Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

It's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved. A sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust.

Well, for anyone who's ever wondered what an 18th century England would do with magic, here's an answer. England knows that it used to have magic and there are still magicians who study it [though they don't actually do any magic]. There is a report of a man - Mr. Norrell - who does. This story is really about Mr. Norrell and his understanding of when to use magic, what for and why. Kind of. It's a bit hard to get into at first - especially if you're not used to the slow pace and excessive politeness of 18th century life, but once Jonathan Strange arrives on the scene, it's well worth reading. Who - or what - is the Raven King? What's the deal with the servant [I forget his name, he's important though]? Why is a simple street magician [also known as a charlatan or trickster] making prophecies? Definitely worth reading if you can make it past the beginning to the bit where you care about the people involved. If you're used to novels set in the 18th century and you like fantasy, I recommend this.

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