Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Episode 1, "The Friends of English Magic"

I've been talking non-stop for months now about BBC's adaptation of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and now the first episode is here. Not on TV, of course. Who uses such an antiquated device? If you don't have BBC America here in the States you can watch it instead on BBC America's YouTube channel.

The episode begins with John Segundus asking why magic isn't practiced anymore in England. After being laughed out of his club of "theoretical" magicians, he tracks down the person who has been buying up all of the books of magic in York. He meets Mr. Norrell who admits to being a practical magician, but the other "magicians" of York don't believe him. Demanding he prove himself, Mr. Norrell makes all of the statues in the York Minster come to life. After proving he can do magic, Mr. Norrell travels to London to offer his services toward the war effort against Napoleon, but he is blown off by the ministers until one of their number's wife dies and Mr. Norrell decides he may have found the right bit of magic to perform to change their minds...

Meanwhile, Jonathan Strange is madly in love Arabella, but she is not interested in marrying him until he finds a job (women, am I right?). Jonathan has no idea what he wants to do with his life and his father is a of little help since he is a mean, old man who thinks Jonathan is a complete screw up. Lucky for Jonathan, his father dies the next day. Jonathan, wasting no time grieving (and who would with a father like that), travels to see Arabella in hopes that now that he has inherited his father's estate, she would agree to marry him. On the way, however, he happens upon a street magician named Vinculus who claims Jonathan is one of two magicians prophesied to bring magic back to England...

Enough recapping, what did I think of Episode 1? Well I am happy it cut out a lot of the details of early 19th century English society and cut straight to the magic while still managing to hit all of the important plot points. It had a very Gothic atmosphere and I thought the casting of Enzo Cilenti as Childermass was near perfect, but I admit casting Vincent Franklin as Christopher Drawlight was less so. Vincent just seemed to be playing the character way too over the top for me.

The CGI wasn't great, but it made up for it with a couple jump scares early on. In fact I found the "the gentleman with thistle-down hair" to be quite creepy and came off more like a demon than a fairy...but then again, in some stories its hard to tell one from the other. Despite its dark tones, the show could be funny at times, although the humor was rather childish.

So all in all, not a bad first episode, but there is room for improvement. I have some time to wait before episode 2, but if you haven't watched it already I would go check out episode 1 as soon as you have the free time. Its entertaining and (more importantly) its free.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

Teaser Trailer for BBC's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Magic returns this summer according to BBC. The trailer for their adaptation of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was released a few days ago. Check it out below:

Although it is a very short video, it looks pretty damn good. I am actually excited about this show. If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend you pick up a copy and I hope you join me in catching the first episode this summer (unless UKIP shuts it down).

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

Book Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

With BBC's upcoming adaptation of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, I decided to prepare for the mini-series by actually reading the book it was based on. Even without the adaptation, I probably still would have gotten around to Clarke's debut novel. It is a critically acclaimed work of historical fantasy that has delighted fans from almost every corner of speculative fiction and I can now count myself as one of the many who praise this book.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrrell tells the story of magic's return to England. In this world it is a accepted fact that magic is real, but people have been unable to practice it for centuries. That all changes when the reclusive gentleman, Mr Norrell, brings all the statues in the cathedral of York to life. After this feat of magic he travels to London to aide the government in their war against Napoleon and he gains the trust of the ministers when he brings one of their number's wife back from the dead. As interest in magic increases, a young gentleman named Jonathan Strange decides to pursue a career in magic and shows such a natural talent for it that even the friendless Mr Norrell agrees to take him on as a pupil. The two magicians, however, quarrel and Strange sets off on his own independent research into dangerous fields of magic that could bring about the doom of many.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was an intriguing fantasy story that also had a realistic portrayal of magic. The characters were complex and even the most wretched of them had certain aspects that you could admire. There are plenty of historical cameos that alternate historians can enjoy and reading about Strange's service in Wellington's army during the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo made me want to pick up some military fantasy to see how Clarke's depiction of war magic compares to more recent examples. The book has an old fashioned writing style, but fans of Dickens or Austen will appreciate Clarke's obvious interest in English literature.

The book, however, can be dull at times. The paperback copy I read clocked in at 1006 pages, which is an unusual length for a speculative fiction book. Much of the story actually focuses on the mundane aspects of early 19th century life, with plenty of criticism directed against the English class system. Casual readers who were looking for an action-packed fantasy epic are going to be severely disappointed. Even I thought the last third of the book could do with some culling, but that is really the only major issue I had with the book. The final conclusion was worth all the build up, even if in retrospect we could have done without some of it.

I am hesitant, however, to classify Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell as an alternate history. In spite of the existence of magic, history mostly parallels our timeline. The real difference to history is presented mostly through the footnotes of the book. During the Middle Ages a magician known as the "Raven King" conquered Northern England and ruled it for 300 years before disappearing. There is an amusing comment by one character who says many countries have myths about a king who will return, but England is the only country where it is part of the constitution (should the Raven King ever return Northern England will revert back to his control). Nevertheless, I can see why it is not listed in Uchronia and "historical fantasy" is probably a better label than alternate history.

Despite its length and lack of alternate history content, I can still recommend Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It is an engaging story with surprising depth, just don't let its size scare you. It is certainly worth your time.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

First Look at the Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell BBC Miniseries

I was so quick to talk about BBC's adaptation of SS-GB that I completely missed the news yesterday regarding another BBC alternate history project. Above is our first look at the titular characters of the the BBC adaptation of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Set in England during the Napoleonic Wars, the novel tells the story of two rivals magicians in an alternate history where magic is widely acknowledged, but rarely practiced. Eddie Marsan will play Mr. Norrell (right) and Bertie Carvel will play Jonathan Strange (left).

The Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell will be a seven-part series that will premier sometime next year. More importantly, this news has got me asking the question: are we living at the start of the golden age of alternate history? Has mainstream media finally realized that there is value to these stories and it is ready to share them with a wider audience? Or conversely, has the splintering of media meant that producers are scrambling for content and throwing anything against the wall to see what sticks?

Either way, alternate history may actually be poised to make a major break in the mainstream in 2015, what with this, SS-GB, Amazon's The Man in the High Castle and Hulu's 11/22/63 coming out soon. I am very excited by these developments, but what do you guys think? Let us know in the comments.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

BBC America to Co-produce TV Adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Are we finally we going to get a decent alternate history television show?

Yesterday, I learned from SF Signal that BBC America is co-producing for a new drama series, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It is based on the bestselling alternate history novel by Susanna Clarke and will be adapted by Peter Harness (Wallander, Is Anybody There?). BBC America describes the story as being set during the Napoleonic Wars in an England where magic once existed and is about to return. Here is the description of the book from Amazon to give you a better idea of what to expect:

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, two very different magicians emerge to change England's history. In the year 1806, with the Napoleonic Wars raging on land and sea, most people believe magic to be long dead in England--until the reclusive Mr Norrell reveals his powers, and becomes a celebrity overnight. 

Soon, another practicing magician comes forth: the young, handsome, and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's student, and they join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic, straining his partnership with Norrell, and putting at risk everything else he holds dear.

The series will premiere in 2014 as part of BBC America's Supernatural Saturday programming block and is being produced by Cuba Pictures (Boy A, Broken) for the BBC and co-produced by BBC America, in association with Feel Film, Bell Media’s Space, Far Moor and Screen Yorkshire. It is distributed by Endemol Worldwide Distribution.

Toby Haynes (Doctor Who, Sherlock, Wallander) directs, Nick Hirschkorn (Feel Films, Five Children and It) will produce with Greg Dummett, on behalf of Quebec’s Cite Amerique. Executive producers are: Nick Marston, Tally Garner and Dixie Linder for Cuba Pictures, Endemol Worldwide Distribution and Thomson-Glover and Patrick Irwin for Far Moor. Matthew Read is the executive producer for the BBC.

Nick Marston CEO of Cuba Pictures says: “The production has now developed into a seven part series and we are delighted that Peter Harness is well on the way to completing all seven hours. He has just delivered episode five and, with Toby Haynes on board to direct, we are in an excellent position to begin pre-production later this month with production due to start filming in late summer.”

Richard De Croce, SVP Programming, BBC America says: “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is one of our next big series for our Supernatural Saturday block, as Susanna Clarke’s stories transcend borders and are perfect for our US audience. It’s another high-end drama for BBC America and we’re proud to be working with Cuba Pictures and BBC One.”

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is going into early pre-production this month and filming will take place in the UK including Yorkshire as one of several key filming locations and Canada beginning late summer 2013.

I have been getting into BBC America recently after finally catching up with Doctor Who on Netflix (I now understand all the references in Chris' review of The Story of Martha). I am also a big fan of the Nerdist podcast and I am very happy they finally got there own TV show on that channel. Now I haven't read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell yet, but I have heard good things and I have to assume that BBC will do a better job with the product then let's say Spike or Fox.

Sure its ASB, but some of the best alternate history out there involve implausible PODs. We can only hope for the best, but in the meantime I will keep you posted.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.