Book Review: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

TITLE: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
AUTHOR: Susanna Clarke
PUBLISHED: 2004
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Historical fantasy
PREMISE: In a world where magic is discussed but not practiced Mr. Norrell becomes a radical along with Jonathan Strange.
MY REVIEW: Okay here's the thing. I do think this is a good book. It's well written in the style of Gaiman/Pratchett, it's creative, funny at times, and has detailed world building. HOWEVER it's also REALLY SLOW.
Like painfully slow. I've never been so bored by a fantasy book in my life and I hated that because otherwise I loved everything about this but I can't give it higher marks because it just got too wrapped up in details and not enough in plot and character growth and oh yeah, making things entertaining. All the good writing in the world doesn't help you if your book is dull as rocks. Which sadly this book kind of was. There were literally ten/fifteen chapters where nothing happened.
I wish this author well in the future because I do find her writing good and creative she just needs to make her stuff more entertaining and engaging.
WHO SHOULD READ: patient readers, fans of Gaiman/Pratchett, historical fantasy fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five magic books