Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

An enormous, ambitious historical fantasy that is hugely charming, often adorable. It's an epic (over 1,000 pages of tomeness), but it never feels weighty or bogged down. Instead, it's airy, light, fun, and constantly absorbing. It's written with such Jane Austeny humor that you can't help but become a bit infatuated with it, to laugh with it and to miss it when it's gone. I don't think I've ever read 1,000 pages so quickly. I yearned for it at work, or when I was out with friends. I read the last 400 pages in one bedsore-inducing marathon Saturday. I'm sad that I had to finish it.

First of all, huge kudos to Susanna Clarke. She's worldbuilt to the finest degree; creating an enormous, cohesive mystical and mysterious mythos that rivals Tolkien and Herbert. Kudos also because - unlike Tolkien and Herbert, who placed their worlds firmly beyond our reality - Clarke marries hers comfortably to our own; specifically, to a whole host of 19th century English traditions. This might be a very alternative reality, where England was once divided into a Northern and Southern kingdom, the former ruled by a magician-king in the 12th century. But it feels very, very embedded in actual history, and actual literary traditions from the period. Early portions of the book read like Georgian era comedies of manners - Pride and Prejudice and Magic! When the action moves to the Napoleonic wars, it turns into the Sharpe series. Later, it becomes Romantic, Byronic, mid-century fantasy horror: epistolary like Bram Stoker, Gothic and grotesque like Shelly. Throughout, some Arthurian hat-tips - once and future kings, King George III as a Fisher King, and a deep, Romantic connection (connexion!?) to the sublime mystery of Nature.

But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Basically, the story follows the revival of modern English magic - in the form of an odd couple buddy movie. Mr. Norrell (played by Michael Gambon in my head) is an anti-social, curmudgeony, prim and prudish pedant. He's a Yorkshire gentleman and one of the first people, in the year 180-something, that can practice - rather than just study or talk about - magic. He moves to London intending to revive English magic; all the while stressing that it's important not to meddle with the darker, scarier, more unpredictable sorts of magic - fairies, and the Raven King, and all that. He's also sooooo boring, and reading of the various antics and social pickles he gets into is a source of constant delight and humor. Oh, how I loved Mr. Norrell sometimes, and how surprising he could be.

Later, he's joined by Jonathan Strange (obviously David Tennant) - who's younger, sexier, sillier, more sociable and more distractable. He's also probably a better talent at magic, even if he's all over the place. Strange gets invited by the various glitterati of 19th century British history - the Duke of Wellington, the Prime Minister - to solve Important Historical Problems (like Napoleon) using magic. Where Mr. Norrell (Normal?) is cautious, Strange jumps right in. Hilarity ensues (well, sort of). Some sadness too. Indeed, a great meta moment is when Strange - having suffered various slings and arrows of outrageous fortune - has become a bit Byronic. The writing here turns Shelly/Stoker/Byron-ish, and who else does Strange meet in the story than... Shelly and Byron!? Ha! (Too early for Stoker, I guess.)

The rest of the story follows from the Norrell/Strange dichotomy, though it's not entirely predictable. Yes, Norrell/Strange threaten to become the standard Disciplined Master/Rogue Pupil archetype (Obi-Wan/Anakin, kung fu master/kung fu student, etc.), but Clarke subverts this formula in interesting ways. And she never forgets her setting; this book is deeply connected to its traditions, both in form (her use of Georgian language and writing style) and content (the folk history of Ye Olde Englande and all its magickalness).

An absolute pleasure; highly recommended.

Edited to add: I should note that I didn't read any of the footnotes; thinking instead to get through the story first, and delve into the worldbuilding curlicues later. Reading some of the other reviews, it seems some of the 1-star people got fed up with too much footnoting.