 Hi, I'm Kate and this is Bitesize Book Review. Today I'll be reviewing Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark. This book is an alternate history sort of a historical fantasy. This is also a book that's a little bit hard to describe, but the short version of it is that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell are the only two magicians in the early 1800s in England and they are trying to restore English magic. The magic has gone out of England and they are trying to bring it back. This book includes Regency England aesthetics, fairies, a very unique take on magic, and some of the most interesting expansive world-building I have ever read in a fantasy novel. I absolutely love the characters in this book. They're all painted so delicately and while some are more complex than others you do get to know all of them very well over the course of the book and your opinions of them will definitely change as they experience the world. I love the way Clark brings magic into the world as something difficult to achieve, mysterious, dangerous, unsettling, and seductive all at the same time. As I said the world-building is incredible. Clark meshes real English history with the fantastical history of the Kingdom of Northern England and a fairy, a mystical dimension that exists beside reality in such a way that feels grounded in real possibility. Once you have suspended your disbelief that magic is real the book comes alive with history and legacy and the people who built English magic. This is my favorite book of all time but I do have a couple of extremely nitpicky criticisms. The main villain spends quite a bit of time saying that he's going to do something and the book takes place over the course of about 10 years and he doesn't do it. The villain is very distractible and mercurial so it kind of makes sense that he sort of talks about doing something for a long time before actually doing it but it seems like 10 years is a long time to talk about doing something and not actually do it. I give Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell 5 out of 5 stars. It's amazing. It is fantastic. I really recommend the audiobook if you are into that sort of thing. The narrator does a great job and I think everybody should read this book. It is amazing. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you next time.