Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Executive Summary: I had mixed feelings on the story, and disliked the vast majority of the characters. I enjoyed the ending though.

Audiobook: Simon Prebble is fantastic. He's the kind of narrator that adds something extra to the book. He made the slow parts of this book (of which there were many) a lot more bearable. He does a variety of voices and accents. He has great inflection with his normal reading voice too. He transitions between the story and footnotes seamlessly (probably better than I would had I been reading the text too). If you're going to do this book, audio is a great option. It's long though at 32 hours plus. You really get your money's worth with this one.

Full Review
This one has been on my radar for a few years. A friend of mine whose opinion on books I typically share really enjoyed it, especially in audio. I kept meaning to borrow it from him, but never got around to it. Then they released the mini-series last year, and I wanted to do the book first, but still never got to it. Audible had it on sale earlier t his month and I finally decided to pick it up and listen.

I was slow to get into it. Mr. Norrell is completely unlikable. I think that was intentional, but it didn't make the first 10 hour or so which were largely about him any better to listen to. Jonathan Strange and his wife were probably the only two characters I liked. Stephen, the butler wasn't bad too, but I generally despised (or was indifferent to) the rest. That always makes a read harder for me.

I like parts of the book, but every time I was getting into the story I'd hit another lull. I was never completely bored, but I found my attention wandering far more often than is normal for me.

I like some historical fiction, and this book reads a lot like that. In fact the magic was largely absent through much of the early goings. I think the highlight for me were the footnotes. They were often the best part of the story. We'd get a side story that was far more interesting than the main plot.

Overall I enjoyed parts of this book far more than others. I think if it had been shorter, or certain subplots had been removed entirely I would have given it another star. I can see why my friend liked it so much, but sadly I didn't share his opinion this time around. I still plan to check out the mini-series, but I'm not in a big hurry to do so.