Felix Gutierrez Gutierrez itibaren Puente Otero, Puente Nacional, Santander, Columbia
love love. Not for everybody, but you know who you are
An engaging pastiche of 19th Century novels - the kind that I usually eschew due to their relentless obsession with the mundane aspects of British life - but the focus on magic and faerie gives Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell an edge. Only main criticism has to be the footnotes. Oh the footnotes! Pages and pages of footnotes! The material covered in them was interesting enough, but having an entire page that's still technically classed as a single footnote is pushing it. Without the humour or wit that's so typical of Pratchett et al. to detract from the superfluousness of the notes in comparison with the actual narrative it was all too easy to skim read what could, on some occasions, amount to several pages of unnecessary contextual information. Could have done with some indexing, perhaps. That grumble aside, it was an intriguing read with interestingly developed characters and a good dynamic between the fantastical and the real, which is great, if you like that sort of thing. Will be interesting to see how the sequel pans out, when/if it ever surfaces.
Huck sure is resourceful. Some amusing & outrageous dialogue between Huck & Jim.