I finished Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell yesterday.  For those of you who haven't heard of it, the book is a sort of combination of the fantasy of manners and the epic fantasy.  It's set in an alternate version of Napoleonic England wherein magic exists, but has deteriorated into mere history and theory until an unassuming gentleman comes forth and announces that he can in fact do practical magic.   Without giving away too much, this Mr Norrell rises in the world (that is to say, he goes to London and starts associating with important people), helping the English in their war against Napoleon.  He brings a young lady back to life, though not without the mysterious aid of an unearthly gentleman with thistledown hair, and not without making a bargain that will have extensive consequences...

A lot more happens, of course-- the book is almost eight hundred pages long.  I liked it; I enjoyed the meticulous world building and the almost-England, and the witticisms and exchanges between gentlemen are very well done.  The history of magic in Clarke's world is documented exhaustively through footnotes, and the whole is, I think, singularly well crafted.  At the same time, I can't say I loved it.  Not quite enough happened to justify the length, and even what did happen seemed to be toned down and restrained by the stylized language.  I didn't particularly like the male characters, and the female ones weren't very well fleshed out.  I felt distanced from all of them.  Nonetheless, there's plenty going for the book-- though I confess I'd rather go back and reread Stevermer's A Scholar of Magics.

So, has anyone else read JS&MN?  Thoughts, opinions?