The Prestige (Hardcover)

What drives the book forward is its interesting characters. Throughout the book, the reader encounters four (possibly five, depending on how you look at it) narrators, all told in the first person, be it standard first person narration or from diary entries. On top of this, two of the narrators live in the late 19th century while the other two are from the present day, which serves to heighten the central mystery. Priest does an excellent job of giving each character their own voice and motivations.

As the feud between the two characters living in the 1880s escalates, the reader feels directly involved in the rising tensions and the desparate race of each man to uncover the other's secrets. We also see how this affects the narrators in the present day who happen to be descendants of the earlier two. While the plot itself is carefully unfolded throughout the book, the payoff in the reveal of the secret suddenly jumps out at the reader as the book begins to wind down. Unfortunately, I got the impression that the book ended before the story of the two modern narrators was finished. I would have liked that story to be tied up a bit more neatly. Here we have this big reveal to the two descendants, but then not much is done with it.

All in all, however, this is a very worthwhile book. I enjoyed the atmosphere that Priest created and was thoroughly engaged by the characters. If you're looking for something different than the standard fantasy fare on the shelves, this book will definitely sate you.

What other reviewers have not really pointed out yet, however, is the following: the story doesn't make sense. Most importantly, there seems to be no real reason for the magician's feud. Okay, there're reasons it started - good ones, in fact - but no explanation is given as to why it continued (and, indeed, got quite out of hand). In fact, in their respective accounts, both magicians repeatedly mention wishing it to end.

So why didn't it?

Well, there would seem to be two explanations. Firstly, Priest may have purposefully left out essential ingredients in the two magicians' tales, leaving us to figure out their real motives for ourselves. If so, it might well be that "The Prestige" is not just a stylised (if somewhat stilted) exercise in pseudo Victorian romance, but also a well thought-out and intelligent story. In that case, though, I have to admit Priest has set me a challenge I could not meet. Simply put, I read a book I didn't understand.

The alternative is this: Priest, so taken up with the style and outline of his tale, has simply forgotten that his characters should not only act, but act believably. He's forgotten that every story, first and foremost, needs a credible plot (unless you're Virginia Woolf, of course, but that's another matter entirely). But if that is true, "The Prestige", for all its stylistic merits, is very fundamentally flawed indeed. It is, ultimately, a whallop of Victorian cream without a strawberry in sight.

I understand that this may seem to be a slightly abstract review. But think of it this way: to what extent are you prepared to be tricked by an author? Say you're reading a detective story, and at the end there's this great and unexpected denouement (no, she couldn't possibly be the murderer - oh, wait - yes of course! How clever!). And then, suddenly, the realisation that things don't add up at all (that's just stupid!). So: was it, after all, a good book or bad?

In the end, the question "The Prestige" raises goes to the heart of storytelling. Which is why it may be a great book - but probably isn't. And which is why, perhaps strangely, I'm giving it four stars. After all, it gets you thinking. And that can't be bad, surely...