Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Fantasy has not been much on my radar for many a long year, in fact I would say that I have read no pure fantasy much past my mid-twenties (shuuuush! 40 odd years ago). The obvious was Tolkien and C S Lewis in my teens but most other reading of the genre paled in comparison to the point that it was not that memorable. Sci Fi lasted longer with Science Fantasy being a favourite but that too became a lost cause.

So how did I come to read this fantasy, one not like anything I recall reading before?

In early 2018 I found it in an Op Shop for a measly $2 and after reading the cover blurb it seemed interesting. Like a lot of my Op Shop purchases it was put away in a dark corner bound to become the usual distant memory, or at least I thought. As with all readers of novels I had had a vague idea to write a book, mine based on a distant relative who was involved in nonsense about being the illegitimate son of Edward VII and closer relative who was once a member of the British Magic Circle. The idea was of combining the two characters in a book about a magician confidence trickster. After a few ideas jotted down I was typical of the dreamer, no idea where to go. Magic especially. A slightly odd uncle was hardly the basis for deep knowledge on said subject. Read about it, I thought and looked as to what I had.

I recalled I had this book so last Boxing Day I began this long brick of a novel and have to say that I have found it magnificent from page one. In my opinion a truly English fantasy that I have found breathtaking in scope, wondrous in the story telling and just damn well enthralling. The atmospheric shadowy feel, the spells cast, the deviousness of some characters, the seeming naivety of others. And the footnotes! How good are they? There is also, at times, a sense of humour pervading that shines through some dark, wintry, rainy, snowy gloom. Blend all this with an alternative telling of early 18oo's English history, magic returning after a long slumber to be used in the Napoleonic wars amongst other things and I was totally dragged in. For me this was a great fantasy. I will read this author again.


So that has left me thinking that writing a novel is but a dream. Compete with this? Not on your life. I have not that type of magic in me.