Book Review - FictionJonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004)
by Susanna Clarke
"Mr Norrell thought for a moment. 'I can prevent him arriving by sea,' he said.
'Excellent!' said Lascelles. Then something in the way Mr Norrell had phrased this last statement gave him pause. 'Well, he is scarcely likely to come any other way. He cannot fly!' He gave a light laugh at the idea. Then another thought struck him. 'Can he?'
Childermass shrugged.
'I do not know what Strange might be capable of now,' said Mr Norrell. 'But I was not thinking of that. I was thinking of the King's Roads.'
'I thought the King's Roads led to Faerie,' said Lascelles.
'Yes, they do. But not only Faerie. The King's Roads lead everywhere. Heaven. Hell. The Houses of Parliament... They were built by magic. Every mirror, every puddle, every shadow in England is a gate to those roads. I cannot set a lock upon all of them. No body could. It would be a monstrous task! If Strange comes by the King's Roads then I know nothing to prevent him.'
'But..." began Lascelles.
'I cannot prevent him!' cried Mr Norrell, wringing his hands. 'Do not ask me! But...' He made a great effort to calm himself. 'I can be ready to receive him. The Greatest Magician of the Age. Well, soon we shall see, shall we not?'" p.754
Although this book wasn't much of a page-turner, it was everything I had wanted in a story when it arrived at my door: Imaginative, whimsical, and romantic (in a sense, regarding the nature of magic and the history of England). I had wanted something to take my mind off of work (and other things) on my way to and fro work, and I was very pleased with how well this book read. Of course, this is partially due to the recent resurgence in my interest in magical stories, but in many ways, this wasn't even a story about magic. It was simply a story about people, some of which used magic. The magic was not explained, nor were the spells elaborated upon in much depth, but what Clarke was able to do was create such a large and interesting fictional world, along with a wonderful cast of characters. The basic premise of the story is that the two title characters, Norrell and Strange, seek to reestablish magic to England amidst its war with France. Soon, the two gain fame as their magic quickly turns them into celebrities; heroes in the war against Napoleon. But the two begin to drift apart, mainly due to their radically different natures and their contradictory ideas about what the next step for English magic is. Meanwhile, unfortunately, a magical threat continues to grow more and more powerful, and only the combined efforts of Norrell and Strange could ever hope to save the world from it. See what happens. Recommended. B
