Anyone else read this book? I've just about finished it and I must say it's a great read. A lot of work, but it really pays off.

It's a really unique novel, hard to classify. It's sort of a Victorian era fantasy. Very very good. I think it ranks up there as among the best fantasy novels I've ever read. No, it's not Tolkien, but then what is?

Definitely worth a read.

I've been curious about this book myself... I've seen it around a lot, I might have to pick this up (even though I have several on my plate already, lol).

I thought this book was a great read although it takes a LONG time to get up to speed. Once it hits the Napoleonic Wars, it's fantastic. I thought it was interesting because none of the characters seemed to be black/white. The footnotes are great as well.

I read this book and really enjoyed it. It's true -- this book does require effort. I can see many people just not being able to get past the writing style. It's not just set in the Victorian era ... it reads like something that would have been written in the Victorian era. But if you can get past that (and the footnotes) it really does get absorbing. I like the frequent drawings in the book too. Don't expect Harry Potter, though (which the cover blurbs allude to). Approach it like a newly discovered Dickens novel about magicians.

It is written in a strange 3rd person non-fiction/biographical style. As if someone is doing a historical account of fictional events.

I just finished reading it last night and the end took me totally by surprise. It's a pretty obvious conclusion that I didn't see, and I've been thinking about it all day. There aren't many 800p books that are able to do that.

Highly, highly recommended. (One nitpick -- it's set during the reign of George III and the Napoleanic Wars, as mentioned. Victoria didn't begin her reign until 1837, roughly 20 years after the events of this book).

Eric -- what part of the conclusion took you by surprise?

Don't read that if you haven't read the book, or you'll ruin a big part of it.

I'd say it's actually pre-Victorian, like an 1800-era gothic novel of manners. I couldn't get into it. It's really all about manners.

Stick with it. It gets more interesting when it really starts getting into magic and Jonathan Strange.

Absolutely agree - a lot of Dickens parallels. This consumed my Christmas 2004 holiday, and I'm not sorry at all.

BBC are making this and it'll be out in the New Year: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/lat...g-release.html

I have this on kindle... pity it isn't a good whispersync deal. I think it would be a great audiobook.

I think I got about halfway through, and just never went back, maybe I'll try picking it up again after I finish the book I'm on now.

This is one of my favorite books of the last decade. I hope the mini-series does it justice. David Bowie as The Gentleman with the Thistle-down Hair and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Stephen Black please.

I'm terrible at reading "modern" releases, but I'm so glad I did for this one. I've re-visited it several times and picked up the short story companion, Ladies of Grace Adieu.

When my wife suggests unloading the big hardcover for a Kindle version, it's one of the books I push back on the hardest. Just something about the subject seems almost blasphemous to read on digital

Hope the mini-series can capture this on screen without losing too much.

In the 7 or so years since creating this thread I've pretty much forgotten what the book was about (other than the fact that I'd enjoyed it).

In any event I read that they're doing a BBC Miniseries on the book and hope they do it justice.

great, is it available on amazon?

The novel? Yeah, you can get it pretty much everywhere. It was on the NY Times top 100 for a while. Worth a read.