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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: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Sexism, Slavery, and Alcohol
Minor: Fatphobia, Transphobia, and Antisemitism
kelsea's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: War
Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, and Forced institutionalization
clara_mai's review against another edition
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
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racism, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexism, and War
anniup's review against another edition
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
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Murder, and War
Moderate: Mental illness and Slavery
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: Racism, Murder, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and Grief
Minor: Sexism, Slavery, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
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: Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, Gaslighting, War, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent and Murder
jehansflowers's review against another edition
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, War, and Classism
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Murder, and Colonisation
coolfijiwater's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, and War
Minor: Sexism
btrz7's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
So after sitting on it for a bit, I've finally decided to come review this book. My main point, is that, while well written, this book is a drag. It has too many pages for the amount of content you can squeeze out of it in the end. I liked the story, but it did not need to meander this much.
To start with, the first two characters we are introduced to in the book, who take the spotlight and get a lot of build up in the beginning section, are minor characters. You are reading and reading and thinking "Are these Norrel and Strange? Will they be them? Are we going to get the whole story from their perspective then? Are they main characters?" and the answer to all of them is "NO". It feels like a lot of effort to put in two minor characters who will have maybe a couple of brief passages and minor influence in the big plot of the book. Then, we are introduced to one of the title characters way late in the book. After a brief introduction, said character is then ignored for some more chapters before then having page time as a main character. Again, some chapters and some effort is put into a few characters that will only be relevant for a brief moment in time, or not at all - some are somewhat built up and then completely forgotten by the end of the book, and again you think "why?" What was the point of introducing a character, giving them some flesh and then never even completing their story? You get the point.
None of the two main characters is particularly likeable, but I'm sure that's intentional, and for the tone of alternate history book that this takes, it works well enough; although I would prefer it if the interpersonal relationships between characters were a bit more believable. A certain plot point hinges on that and I don't think I was convinced.
In general, I did enjoy the plot, just felt like some trimming was needed. I do recommend the TV adaptation, as it focuses on the essential and makes the characters seem more human.
To start with, the first two characters we are introduced to in the book, who take the spotlight and get a lot of build up in the beginning section, are minor characters. You are reading and reading and thinking "Are these Norrel and Strange? Will they be them? Are we going to get the whole story from their perspective then? Are they main characters?" and the answer to all of them is "NO". It feels like a lot of effort to put in two minor characters who will have maybe a couple of brief passages and minor influence in the big plot of the book. Then, we are introduced to one of the title characters way late in the book. After a brief introduction, said character is then ignored for some more chapters before then having page time as a main character. Again, some chapters and some effort is put into a few characters that will only be relevant for a brief moment in time, or not at all - some are somewhat built up and then completely forgotten by the end of the book, and again you think "why?" What was the point of introducing a character, giving them some flesh and then never even completing their story? You get the point.
None of the two main characters is particularly likeable, but I'm sure that's intentional, and for the tone of alternate history book that this takes, it works well enough; although I would prefer it if the interpersonal relationships between characters were a bit more believable. A certain plot point hinges on that and I don't think I was convinced.
In general, I did enjoy the plot, just felt like some trimming was needed. I do recommend the TV adaptation, as it focuses on the essential and makes the characters seem more human.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Murder, War, and Classism
madrugada_dorada's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: War