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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
read 2021, reread 2025
Spoilers
My favourite book of all time. I always wanted to reread it but put it off a lot in fear of it being worse than I remembered but fortunately, my fears were unfounded. This is just a really special and unique book and I doubt I'll ever read one like it again. It's so witty and clever, the characters are all so fun to read and surprisingly, something I didn't really remember from when I first read it, it's pretty funny aswell.
Really, the crowning jewel of this book is the worldbuilding and the atmosphere. It's such a great blend of fantasy and alternate history and really sells England being a magical; you can tell a lot of research was put into it and definitely a lot of creativity in terms of what Susanna Clarke had to add to the history of the world. The footnotes, which I actually didn't read the first time, are always really interesting aswell in fleshing out this alternate history.
As I mentioned, all the characters are great and flawed, with even the titular characters being people you don't necessarily root for. Jonathan Strange is a vain man in many of his qualities, Mr Norrell is, in all honesty, pretty despicable as a person, but their love of magic is what kickstarts its return and ultimately binds them together. They play a major hand in defeating the villain, but that villain only began to terrorise the lives of the other major characters because of Mr Norrell's craving to expand English magic while also hoarding it for himself.
It is the work of Stephen Black, Lady Pole, Childermass and Vinculus that also ultimately plays a huge role in defeating the villain, all of which members of society downtrodden due to either their race, gender or social standing, members of society who both Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell constantly overlook, but it is them that make the largest difference in the end. I don't believe either of them or England even knew who Stephen was by the end or what he did, but he did it ultimately because he is a good man.
Childermass, somebody they'd consider to be of 'low-standing' is somebody who is often showcased to be someone that, with the right resources, would be a better magician than Mr Norrell, and in the end we see that with the help of Vinculus he will hopefully accomplish allowing magic to be studied and used by people, no matter their standing in life.
The Raven King, or John Uskglass, the sort of third main character despite not actually appearing for a majority of the book is someone with great influence over the North of England and who was the first to really push for magic in England, and is constantly referred to in the book, like a shadow in the footnotes or through descriptions of murals dedicated to him, only ever actually appears to Childermass, despite both Norrell and Strange trying their hardest to make him appear before them, perhaps signifying who he really trusts with the continuation of English magic, someone who showed greater respect and reverence for him than either Strange or Norrell did. The Raven King is a constant influence throughout and although he is not in the title, his symbol certainly appears on the cover to signify his importance. The reveal that all of what Strange and Norrell went through is just a part of his own plan cements his importance.
The gentleman with thistledown hair (the villain), and Faerie itself are so well written in terms of serving as opposition to the characters. Faerie is a terrifying place, and Clarke really sells it, where the gentleman does insane and malicious things throughout without rhyme or reason which were either wrung out of him and the other fairies through the passage of his extraordinary lifespan, or having just been born into their nature. The gentleman's kindness would be considered cruel and unusual to humans, and you never really know what twisted thing he is going to do next throughout.
The exploration of the magical side is fantastic, the glimpses we see of Faerie really present it as a great force to be reckoned with. My favourite parts are the ones that are completely unexplained, an example being the Champion of the Castle of the Plucked Eye and Heart. Who is the champion guarding? Why is the role passed on? These are questions that aren't answered but add to the quirks and mystique of the magical side of this world.
There are really so many other things I could say in regards to how much I love this book. So much plot and events I haven't talked about, so many characters (highlight: Drawlight and Lascelles are such repugnant individuals, hate them but loved what they added). I could reread this a lot, and each time I feel like I'll come out with something else that I didn't notice before. I don't really get the complaint regarding its length, I think it is genuinely really well paced, with something important happening in each chapter, the plot progresses really smoothly in my opinion.
If I reallllllllyyyyy had to stretch in making complaints, I guess one would be that I find the illustrations to be pretty unimportant. A hundred pages could go by and suddenly an illustration pops up and it's just like, 'oh yeah there's illustrations. Cool.' There are also some footnotes where I felt like it was pretty weird that the information conveyed wasn't just in the book itself. These are such tiny nitpicks that they don't even really count to be honest; they do not at all retract from how much I love this book. In my opinion, it's perfect.
Spoilers
My favourite book of all time. I always wanted to reread it but put it off a lot in fear of it being worse than I remembered but fortunately, my fears were unfounded. This is just a really special and unique book and I doubt I'll ever read one like it again. It's so witty and clever, the characters are all so fun to read and surprisingly, something I didn't really remember from when I first read it, it's pretty funny aswell.
Really, the crowning jewel of this book is the worldbuilding and the atmosphere. It's such a great blend of fantasy and alternate history and really sells England being a magical; you can tell a lot of research was put into it and definitely a lot of creativity in terms of what Susanna Clarke had to add to the history of the world. The footnotes, which I actually didn't read the first time, are always really interesting aswell in fleshing out this alternate history.
As I mentioned, all the characters are great and flawed, with even the titular characters being people you don't necessarily root for. Jonathan Strange is a vain man in many of his qualities, Mr Norrell is, in all honesty, pretty despicable as a person, but their love of magic is what kickstarts its return and ultimately binds them together. They play a major hand in defeating the villain, but that villain only began to terrorise the lives of the other major characters because of Mr Norrell's craving to expand English magic while also hoarding it for himself.
It is the work of Stephen Black, Lady Pole, Childermass and Vinculus that also ultimately plays a huge role in defeating the villain, all of which members of society downtrodden due to either their race, gender or social standing, members of society who both Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell constantly overlook, but it is them that make the largest difference in the end. I don't believe either of them or England even knew who Stephen was by the end or what he did, but he did it ultimately because he is a good man.
Childermass, somebody they'd consider to be of 'low-standing' is somebody who is often showcased to be someone that, with the right resources, would be a better magician than Mr Norrell, and in the end we see that with the help of Vinculus he will hopefully accomplish allowing magic to be studied and used by people, no matter their standing in life.
The Raven King, or John Uskglass, the sort of third main character despite not actually appearing for a majority of the book is someone with great influence over the North of England and who was the first to really push for magic in England, and is constantly referred to in the book, like a shadow in the footnotes or through descriptions of murals dedicated to him, only ever actually appears to Childermass, despite both Norrell and Strange trying their hardest to make him appear before them, perhaps signifying who he really trusts with the continuation of English magic, someone who showed greater respect and reverence for him than either Strange or Norrell did. The Raven King is a constant influence throughout and although he is not in the title, his symbol certainly appears on the cover to signify his importance. The reveal that all of what Strange and Norrell went through is just a part of his own plan cements his importance.
The gentleman with thistledown hair (the villain), and Faerie itself are so well written in terms of serving as opposition to the characters. Faerie is a terrifying place, and Clarke really sells it, where the gentleman does insane and malicious things throughout without rhyme or reason which were either wrung out of him and the other fairies through the passage of his extraordinary lifespan, or having just been born into their nature. The gentleman's kindness would be considered cruel and unusual to humans, and you never really know what twisted thing he is going to do next throughout.
The exploration of the magical side is fantastic, the glimpses we see of Faerie really present it as a great force to be reckoned with. My favourite parts are the ones that are completely unexplained, an example being the Champion of the Castle of the Plucked Eye and Heart. Who is the champion guarding? Why is the role passed on? These are questions that aren't answered but add to the quirks and mystique of the magical side of this world.
There are really so many other things I could say in regards to how much I love this book. So much plot and events I haven't talked about, so many characters (highlight: Drawlight and Lascelles are such repugnant individuals, hate them but loved what they added). I could reread this a lot, and each time I feel like I'll come out with something else that I didn't notice before. I don't really get the complaint regarding its length, I think it is genuinely really well paced, with something important happening in each chapter, the plot progresses really smoothly in my opinion.
If I reallllllllyyyyy had to stretch in making complaints, I guess one would be that I find the illustrations to be pretty unimportant. A hundred pages could go by and suddenly an illustration pops up and it's just like, 'oh yeah there's illustrations. Cool.' There are also some footnotes where I felt like it was pretty weird that the information conveyed wasn't just in the book itself. These are such tiny nitpicks that they don't even really count to be honest; they do not at all retract from how much I love this book. In my opinion, it's perfect.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Some good moments but mostly felt like reading a book for school report. Too many descriptions of everything which bog it down.
What a DELIGHTFUL novel! I enjoyed it immensely, thoroughly convinced of England's magical history.
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
All I can say for an intro is that Susanna Clarke had a lot of moxie, putting out a tome like this, and a tome it certainly is. My copy amounted to some 900+ pages on my Nook, and with the kind of baggage I lug around daily, I would have been hard-pressed to have read this any other way.
The story, set during the Napoleonic Wars is an alternate history set in a world where magic exists, or at least a world that knew magic. In the world of the book, famous magicians of the past are revered as we might revere great statesmen or great writers, but the England of the story has evolved (some might say "deteriorated") to a point where the only magic left is theoretical, written about with an academic detachment in scholarly books. No one practices the art of magic anymore. No one, that is, except for one very humbuggy sort of crank, who attempts to restore Magic to England and a self-taught upstart who complicates the matter. Ultimately, the story becomes a complex, somewhat moving, sometimes maddening tale of a collaboration turned rivalry turned--almost--love story between these two magicians of completely different temperaments and viewpoints but who share the same dream, the same love, of magic. While they strive (in their own ways) to achieve their ends, they might well destroy each other in the process, but the one thing they can't do is avoid each other. Clarke commits to writing the entire epic story in a style and tone that matches the time period, down to employing archaic words, phrasings and spellings, and does it so convincingly that it begins to seem impossible that this could really be a book that was written only a handful of years ago. The narrative itself is set up almost as an embroidered biography of the two title characters, extensively employing authentic-sounding footnotes that reference magic texts and scholarly works that do not actually exist. This is a book that will envelop you, to be sure. The effect is so masterful, it's no wonder that the book garnered a Hugo and multiple other awards.
That being said, imagine if someone had attempted to publish the Harry Potter saga as a single volume, and that is pretty much what you have to deal with here. Just like Rowling, Clarke isn't wasteful with her characters and side stories. Everything plays a role, all the little puzzle pieces fit into place eventually, but believe me when I say that Clarke is in absolutely no hurry to get you there. The story is not strictly linear and sometimes the diversions, though interesting, are pretty frustrating to the reader. Characters and plot lines are dropped--and begin to feel abandoned--not to be picked up for much, much later. We don't even meet Jonathan Strange properly until maybe a third of the way through the book, if I recall. She is not in a hurry with her storytelling by any means, and it's a real testimony to her abilities that she is able to get away with this. It also means that a certain level of patience is required from a reader. My litmus test is this: if you read Lev Grossman's The Magicians and had a hard time getting through it, avoid this book like the plague, because it takes that pacing to a whole new level. If you were fine with the strolling "we get there when we get there" pace of Grossman's storytelling, by all means try this because as magical books go, this is about as good as you can get.
Anyone who loved this book should read Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy. They're technically Young Adult books but it's really just a great trilogy period. The main character feels like a young Jonathan Strange, and the footnotes in that one (asides from Bartimaeus, the magician's demon) are incredibly entertaining. They're not exactly the slimmest of volumes either, but comparably, they're a breeze, with more action and brisker pacing.
The story, set during the Napoleonic Wars is an alternate history set in a world where magic exists, or at least a world that knew magic. In the world of the book, famous magicians of the past are revered as we might revere great statesmen or great writers, but the England of the story has evolved (some might say "deteriorated") to a point where the only magic left is theoretical, written about with an academic detachment in scholarly books. No one practices the art of magic anymore. No one, that is, except for one very humbuggy sort of crank, who attempts to restore Magic to England and a self-taught upstart who complicates the matter. Ultimately, the story becomes a complex, somewhat moving, sometimes maddening tale of a collaboration turned rivalry turned--almost--love story between these two magicians of completely different temperaments and viewpoints but who share the same dream, the same love, of magic. While they strive (in their own ways) to achieve their ends, they might well destroy each other in the process, but the one thing they can't do is avoid each other. Clarke commits to writing the entire epic story in a style and tone that matches the time period, down to employing archaic words, phrasings and spellings, and does it so convincingly that it begins to seem impossible that this could really be a book that was written only a handful of years ago. The narrative itself is set up almost as an embroidered biography of the two title characters, extensively employing authentic-sounding footnotes that reference magic texts and scholarly works that do not actually exist. This is a book that will envelop you, to be sure. The effect is so masterful, it's no wonder that the book garnered a Hugo and multiple other awards.
That being said, imagine if someone had attempted to publish the Harry Potter saga as a single volume, and that is pretty much what you have to deal with here. Just like Rowling, Clarke isn't wasteful with her characters and side stories. Everything plays a role, all the little puzzle pieces fit into place eventually, but believe me when I say that Clarke is in absolutely no hurry to get you there. The story is not strictly linear and sometimes the diversions, though interesting, are pretty frustrating to the reader. Characters and plot lines are dropped--and begin to feel abandoned--not to be picked up for much, much later. We don't even meet Jonathan Strange properly until maybe a third of the way through the book, if I recall. She is not in a hurry with her storytelling by any means, and it's a real testimony to her abilities that she is able to get away with this. It also means that a certain level of patience is required from a reader. My litmus test is this: if you read Lev Grossman's The Magicians and had a hard time getting through it, avoid this book like the plague, because it takes that pacing to a whole new level. If you were fine with the strolling "we get there when we get there" pace of Grossman's storytelling, by all means try this because as magical books go, this is about as good as you can get.
Anyone who loved this book should read Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy. They're technically Young Adult books but it's really just a great trilogy period. The main character feels like a young Jonathan Strange, and the footnotes in that one (asides from Bartimaeus, the magician's demon) are incredibly entertaining. They're not exactly the slimmest of volumes either, but comparably, they're a breeze, with more action and brisker pacing.