Sorry, just couldn’t get into this.

I admit when I first saw this book I was reluctant to read it – not because of the subject. I like books about magic and history, but because of the size. From the beginning, however, Clarke’s writing pulled me into this world in which magic is studied and practiced, used and misunderstood. I especially liked the interactions between Norrell and Strange and the ones between the servant Stephen Black and the faery gentleman with the thistle-down hair.

I finished this a month ago and realized only today how much I truly enjoyed it. She has created one of those worlds in which I still find my brain popping into spontaneously, with no outside influence. I may read this again somewhat soon, once more time is available.

I was really proud of myself for finishing this book. For those of us who love fantasy but are used to things like HP and LOTR it’s hard…it had difficult language and it’s not very action oriented. But I did like it. It created a whole new amazing world and was descriptive in a lovely way. I recommend trying it!

I am giving up on this. I just can’t get excited about reading it and have only gotten through 4 chapters. The first chapter alone was annoying with all of the footnotes. Maybe one day I will try again.

I love this genre..and i hate to say this because so many of my friends read this and loved it…i thought it was SO boring..boring boring boring..i read the first half of the book twice before actually finishing it on the third try..the story could have been told in a much shorter book…the storyline was clever but the way it was written put me to sleep..literally..if you are having insomnia forget taking those sleep drugs..just give this book a shot and you’ll be snoring in no time

Much too long. I read in short spurts and it was just too much effort to get back into this every time. I’m passing it along to someone who, hopefully, will enjoy it more. Someday when I have lots of spare time, I’ll try it again!

I just emerged from the reading coma induced by this novel. Though I would never have stumbled upon something in the library’s sci fi section normally; I am glad this got a good New York Times review and I discovered it. It was a light, entertaining, vacation read. It is long. I had many cups of tea (something about these English novels). And now I have to go see what happened in the world while I was gone.

This book was suggested to me by someone on all consuming. Well since I already read it, this was a good reason to re-read the book. This book is a perfect autumn read, dim the lights, put on some candles and let Susanna Clarke take you to a magical world.