By Susanna Clarke

This was an interesting book when it came to how I came to it. My dad chose to read it to me, but when I went back to the university, we lost contact with where we were in the book. In the end, I only learned how the story ended when the adaptation came out on the BBC, and I only read the end of the story for this review.

“The year is 1806, England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon, and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation’s past. Scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norell, whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country. Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician, the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange. Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell, so begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.”

This book is a book that is both set in the 18th century and is written like it were from that time. By this, I mean it is 1000 pages long, and sometimes there will be multiple pages that are more footnotes than story. But if you are willing to meet the book where it is, you will have a good time.

For this story, I have three thoughts.

Firstly, Mr Norrell, this man. He is a contradiction; at first, he truly wants to bring magic back to England and help the war effort. But at the same time, this is someone who spent his adult life in his self-made paradise, where everything is just how he likes it. Throughout the book, he seems to be uncomfortable with the socialising that would be required to plead his case, and most of the time when he is asked to do certain types of magic, he turns it down as impossible. Also, he keeps trying to control who can do magic, whether by buying all the books of magic or prosecuting anyone who claims to have magic. At some point, it seems like he is the villain. Or at least the antagonist.

Secondly, Jonathan Strange. As it can be assumed, Jonathan Strange is almost completely different from Mr Norrell. While Mr Norrell studied magic from books, Jonathan seems to try anything he can or contact anyone who will teach him. When it comes to helping with the war, his response is “I’m going to try something and see if it works.” No matter what happens, he feels like the main character even though he doesn’t show up until the second part of the book.

Thirdly, the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair. When we meet him, he is portrayed as the villain. He makes a deal with Mr Norrell to bring a woman back in exchange for getting half of her life, which means he takes her to his kingdom every night. The reader can see the damage that it is doing to her. But something to consider, fairies are shown not to consider most humans to be on the same level as them. He seems to think that if he is having fun, then everyone else must be having fun. This is especially seen in his interactions with Steven Black.

Steven Black is the only black person in the book. It seems that most people treat him based on his skin colour. The only exception is the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair.  The fairy in question is impressed by how much of a beautiful pair they make. The Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair then decides that he wants to do everything he can to help Steven, whether he wants that help or not. This starts with the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair twisting reality to shower Steven Black with gifts. This gets worse when the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair looks into Steven’s future and sees that Steven is meant to be king somewhere. As you can guess, chaos ensues. And this plot stays unpredictable to the end.

Thank you for listening to me. If you found this interesting in any way, you need to read this book. I have only brought up about a 5th of what happens in this book. And until next time, when I talk about the show.

Happy reading to all, and to all a good night.