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click here.The first 300 pages of this book are very boring, almost never read something this slow! But I stuck with it because all the reviews said that it would get better. It's one of these books that needs the slow, boring bit to contrast with the rest of the story, so the slow buildup was necessary for the second half of the book to be effective. And it gets really good! The way magic is a "British" right that has been studied for centuries, that has buildup libraries of scientific books around it and lThe first 300 pages of this book are very boring, almost never read something this slow! But I stuck with it because all the reviews said that it would get better. It's one of these books that needs the slow, boring bit to contrast with the rest of the story, so the slow buildup was necessary for the second half of the book to be effective. And it gets really good! The way magic is a "British" right that has been studied for centuries, that has buildup libraries of scientific books around it and legends of big magicians of the past is just incredibly realistic and well done. The depth of detail is amazing. The reader knows more than the characters and at times it's frustrating how slowly they catch up.
The whole episode in Venice is really good and Strange's use of mirrors and old magic is interesting to follow.
Although it seems that Mr Norrell was right at the end, he can't stop the resurgence of English magic or the Raven King.
It seems weird that one magician is so much more powerful than the others, and it's not really explained, although Strange seems to come close at times....more
