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For some reason this book has stayed in my mind since childhood. It makes me think of sitting in the old English block at my high school on a dark, winter afternoon. It's a very vibey book, with a strong sense of Englishness and of winter, particularly Christmas. The family Christmas scenes are very cosy and quintessentially English, perhaps even of southern England. The setting was strongly presented and well written, as was the light vs dark trope.

The characters seem a bit flat and under-developed, even the main character of Will. I'm not sure whether that's simply because this is children's literature and so it moves a lot faster than a more adult fantasy novel would. The plot felt similarly under-developed and fast-paced in a lot of places. Again, maybe because it's for children. We just have to accept things as they are without really being given much of a back story as to how they came to be, although I did enjoy the story arc of the Walker—that was more fleshed out and had a satisfying ending.

I'll be continuing with Greenwitch very soon.

I'm pretty sure I read the full sequence as a kid, though I really only remember the titular Dark is Rising. That's the book that brought me back to this adult reread, but I figured I'd start with the first book. I have to say I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Sometimes childhood loves don't hold up well—I'm looking at you, David Eddings!—but in the case of this opening novel to the sequence, it really does. There are strong vibes and a sense that this book knows what it is.

And what is that?

I'd say that England is the vibiest part of the book. I know Cornwall pretty well and have visited Mevagissey, the town on which the setting of this book is based, so I had a good time with the location and scenery. The plot was a straight forward grail quest with kids outwitting the baddies in Scooby-Doo fashion. They really would have got away with it had it not been for those pesky kids! They're of a time, when kids weren't helicoptered as they are now. I can just imagine modern parents' horror as the characters set off around a headland at low tide to seek out a grail in a cave in nothing but shorts and sandals.

Character development was thin, with the possible exception of Barney, the youngest of the three siblings. Plot development was fast and also thin, but hey, it's children's literature.

I bought this on the strength of a recommendation by freelance journalist and regular MacBreak Weekly panelist, Andy Ihnatko. His recommendation was based on the fact that the audible version is 32 hours long and yet is still only one credit! Thus, one can ‘stick it to the man' with this audiobook. Well, there was a little more to it than that. My interest was piqued and the review I read convinced me that I would enjoy it.

I found it to be rather a clever book in that it seems to rise above the geekish realm of fantasy and sci-fi and enter the mainstream. Yes, it is in essence a fantasy book, but not like any other I've read. There are no elves and goblins, no magic talismans, no underdogs coming into their powers and having to save the world from evil against the odds. Rather this is a tale of 19th century England and features such historical characters as Napoleon and Wellington.

The style is a literary one, reminding one of Jane Austen and the Brontes and the characters would not seem out of place in a Dickens novel.

We begin in the north of England, where practical magicians no longer, well, practice magic and the theoretical magicians read books on magic and discuss it in their clubs and societies. That is until Mr Norrell comes along, a practical magician intent on being the only one of his kind. He agrees to prove to the theoreticians that he can do magic, but makes them agree that, if he is sucessful, the theoretical magicians should give up magic all together.

Then Jonathan Strange comes along as another real magician and we follow the relationship between him and Mr Norrell throughout the tale.

The audiobook is read by Simon Prebble and he does a good job. I enjoyed the book a lot but do feel that it could have been shortened without losing too much. The constant footnotes became a little grating but I had got used to them by the end. I don't think that I would read this again and I would be hesitant to recommend it to my fantasy-loving friends, but to those of you who do enjoy the 19th century novel, I'd have no hesitation in recomending it.

I bought this on the strength of a recommendation by freelance journalist and regular MacBreak Weekly panelist, Andy Ihnatko. His recommendation was based on the fact that the audible version is 32 hours long and yet is still only one credit! Thus, one can ‘stick it to the man' with this audiobook. Well, there was a little more to it than that. My interest was piqued and the review I read convinced me that I would enjoy it.

I found it to be rather a clever book in that it seems to rise above the geekish realm of fantasy and sci-fi and enter the mainstream. Yes, it is in essence a fantasy book, but not like any other I've read. There are no elves and goblins, no magic talismans, no underdogs coming into their powers and having to save the world from evil against the odds. Rather this is a tale of 19th century England and features such historical characters as Napoleon and Wellington.

The style is a literary one, reminding one of Jane Austen and the Brontes and the characters would not seem out of place in a Dickens novel.

We begin in the north of England, where practical magicians no longer, well, practice magic and the theoretical magicians read books on magic and discuss it in their clubs and societies. That is until Mr Norrell comes along, a practical magician intent on being the only one of his kind. He agrees to prove to the theoreticians that he can do magic, but makes them agree that, if he is sucessful, the theoretical magicians should give up magic all together.

Then Jonathan Strange comes along as another real magician and we follow the relationship between him and Mr Norrell throughout the tale.

The audiobook is read by Simon Prebble and he does a good job. I enjoyed the book a lot but do feel that it could have been shortened without losing too much. The constant footnotes became a little grating but I had got used to them by the end. I don't think that I would read this again and I would be hesitant to recommend it to my fantasy-loving friends, but to those of you who do enjoy the 19th century novel, I'd have no hesitation in recomending it.

I'm utterly blown away by this book. It explains way better than I ever could the exact philosophy I wrote about drunkenly to my now wife back when I was coming to understand my alcoholism and my relationship to my higher power.

The audiobook narration of this is outstanding. I find the sounds of the names going round in my head: Enkidu, Ereshkigal… the narrator really adds a lot to this story.

I’ve read some reviews that say multiple

first-person POV narrators is a terrible idea. I say pfooey to that. Although I did go back and read through the Ninshubar chapters again when I’d got about half-way because I’d got a bit mixed up. That helped.

It’s a fast-paced book and I could easily go back and read it again now. But, instead I’m going to get Snow Crash off the shelf and read the librarian’s infodumps about Enki. That book led me to this one.

I’ll probably go straight into Gilgamesh. Inanna ends on a note with some strong forward motion—not quite a cliffhanger, but it certainly makes me want to continue.

I loved this so much. I studied Russian literature at university, including a module on Akhmatova, so I have a lot of context from which to draw. It was fascinating to see these characters' coming to life.

Amazing choice of narrator in Yelena Shmulenson.