Previous SFF Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke
(1959- )
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was nominated for: Whitbread Prize for First Novel, British Science Fiction Association Best Novel, The Booker Prize Best Novel, British Fantasy Society Best Novel. It won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, Hugo Best Novel, Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature Best Novel. You can read an excerpt at the Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell website.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
I’m giving Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell a 5 for the simply reason that I thoroughly enjoyed it all the way through, but I’d warn all readers to be more wary than usual of reviews (including this one). More than many books, this one I think will be a matter of true personal taste and experience will be your only truly accurate guide.
To begin with, Strange is often referred to as a “fantasy”
Bill Capossere, Kat Hooper, Marion Deeds, Tadiana Jones and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Susanna Clarke | Audio, Hugo Award, Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke
The moment I finished Susanna Clarke’s wonderful first novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, I wished that there was more of it. It was a long wait, but finally the fans of Clarke’s magically-soaked nineteenth-century Britain have a sequel — of sorts. Clarke presents eight short stories concerned with the presence of Faerie in England, and its influence on human inhabitants, all set in the same universe (with the same magical structure) as her previous work.
Rebecca Fisher and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Susanna Clarke | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I was going to start this review of Piranesi (2020) by Susanna Clarke by stating that I was of two minds on the novel and then noting that this was both appropriate and also strong praise. Appropriate because the book is in many ways of the mind, and is as well of two worlds. Strong praise because my two minds were “I loved it” followed by “I liked it.” But then I thought more about it, and I decided my minds were really “I loved it,” “I liked it,” then “I loved it” again.
Bill Capossere, Tadiana Jones and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Susanna Clarke | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 10 comments |
Black Heart, Ivory Bones edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Black Heart, Ivory Bones is the sixth and final entry in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling’s series of fairy tale anthologies. Of the six, I’ve read four, and each has its own particular flavor, its own unique mood. While all of the books contain a mix of light and darkness, in this volume there seems to be more of a balance: “all that’s best of dark and bright,” if you will. The mood that Black Heart,
Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | Charles De_Lint, Delia Sherman, Ellen Datlow, Esther Friesner, Jane Yolen, Neil Gaiman, Susanna Clarke, Tanith Lee, Terri Windling | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Secret History of Fantasy edited by Peter S. Beagle
The basic premise of the SECRET HISTORY anthologies (there’s also a science fiction one, The Secret History of Science Fiction, which I haven’t read) is that there’s a type of writing that got missed or buried because other things were more popular, more commercial, or dodged the spec-fic labeling. Certainly that’s the thrust of Peter S. Beagle‘s introduction, and the two other non-fiction pieces by Ursula K. Le Guin and editor David G.
Mike Reeves-McMillan´s rating: 4 | Francesca Lia Block, Gregory Maguire, Jeffrey Ford, Jonathan Lethem, Kij Johnson, Maureen McHugh, Michael Swanwick, Neil Gaiman, Patricia McKillip, Peter S. Beagle, Robert Holdstock, Stephen King, Susanna Clarke, Terry Bisson, Ursula K. Le-Guin | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Previous SFF Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…
this sounds like a fun one