What other fantasy books do YOU read?

[Gwathagor]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

I had discussed JS & MR earlier in this thread...

http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpos...&postcount=663

I came away from the book dissatisfied. It droned on far too long after a very promising start, and the characters became less and less interesting as the story advanced. Both Strange and Norrell both came off as a bit thick, and the allusions to imaginary books, although clever at the beginning, became an anchor no less heavy than the copious allusions found in Melville's Moby Dick (a novel I respect but despise all the same). As the Emperor told Mozart in the movie 'Amadeus', "There you have it -- too many notes."

I usually rate books on whether I would reread them (I do the same with movies). I would not reread this book.

Oh, I'm glad to see that other people have read it. I'm sorry it bored you, though. As you're probably aware, Clarke did not intend for the footnotes to be published with the book, but simply wrote them for her own benefit and left them in when she sent the manuscript to the publishers, where she fully expected the footnotes to be excised. They are in no way essential to the story as a result and can be skipped over if one is in a hurry to finish the book. However, if one is willing to take the time to read them, they add a great deal to the sense of a larger, complete world that has, throughout its past several centuries, been deeply affected in every way by magic. I personally thought the footnotes were a lot of fun to read, particularly the legends and crazy anecdotes.

It is a long book, for sure, and is pretty slow during its first half. Once it gets moving, though, it's well worth the time invested.