Carms Books

Yes, been a bit of a break. But, I have TWO books to port today so all is well....yeah, I bet none of you have ANY idea what one of these books is do you.... :o)

Book 17 "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" Susanna Clarke

This was looong and a bit slow to start, so took me a lot longer to read than would ordinarily be the case. It's a story about magic returning to England. The idea is that magic used to run rife in the world, especially in England. The main man was a guy called the Raven King - he was a human boy raised by the fairies and became the most powerful magician in existence. When he left England (not died mind, just kind of...left) a lot of the magic left with him. As a result, practical magicians became few and far between and the people forgot about the idea of magic. The book is set in the 1800's, England is at war with France and isn't doing very well. There are a bunch of theoretical magicians around - but all they do is read about magic and think about it....never actually DO anything. Enter Mr Norrell, a stuffy, private, conservative old man who is a practical magician. The only one in England. The first part of the book is all about him, and to be honest, it's a slow start. The character is quite boring and while the author captures his bizarre qualities very well, the book is a bit of a plod in this part. The second part is about Jonathan Strange, another practical magician that pops up and becomes Mr Norrell's student. He's more interesting, and the book starts to pick up a bit when he is introduced. The third part goes into what happens between these two magicians and gets much more interesting. I got through the second part of the book a whole lot quicker than the first half.
The style is interesting - lots of footnotes! Clarke actually writes this book a bit more like a history than a fictional novel. Referencing books written by characters within the book, which is quite clever. Really, it wasn't a bad book, however someone should have gone through it with a red pen and cut about a third of the contents out, if it had been shorter and more concise I reckon it would have been better.

3 wizards out of 5

Book 18 "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" J K Rowling

Wow. I bet everyone is REALLY surprised that this is here the day after teh books release.... Yes yes, I went and picked the book up yesterday morning, went to Nick's place and the two us sat on his couch and read the book all day, joined by Euan playing on his laptop. I got most of the way through before having to stop to go out to dinner for my brother's birthday (inconsiderate to be born on the same day as the Harry release I know)and then when I got home, I finished it off. Bloody brilliant! But, I was alwasy going to say that. I'm not actually going to say much about it, because there are too many people who might shoot me for spoiling stuff, but I will say it was better than the last one (shorter for a start at only 607 pages). It doesn't start in the traditional way at the Durlsey's either, but in the muggle world, which was really quite a cool thing. It's actually a lot funnier than previous too, I was happily chuckling for much of the book. I was also happy to discover that Harry finally stopped whining like a little bitch and he didn't irritate me. It ends well, I cried like there was no tomorrow and then next and last book is going to be AWESOME!

5 potions lessons out of 5.

Thankyou, that is all. :o)
Carms!