile of a early 1800s novel I have ever seen (and I've read a lot from that era). The writing style, the pacing style, and character arcs, the footnotes: all of it so completely places you in that time and type of writing. As far as what she set out to do, Clarke hit a home run.
However, I just didn't like it. I quite enjoyed the beginning (just about the first quarter) but as it wore on, my goodwill shriveled away and I found myself thinking "I just don't care" in the depths of a novella length footnote. About halfway through, I found that I really hated Mr. Norrell and I didn't want to know what he was up to. His selfish, arrogant instincts made me hate every moment he was on the page. Then I thought that he was simply meant to be the 'brain' contrast to the 'heart' of Mr. Strange, but that didn't really end up happening either. I liked Strange at first, but has he consistently neglected everything else to pursue his studies, I found that I didn't really care for him either.
Now, with no one left to root for and 300 pages to go, I had to turn my attention towards the plot. Unfortunately, the plot was full of fae fuckery. I rarely like fae plotlines and this one had everything I hate the most.
I think that this book was well made and incredibly accurate to the time period, but I didn't connect with the characters and I didn't feel like the plot deserved its ending emotionally. I very complicated 3 stars from me.
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
800 page tale of two 19th century English magicians.