Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

If you are someone who is any level of dedicated to the occult arts, particularly those you learn extensively out of books like ancient astrology, grimoire magic, traditional witchcraft, or a reconstructionist polytheism, this book is for us. The society of magicians in York is so true to many groups and individuals I have met that I felt compelled to read the first page and a half out loud to the occultists and close friends of occultists I met up with while reading this book, who could not stop smiling and shaking their head at it. If you feel the same way about those opening paragraphs, it is worth your time to continue on with the entire tome.

What ultimately robbed it from being 5 Stars in my eyes is that it was too long! This book is fantastic but it didn't need to be over 800 pages. It is maddening how many times characters not sharing information with each other prevents the right action from occurring until hundreds of pages later. There was a point where I thought I was never going to finish this damn thing and I felt about it akin to a textbook I was reading for class. And then we finally get a large jolt of plot progression in the last ~150 so pages that was so satisfying it kept me from from going down to a flat 4 Stars.

Sidenote: this book contains period-typical racism, in both remarks made about Jewish people and one of our main PoV characters being a Black man in London in the early 1800's.

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kelsea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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clara_mai's review against another edition

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3.5

- impressively intricate world building (the history of magic in England)
- historical aspect well executed with lots of fun references (the Shelleys appear!)
- rich, gothic atmosphere
- lush descriptions of the faerie world and the magic
- writing style embodies historical period
- beautiful illustrations accompany the story

- narrative style keeps the characters at a distance
- little emotional impact
- would have liked to see critique of/commentary on British Imperialism as magic was constantly used in favour of the government
- although I think this needed to be a long book, it could have been a *little* shorter
- ending not really satisfying, feels like it doesn't do the rest of the story justice

now very interested in reading Piranesi, a significantly shorter and much more recent work by Susanna Clarke that I've had my eye on for a while

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pvbobrien's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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jehansflowers's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

fuck i enjoyed this book. maybe its just bc i was listening to the audiobook at 1.9x speed, but i found it way more digestible than i was expecting. more than anything it was really just incredibly impressive. it was thoroughly well-researched, and melded that with the unique magic system and alternate history beautifully. honestly, very fun read.
my primary criticism is this: couldve been gayer

12/27/22 edit: didnt put a star rating on it before, but its getting 5 bc i still think about this book at least once a week

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coolfijiwater's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

love how hateable a majority of these characters are :) there’s a few that i don’t hate but only a few

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paper_queen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I honestly don't even know how to review this. It's just so quintessentially British and delightful and dark and mysterious and beautifully written all at the same time and I just love it. It's a monster to read, but the second half of the book especially will have you reeling, flipping pages as fast as you can to keep up and see what happens to all of the intricately-woven relationships and characters. (And BOY do things happen.)
I can't recommend this book enough. If you love period dramas, fantastical magic, compelling characters, gorgeous prose, and addictive plot, you'll heartily enjoy this one.

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featherbrain's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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