Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful book and one of those few cases in which I was sure I was going to love it even before reading one page.

The amalgam of genres is interesting in itself, but most of all, Clarke manages to make the whole reading consistently entertaining through her tone, which is delightful and funny. It exudes englishness in the manner of Conan Doyle most of all, I think, though it winks and nods at many other authors.

The mythology she sets up is well thought out and interesting in itself. The footnotes are well used and illuminating, and are often the better parts of the chapter they're in.

I also liked that though I knew where the story was going, there are a few twists and turns and things left completely in the dark that I didn't mind at all because the road to getting there was so enjoyable.

Alas, the bad thing about it is that I now long for more books in this vein, and for a more full mythology to be built up from this. The Raven King has got to be one of the more interesting additions to fictional English history that I know of, and would love to read a book about his exploits since his presence is so big and prevalent in this one that it makes one think of him as the unseen third protagonist of the book.


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