Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Take one part [author:Neil Gaiman] one part [author:Terry Pratchet] and one part [author:Jane Austen]add in a liberal dose of [author:Lord George Gordon Byron] and [author:Mary Shelley] and you might get [book:Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell] by [author:Susanna Clarke]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though it took me close to four months to read I never felt like the plot was dragging, although there were a few sections that I wondered about the relevance of but they were all nicely weaved back into the thread of the story and the pay off was there eventually.

The language of the novel was a strange but wonderful thing. The length of the book is a direct result of epic fantasy meets homage to 19th C English florid and chatty prose. The two married together in an unexpected but beautiful way. I was completely drawn in by the use of words and especially by the narration and footnotes.