Rating: 
Summary: Only a good writer could write a book this bad
Review: Imagine that you're reading a well-written story of two magicians, linked in a feud that spans generations, each trying to figure out how the other does their most impressive illusion.Imagine further that each does an illusion of lead changing into gold. (This isn't the real illusion used in the book.) The first magician has an unusual way of doing the illusion that you understand quickly and that contributes to the heart and spirit of the book. The second magician ... really converts lead into gold. Why does the author insult us with this? What's the point of illusion if you possess the reality? Why doesn't the magician who possesses this secret just commercialize it (he cares a good deal about money) instead of going on with his comparatively trivial career as an illusionist? Why does the author give such an ridiculously pseudo-scientific story about how the illusion is done? And most of all, why engage the reader's interest in a central mystery of a novel only to solve it with a deus ex machina? If only the author had been content to write this as a non-science-fictional work. Unfortunately, this book uses its single science fictional element in a tremendously shabby fashion that, for me, made the last part of the book nearly unreadable.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast, well-written and entertaining
Review: Interesting structure and characters. Excellent premise and very entertaining. Couldn't put it down. As the book progresses, the fantasy is introduced - thought provoking ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful story with a disappointing end.
Review: Mr Priest is obviously a gifted storyteller and I was initially very impressed with this book but I was very disappointed with the last section, particularly the "explanation" of the "mystery". I'm afraid I think science fiction should be more plausible and horror more atmospheric than the story recorded in "The Prestige" and I have to give this book one star.
Rating:
Summary: A curious book - possibly great, but presumably not
Review: Other reviewers have already mentioned what the story is about (at face value, at least): the rivalry of two Victorian stage magicians - Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier. They have also mentioned how Priest approaches his subject material: after a short introduction, centered on two modern-day descendants of Borden and Angier, the reader is presented with Borden's journal (and hence his version of the feud). After briefly returning to the present day, it's Angier's turn: the lengthiest part of the book deals with his take on events, as set out in his diary. Finally, it's back to the present for a short and sharp conclusion - with horrific overtones (think "Turn Of The Screw" here, not "Night Of The Living Dead"). 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...
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant but uneven
Review: Priest does almost everything right in this novel. But as with the prestige that is one of the central themes, the novel depends on the author playing a game of peek-a-boo with the reader. Just as the protaganists torment each other with the ultimate secret of the others tricks, the force that drove this reader onwards was curiousity as to exactly how the author would explain everything. And, I think, the final explanation and the resolution, horrific and effective as it was, was a let down. Part of the problem is that the book can be broken down into two different narrative halves each going over the same period of time and events. Unfortunately, the different halves seem to belong to different genres. The first half and the gradual revelation of the sacrifices the magician has to make for the sake of his act can be roughly described as a realistic, impressively imagined, well researched, semi-historical drama. This led me to expect that the second half would continue on the same vein and the seemingly supernatural occurences would be revealed to be the result of a particularly clever illusion. Instead, the second half is an almost straight forward horror story. Of course it was an effective horror story and one I would have been happy to read but compared to the first half, it lacked conviction. Overall, Priest has written an atmospheric, chilling novel with full blooded characters. But it could have been more.
Rating: 
Summary: Magical fun
Review: This was a lot of fun but probably doesn't warrant repeated reading since it's pretty dependent on plot twists and shocks to hold your interest. With most Christopher Priest novels currently out of print (Dream of Wessex, etc) it's nice to see this one still out there and it's one of his better novels too, which is a nice bonus. Basically it concerns two magicians at the turn of the century who's paths cross and through a series of unpleasant events become bitter rivals, screwing up each other's tricks and driving each other to more and more complicated illusions in a magical game of oneupmanship. This tale is told through two journals as read by their descendants, first one magician, than the other. This style works pretty well, there are some quirks and it probably won't fool anyone who is a Victorian scholar but it looks good enough to me and it's not enough to make me hate the books. What he does an excellent job of is getting us into the world of magicians, without turning the book into a tedious expose of how they do their tricks ('cause it's all about the illusion), you get a glimpse into a sort of exclusive club that's all about convincing you that you're seeing what you shouldn't be seeing. The method of using both journals is a trick that required quite a bit of skill to pull off properly, since the order of the journals make a bit of difference in order to remain surprising and it's interesting to see two different versions of events, especially when one explains the other in greater detail (the only problem with that is that by the time you get to the concurrent event in the second journal, you might have forgotten what happened the first time around). Some people might take some issue with the fact that it gets seriously weird toward the end, and being that the book mostly sticks to "real" stuff the way it starts to go toward fantasy might turn off some people . . . you'll have to read and decide that for yourself, unfortunately. Also, I wasn't exactly sure what the point of the bookending modern day descendants was, they barely appear and Priest doesn't make too much of an effort to give them any sort of personality, which leaves the ending a little flatter than maybe it should be. Still, this is a fine novel showing a lot of imagination and skill, and those looking for fantasy without elves and swords should take a sharp detour here. Even with its flaws, it's highly readable and very recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Magical fun
Review: This was a lot of fun but probably doesn't warrant repeated reading since it's pretty dependent on plot twists and shocks to hold your interest. With most Christopher Priest novels currently out of print (Dream of Wessex, etc) it's nice to see this one still out there and it's one of his better novels too, which is a nice bonus. Basically it concerns two magicians at the turn of the century who's paths cross and through a series of unpleasant events become bitter rivals, screwing up each other's tricks and driving each other to more and more complicated illusions in a magical game of oneupmanship. This tale is told through two journals as read by their descendants, first one magician, than the other. This style works pretty well, there are some quirks and it probably won't fool anyone who is a Victorian scholar but it looks good enough to me and it's not enough to make me hate the books. What he does an excellent job of is getting us into the world of magicians, without turning the book into a tedious expose of how they do their tricks ('cause it's all about the illusion), you get a glimpse into a sort of exclusive club that's all about convincing you that you're seeing what you shouldn't be seeing. The method of using both journals is a trick that required quite a bit of skill to pull off properly, since the order of the journals make a bit of difference in order to remain surprising and it's interesting to see two different versions of events, especially when one explains the other in greater detail (the only problem with that is that by the time you get to the concurrent event in the second journal, you might have forgotten what happened the first time around). Some people might take some issue with the fact that it gets seriously weird toward the end, and being that the book mostly sticks to "real" stuff the way it starts to go toward fantasy might turn off some people . . . you'll have to read and decide that for yourself, unfortunately. Also, I wasn't exactly sure what the point of the bookending modern day descendants was, they barely appear and Priest doesn't make too much of an effort to give them any sort of personality, which leaves the ending a little flatter than maybe it should be. Still, this is a fine novel showing a lot of imagination and skill, and those looking for fantasy without elves and swords should take a sharp detour here. Even with its flaws, it's highly readable and very recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Unsettling mystery where science and sleight-of-hand overlap
Review: Written on the cover of this book is the phrase "Winner of a World Fantasy Award" -- those are the words that first caught my attention. And in retrospect, I find The Prestige entirely deserving of that honor. Few and far between are the books that I pick up and can still remember several years later, but it's been three or more years since I read this one, and certain vibes and moments that I took from it are still with me. This is due, in part, to an average-to-good plotline, but in the end, to Priest's own sleight-of-hand as an author -- he shows an impressive range, a nice attention to detail, and a subdued sense of style which sets the perfect tone for this tale of rival vaudeville magicians in the late 19th century... Set in 1878, and focused on two magicians who are rivals in both business and love, this story is delivered in a style that made it literally impossible to put down (I think I surreptitiously read it during school classes for about two days, non-stop, and might as well have been absent. I don't even know what I missed). Moving from one character's perspective to another, the story unfolds almost entirely through journal entries written by the two protagonists. The intriguing conceit of the novel is that these journals are not discovered until almost a hundred years later, when the descendants of the two rivals meet and feel a mysterious connection to each other. As they slowly uncover the series of mysterious and unnatural events which befell their warring ancestors, the action moves fluidly from past to present to future and back, almost without warning. The drastically different narrative styles used in the two journals reveal that Mr. Priest must have an incredible amount of talent -- they might as well have been written by two different people, so unalike are their tone and perspective. The details of the plot are far too complicated to summarize, but I would go out of my way to recommend this book to fiction lovers. While the story does not leave you with any significant knowledge or insight into the meaning of life, it is pleasure reading at its best, and there is a lot to be said for that.
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