Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

"Ever since the first evening Mr Segundas had been intending to ask Mr Honeyfoot about the Learned Society of Magicians of Manchester which Dr Foxcastle had mentioned. He did so now. "It was a society of quite recent foundation," said Mr Honeyfoot, "and its members were clergymen of the poorer sort, respectable ex-tradesmen, apothecaries, lawyers, retired mill owners who got up a little Latin and so forth, such as people might be termed half-gentleman. I believe Dr Foxcastle was glad when they disbanded - he does not think that people of that sort have any business becoming magicians. And yet, you know, there were several clever men among them. They began, as you did, with the aim of bringing back practical magic to the world. They were practical men and wished to apply the principal of reason and science to magic as they had done to the manufacturing arts. They called it 'Rational Thaumaturgy'. When it did not work they became discouraged. Well, they cannot be blamed for that. But they let their disillusionment lead them into all sorts of difficulties. They began to think that there was not now nor ever had been magic in the world. They said that the Aureate magicians were all deceivers or were themselves deceived. And that the Raven King was an invention of the northern English to keep themselves from the tyranny of the south (being north-country men themselves they had some sympathy with that). Oh, their arguments were very ingenious - I forget how they explained fairies. They disbanded, as I told you, and one of them, whose name was Aubrey I think, meant to write it all down and publish it. But when it came to the point he found a sort of fixed melancholy had settled on him and was not able to rouse himself enough to begin."

William from Glasgow

The way the book is written is the key for me with this book, the footnotes, which could have made it seem like a history book, are wonderfully witty and do not distract you from the story itself. The story is great, the two magicians, Mr Norrell and Jonathan Strange are completely different but complement each other superbly. The supporting cast, which includes Childermass, Drawlight, Segundas and Black do what a supporting cast should do and this all goes to make reading it a real treat. Susanna Clarke will be hard pressed to write another book this good bit I, for one, am hoping that she succeeds.

Thomas from Leeds

A truly wonderful book that has great characters and fantastic plot. The sense of humour that runs through is dry but often hilarious. This is fantasy for adults, I doubt that children would enjoy it, mainly due to the size of the book (800+ pages) and they would probably find the themes slightly too adult to enjoy.

Mary from Lancashire

I have just finished this book, which has taken a couple of weeks as I only get to read for a short time in the evenings. It is an amazing book and although it requires at times real commitment in following the story (not least with the footnotes being a whole other book in themselves!)it rewards you richly with the beautiful prose and incredible attention to detail making this book a true modern classic that you just have to read!

Jane from Wiltshire

This is a book that I can not praise highly enough. It\'s magical, the period setting the most believable I have ever encountered. Beautifully written with a wonderfully dry humour throughout. This is a book that shows that fantasy is not just elves and goblins but can be a book of which Charles Dickens would be proud! 10 out of 10!

Patrick from Los Angeles

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Sorry, tried this book 3 times - never got beyond page 100. Dry.

Harry from United States

Way over-rated and very boring.

Ragnar from Norway

This is one of the few fantasy books I actually simply gave up on reading due to the boredom induced by the book itself. Altough fairly imaginative the alarmingly slow pace at which it moves forth makes it the most unworthy nr.5 on a top 100 list I have ever seen. Just my opinion.

Donnacha from Ireland

Just so boring, dull and slow.

Gracie from Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.

An amazing book.

Otto from South America

This book should be called "Jonathan Tedious & Mr. Boring". Most boring, tedious, sleep inducing piece of literature I have ever tried to read. I like big books (Thomas Mann, Tolstoi, Dostoievski are among my favourites). Language is not the problem, I love Dante, Homer, Dickens. Fantasy is very dear to me, I have read Tolkien and the full Harry Potter series, and they are excellent. The problem? Nothing ever seems to happen in this book. The characters are uninteresting, and I wanted most of them to die violently, due to boredom. You have to wait for 300 pages for one of the main characters to appear... I really tried. Until I started reading this book (I borrowed if from a friend, fortunately) I was very proud of never leaving a book unfinished. It is pretentious, overrated. Don't waste your time, go read a Donald Duck comics, it has much more substance and style. :)

Miguel from Portugal

Was offered this book as a present but it was boring, lacking of action and overly descriptive in the sense that the said descriptions added nothing except sleep induction...I have to agree it is way overrated although very well written it lacks substance.