I recently purchased this book on a whim off the bargain table. I was immediately hooked! I left my copy in a B&B so I went out and bought another. This book is a charmer. It's funny, it's engaging, it's smart and it completely captures the feeling of the period. Frankly I don't know enough about the subject of English majic to know if Susanna Clark made up all the footnotes or if they have any basis in fact. DON'T SKIP THE FOOTNOTES! They are half the fun. I'd just finished Pride & Prejudice for the first time and this was a great follow up to that. This book isn't for everyone, but I'm glad I found it.

In spite of the other reviewers that didn't like this book, I enjoyed it a lot. It COULD have been better with some editing, (I wonder how much was edited out!)but all in all, it was well-written, and a great plot. It's hard to find well-written books. I would recommend this book for patient readers who enjoy a well-crafted book!

What a dull and overhyped pile of Victorian dung. I read this piece of dry drudgery from its sloooow beggining to its even slooooower end.

Sorry folks, but nothing happens in this book. I wont go into any plot detail because like 500 other folks have done that for you here, but my overall impression of this novel was that it sucked. And if you think I'm just pissin' and moanin' here well I write a lot of reviews and if a book is good I will give it whatever props it deserves. You can check my profile out if you want.

If you'd like to read soemthing that is actually good and magical and set in a good Victorian setting look up Drood by Dan Simmons, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Dahlquist, or Quicksilver, The Confusion and System of the World by Neal Stephenson.

Brian d

Some of the reviews in here are almost longer than the book so I'll keep mine short. The first time I tried to read this book I couldn't get into it. I guess I was expecting something else, but I came back to it a year later and it gripped me completely. I've read it a second time since and found it just as engaging. Be warned though this is not a light read. It'll require more than the attention span of a goldfish. It is very detailed. The footnotes may put some people off, but I liked them and I found that the side notes made the author's world feel more authentic. You'll start to question whether this is only a work of fiction. There is nothing wrong with shiny flashy things as entertainment, but if you crave a bit more and have some extra time, I think you should read this book. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

"Logic only gives man what he needs...Magic gives him what he wants." ~Tom Robbins

This book is difficult to rate. At times I loved it, and at other times I just wanted it to end. This book has taken longer for me to read than any other book in recent memory(of course it didnt help that my wife and I watched all four seasons of Lost during my regular reading hours for the first month). I like to try to read approx. 30 books a year and this book is likely to keep me from my goal this year. This urgency may have made me more frustrated with the pace of the book than usual.

I was really looking forward to the book originally. I thought the concept sounded pretty intriguing - magic coming back in early 19th century England via Strange and Norrell. I like the way the author writes, she definitely has a way with words; however, I just felt it fell flat. It didn't really hold my attention very well. Just when it started to get good, it would start what I felt was another boring section. It definitely isn't meant to be a fast paced book, which is alright by me; however, it just felt like the plot wasn't going anywhere for the first 2/3rds of the book. I liked the last third of the book for the most part; however, it wasn't enough to make up for the first part. Reviews on Amazon kept me going but I just didn't feel it lived up to my high expectations.