Christopher Priest must be one of the most decorated but unread authors around. In 1983 he was named one of the Best of Young British Novelists. And The Prestige won both the World Fantasy Award and Britain's James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Meanwhile, I'd never heard of him and when the book got some good reviews over here, it was a NY Times notable book, I couldn't find it anywhere. Bur I'm glad I finally got ahold of a copy, because the novel lives up to the hype.
Priest tells the story of two turn of the century magicians, Rupert Angier and Alfred Borden, who are first rivals and then bitter enemies as what starts out as an attempt to learn each others secrets deteriorates into obsessive hatred and is even handed down to succeeding generations. Eventually their efforts to top one anothers latest tricks draw Nikola Tesla into the picture. Angier travels to Colorado to see if Tesla's experiments with electricity have any magical implications. They do and the results are predictably, but delightfully, horrifying.
It's pretty hard to describe this novel without giving too much of the
story away. It's also a story that invites comparison; I saw reviewer
references to The Alienist, Robertson Davies, John Fowles, H.G. Wells,
etc. Suffice it to say, the writing is terrific, the story is original
but harkens back to classic themes and the tension he builds is palpable.
My only complaint is that it either ended abruptly or simply before I wanted
it to; I'm not sure which. Find it and read it. You won't want
it to end either.
(Reviewed:)
Grade: (A)
