Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

I love fantasy genre, but it's unique to place it in this era. Like Dungeons & Dragons in the wrong century. I appreciate a tale that properly represents the Fae and the respect they deserve. I was immediately hooked by the clever depictions of magic while maintaining simplicity. It reminds me of that short series, featuring Sam Neil and Martin Short, "Merlin". Simple use of a prophecy and the interpretation of it but unique use of hedge wizards and madness! I'll have to start on the books.

The book is a daunting task and I wondered how it would translate to screen. Though some have commented it is slow building, so was the book. I tell people it's a period piece drama like D.Abbey but add an intellectual grown up version of Harry Potter. Once again BBC does another great show! Now how do I get the BBC to bring the books Jackaby and The Luck Uglies to a screen version as well????

Your questions, let's assume, are "Should I watch this" and "Should I own this". The answers are yes and yes. The longer answer is more complex. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is, in its truest and original format, a novel with a lot of non-action, non-spoken text. Much of the charm, in fact, is in Clarke's propensity for witty characters whose quirks are laid bare but with such flavor as to confuse your desire to either like or dislike them. While JSMN as told by the BBC could have benefited from the artsy splash of someone with a high CGI budget and a cadre of visual artists (Bryan Fuller?), it is nonetheless a lovely way to revisit the story. It does a good job of balancing cuts from the novel with an extended length (thanks to BBC's TV mini-series style, we can enjoy a format that doesn't chop out parts of the story so that they'll fit into the 30/60/90-minute Cinderella's slipper of broadcast). I would encourage you to watch or own this series if you liked the novel. With any luck we might even see more from the Clarke universe!