blacksphinx's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Mental illness, Grief, Classism, Murder, Animal death, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gun violence, Racism, and War
Moderate: Slavery, Alcohol, and Sexism
Minor: Antisemitism, Transphobia, and Fatphobia
athryn's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
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
5.0
Put off reading this for a long time after buying it, the hazards of having so many books in ones TBR pile.
Glad I finally did, it's fantastic. Umberto Eco had an essay in the edition of The Name of the Rose I read that talked about creating a complete world when he wrote his books, and this book does the same thing. It feels like history, a fully realized world, not just what we know of England and the Napoleonic/Regency era, but all of the fantasy elements were well grounded. I love some of the digressions and whole stories going on in the footnotes (I think I sadly missed a couple before I realized that the Kindle was cutting them off,) which really added to the whole world.
Strange and Norrell are really just in the end a couple of nerds, aren't they?
Glad I finally did, it's fantastic. Umberto Eco had an essay in the edition of The Name of the Rose I read that talked about creating a complete world when he wrote his books, and this book does the same thing. It feels like history, a fully realized world, not just what we know of England and the Napoleonic/Regency era, but all of the fantasy elements were well grounded. I love some of the digressions and whole stories going on in the footnotes (I think I sadly missed a couple before I realized that the Kindle was cutting them off,) which really added to the whole world.
Strange and Norrell are really just in the end a couple of nerds, aren't they?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death and Racism
pvbobrien's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Racism, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Mental illness, and Kidnapping
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Sexism, and Slavery
kathleencoughlin's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is a cross between historical fiction and fantasy that follows these two men as they research magical history and practice and attempt to carve out a place for magic in England. I enjoyed reading about the eccentric magicians, but I think it's the secondary characters who really bring the story to life. The book is quite long, can be slow at times, and is heavily character-driven so I hesitate to recommend it to most, but for the right audience it is a delight. I loved the additional lore and context added through footnotes and thought it was a clever way to bring in more info and mirror the magical texts the characters might be reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Animal death, Classism, Gaslighting, War, and Sexism
Minor: Murder and Death of parent
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Mental illness
Minor: Racism, Sexism, and Toxic friendship
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