Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book is hard to describe. In terms of genre, it is both fantasy and well-researched historical fiction, which makes it a rather rare bird. The writing style falls somewhere between Austen and Gaiman and Dickens. The plot is somewhat rambling and disjoint, forsaking the standard quest narratives; in some ways it is a fantastic history of England, in some ways a tale of rescue. If it is anything, it is the story of the relationship between the two title characters, but one of them is not even introduced for two hundred pages. . Unlike most of the better modern fantasy, this book is not a page-turner, and I mean that as a compliment; rather, it is a book to savor. Not that the plot isn't engaging - it is - but I frequently found myself comparing how many pages I'd read to how many I had left, deciding that I was burning through the book too quickly, and setting it down while I turned the passages I'd just read over in my head. As befits a character-driven fantasy, almost all the characters are likeable, or at least understandable; even when they take larger-than-life action, they do so for incredibly human reasons. There are also a number of historical-character cameos, all of them well-drawn and believable.. I do not agree with Mr. Gaiman's statement that this is "the finest English novel of the fantasticke to appear in the past 70 years." Tolkien is better; his work has an epic grandeur that this book lacks, perhaps because Susanna Clarke so realistically and concretely evokes the precise historical era at which she aims : the imagination has a somewhat wider canvas to paint on when reading Tolkien or similar high fantasy, with more blank space to be filled in by the reader. Setting fantasy in a specific historical setting means that the magic stands out against the realistic elements, rather than dictating the whole scope and shape of the world, and readers who prefer their fantasy more total - who prefer to sink themselves into a wholly fantastic world - may prefer other books. (On the other hand, readers who prefer to sink themselves into specific historical eras, but still appreciate fantasy elements, will no doubt enjoy this book, especially the ways in which the author incorporates magical elements into the recorded historical happenings of the era, such as, for example, the battle of Waterloo). I would also argue that Mr. Gaiman's novels are "better," in that I personally prefer them slightly, if only because they tend to have a little more tension and action in them. But on the whole this book is very, very good, and I recommend it highly to anyone who likes historical fiction, fantasy novels, or just quality writing and well-drawn, likeable characters. This is not, however, fantasy for the action-oriented, or for those who desire a bad guy or monster every few pages. This is a book to be read while sitting in a comfortable chair by a warm fire, something drinkable near at hand; a book to be quietly enjoyed.