Fantasy Book Club discussion

How did you like the writing style? The footnotes? Anything?

I quite liked it, although it was awfully long. Because I listened to it, I couldn't skip the footnotes, which was both a blessing and a curse. While they were often interesting, I became anxious to get on with the story, for crying out loud...

I liked the way it poked gentle fun at both the masses and the British, and sometimes was satirical about the nobility and the military. The magic was haunting and sometimes scary.

All in all, I liked it quite a bit.

I loved the footnotes. I both read the book and listened to it. I was driving to work at that time and hated losing more than an hour of the day when I could be reading. So I would read at home and at lunch and switch the audiobook for the commutes. I made sure to only stop at chapters so it was easy to pickup in the audiobook.

Besides, the voice actor had a wonderful British accent and elocution. I quickly preferred listening to him than my own internal subvocalizations.

How do they handle the footnotes in an audiobook? Just interpolate them into the main body of the story?

Yes, Jon, the narrator was superb. It was Simon Prebble, who always does a great job.

Joseph, he just stopped the text and said 'Footnote 1', then read the footnote, then went back to the text. It was quite seamless.

I think they should have used the machine that goes, "BING," every time they went to a footnote.

Joseph wrote: "I think they should have used the machine that goes, "BING," every time they went to a footnote."

LOL

I loved the extensive footnotes. I looked forward to them because I knew that something wry or funny or at least interesting was about to be revealed. I also enjoyed the very old british novel feel ... almost victoriana, looking back on an earlier age feel.

I read this a couple of years ago, and I loved the footnotes and the Victoriana feel of the book. I think I associate extensive footnotes in fantasy to Terry Pratchett, so I might have been predisposed to like them, but I really liked the wry humour in them.

I think the pastiche element is beautifully handled - there's a very good, turn of the 19th century feel to the text - partly spellings, partly locutions,partly word order, and so on. On the other hand, I'm not convinced it needs to go quite so slowly - I've reached page 392 and am slightly dismayed to see that I still have more than 600 to go ...

I'm still on the fence about the footnotes - I can't decide if they more helpful or distracting. I agree that the pace is rather slow, but (so far) I think it fits with the time period.

Jennifer wrote: "I'm still on the fence about the footnotes - I can't decide if they more helpful or distracting. I agree that the pace is rather slow, but (so far) I think it fits with the time period."

My only complaint about the footnotes is that I bought the $2.99 kindle version and ebook footnotes are a pain in the butt. I have the same problem with Pratchett...

Anyway, I'm really enjoying the general tone of the book so far (about 200 pages in).

Oh, my, I hadn't considered footnotes on a ebook version. You clearly have more patience than me!

Jennifer wrote: "I'm still on the fence about the footnotes - I can't decide if they more helpful or distracting. I agree that the pace is rather slow, but (so far) I think it fits with the time period."

You miss a lot without the footnotes - they may not always be necessary for the storyline, but they add enormously on background and humour!

I'm about halfway through...loving some of it, but I do think there's about twice as many footnotes as needed (the small footnotes that don't add to the plot shouldn't have been kept in my view - they just force the reader to flip around for no good reason). I'm reading on the Kindle iPad app, and there is some sort of bug so that every few times I go to a footnote, the back button doesn't work and I have to find my place again. So perhaps that's adding to it.

Overall, though, she does a masterful job with the style, down to the use of "shew" instead of "show" and myriad other subtle stylistic choices. It's a true period piece with a modern fantasy sensibility underneath. Pretty fascinating.

Oh my, that would be annoying. I've got it on my Nook, but I imagine you can just touch the footnote and it takes you there. And it's very easy to get back to the page you were reading. I'll check it out.

Yes, that is how it works. I never wanted a Kindle because of those clunky keys. The Nook tablet is very easy to navigate.

I have only read 133 pages of it so far, but I am really enjoying it already - I don't think finishing will be a problem for me. The writing style I like allright, though I don't really get the "shew" thing, that's just how it was in the period this book is imitating?

The footnotes I am not quite so fond of. I often find myself wanting to skip them, but unfortunately I agree that they are very important for the general understanding of the work, so I gnaw my way through them.

Overall though, I'm liking the whole thing.

Re: audiobook handling of footnotes: Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "he just stopped the text and said 'Footnote 1', then read the footnote, then went back to the text. It was quite seamless. ...."

I actually found the handling of footnotes in the audiobook less than seamless--or maybe too seamless. Knowing when a footnote started was easy enough, because of the "Footnote #" preface. But I found that the narrator would return to the story without any indication that the footnote had ended, and I would sometimes listen for several minutes before realizing that we were back to the main story and not still in the footnote.

I was a total footnote fan. As I turned pages, I would peek at the bottom to see if one was coming up. They added so much to the world this story takes place in. Yes, they were not necessary many times, but I feel they really gave the book life for me.

I enjoyed the footnotes and style. There were some really hilarious anecdotes if you paid attention to them. I loved the fussiness and attention to detail by Clarke.

when i started I just skipped them, I thought them distracting and of topic, then I asked here weather they are important or not and was told that they are and I'll enjoy them, so I started reading them and really enjoyed them, it was fun to read about things in the footnotes while they didn't happen in the book, it gave more to the historical feel of the story, and a nice anticipation to what's to come :)

The footnotes were my favorite part.