The Prestige - Christopher Priest

I finished the book "The Prestige" by Christopher Priest, and it is simply spectacular!  I'm so terribly fortunate to have been given the chance to read so many great books, and this is definitely one of those.  I've seen the movie and I loved it (awesome director [Christopher Nolan] and fabulous cast [Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine] ), but the novel just gives you an entirely different perspective since YOU get to create the world and the people in your mind.  The revelations simply become all the more astonishing.

The novel transports you to the 19th century, where two talented magicians are locked in a bitter rivalry that consumes both their lives, spanning even to the generations that follow them.  Both equally obsessed with revenge and with outdoing the other, they attack and retaliate all through each other's every success and failure in search of a means to bring about his rival's downfall.  As they guard their magician's secrets jealously, they begin to weary of the endless enmity and resentment.  Yet still they inadvertently and inevitably bring disaster and tragedy on each other, even as they seek to find reconciliation and an end to the bitter feud. 

The story is told in memoirs and journals, in confessions and revelations, all of which culminate in a final horrifying discovery - the terrible outcome of their contest.  The entire book, from start to finish, is an incredible balancing act - full of mystery and illusion - a perfected magical performance all on its own.  Even the look of the book is strange and captivating.  I also love the typeset of the text - it really gave the whole story a period ambiance. The pace is gradual at first, then builds up until you can't let go of the book without knowing what happens next anymore.  Central to the novel is the slow but sure revelation of the true characters of the two magicians. Who is the hero; who is the villain?  One can't say.  Who won in the end?  I don't think anyone did.  They both gained and lost just as much. Who was the better magician?  Impossible to tell.  They both did to perfection what only the great magicians could do - they kept their secrets well.

This is an absolutely brilliant book - it won the World Fantasy Award even though it is only toward the end that one can find elements of science fiction in it.  It is so unlike anything I've ever read before.  Christopher Priest must be a real magician or a true genius.  Otherwise he must be a truly gifted madman to have produced such work as this.  I definitely recommend it to all readers who enjoy deep, thought-provoking, mind-boggling material - and to most everyone else who loves to read good stuff.