Appreciation :

Summary
Two 19th century stage illusionists, the aristocratic Rupert Angier and the working-class Alfred Borden, engage in a bitter and deadly feud; the effects are still being felt by their respective families a hundred years later. Working in the gaslight-and-velvet world of Victorian music halls, they prowl edgily in the background of each other’s shadowy life, driven to the extremes by a deadly combination of obsessive secrecy and insatiable curiosity. At the heart of the row is an amazing illusion they both perform during their stage acts. The secret of the magic is simple, and the reader is in on it almost from the start, but to the antagonists the real mystery lies deeper. Both have something more to hide than the mere workings of a trick.

My review

My first book by Christopher Priest and I am already in love. I find difficult to label such a book, that takes equally after Science Fiction, victorian-like, and fantasy genres. I had the impression that I was reading a classic book, written in an old-fashion way, classy and genteel.

The story starts nowadays, when Kate Angier meets Andrew Borden. This down-to-earth part tends to become more and more mysterious. All through out the book given to Andrew by Kate, we soon learn more about their ancestors, two rivals, who fought until the end, wanting to be and stay the best of all..

First, we learn about Alfred Borden, an ambitious and talented magician who explains the hows and whys of his ascension, how he became a famous artist in spite of his working-class origins. He talks about his rivalry with another well-known magician called Rupert Angier. The last part of the book (read by Andrew) presents another point of view, with Angier’s diary. Suddenly the story turns out different, some unexplained facts and details told by Borden are partially explained, but the mystery remains. The fantasy part is quite subtle, the book seems still “realistic”, no big effect, no spectacular stuff to impress the reader. We soon understand that this novel is mainly about doppelgänger, in many ways. We have two points of view, different, complementing each other. We easily understand what it will happen, but still don’t know how, the novel is a trick in itself, one of those mentioned by both Albert and Rupert, you know how it will end, but ignore the process.

The author makes the most of such fascinating themes as brotherhood, rivalry, physical and psychological doppelganger, delusion, reality, with style and refinement.

I also recommend the movie derived from this excellent novel, The prestige, by Christopher Nolan with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. The plot may have some alterations compared with the book, some could say it is too far from the novel, but it still works perfectly too, a great movie for a great novel.