The Prestige by Christopher Priest Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Prestige
Book Review: Must Read!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this book after reading that Director Christopher Nolan had signed on to direct a film adaptation with Christian Bale after the outstanding Batman Begins.
The book is well crafted and engrossing, with a non-linear time line which adds layers to the story of the rivalry between the two stage magicians, told from the perspective of each magician through biographies and journals.
The only flaw, I felt, was that there is a sense of build up to some great secret which never materialzies, although there are some great revalations along the way. The ending may also leave some cold, but not unsatisfied.
Book Review: Mysterious magic
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow. Being one of the many people who saw the movie first, I was immediately surprised at how radically different the book was from its cinematic adaptation. Starting off in the latter years of the 20th Century (already a major difference), the book was an intricately-woven web of mystery, magic, and wonder. It's next to impossible to write an adequate review of the book (or the movie, for that matter) without giving away too much (even a little bit would be too much!), and I'm sure that the other reviews give enough information on their own.
This was a very intimate, truly MYSTERIOUS, and dark story. So dark even, that in some ways, it was even darker than the movie (which went for a more obvious - even conventional - angle on the story).
I loved it, and movie fan or not, you probably will, too.
Book Review: Mystified and disappointed
Summary: 3 Stars
I must say that I truly enjoyed the bulk of this book, since I like reading and seeing movies about the 1800s. The book is a bit confusing, but in a way that encourages you to keep reading to find out what's really going on. Unfortunately, the payoff never completely comes. While most of the events are explained to some extent or other, a couple of the mysteries are left dangling. The ending was abrupt and disappointing in its lack of explanation.Book Review: Not bad...
Summary: 3 Stars
I initially saw the trailer for the movie and thought it looked so good that I decided to buy the book. After I finished I thought the story definately had potential but didn't quite seal the deal for me. The book is a self narrarative of each character (mainly the two main characters)because you're pretty much reading their journals so you will see both sides to this story which I thought was pretty cool, the character development was pretty good; you really had a good sense of who the two main characters were, where they were coming from, etc. Although the story itself is filled with many useless information that you could have gone through the book without reading (which made it a little slow, bit too slow for me personally) but the story kept me interested enough for me to keep on going. Near the end, the author does a pretty good job of building up the suspense, but overall I wasn't too pleased with the ending. I'm just hoping the movie will be a lot more exciting throughout.Book Review: Not science fiction, magic realism
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to take issue with the 'reader from Cambridge'. Whatever the ending of this story (a brilliant ending in my view) it is an irrelevance. Fiction is not about what is probable or improbable - it is about what moves. You can write anything so long as it Speaks Out to the reader. This does not merely speak - it sings in every nerve as you read it. The plot is almost secondary; the feeling generated for the two main protagonists is quite extraordinary, and is a conjuring trick in its own right. The book is also loaded with powerful symbolism, but I won't go into it here.