Subject: REVIEW: THE PRESTIGE by Christopher Priest

From: "Evelyn C Leeper" <[email-masked]>
Date: 02 Jun 1997 16:30:01 GMT

THE PRESTIGE by Christopher Priest
        St. Martin's, ISBN 0-312-14705-8, 1996, 404pp, US$24.95
                   A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		    Copyright 1997 Evelyn C. Leeper

     I have resolved to spend more time pointing out the wonderful books
that people don't seem to hear about, and much less reviewing the latest
"nth book in a heptology" or whatever, and this is a wonderful book.

     Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier were two Victorian magicians who
through circumstance became not only rivals, but bitter enemies.  Borden's
descendant is a modern-day journalist who has been having strange
"premonitions" of a lost twin, and eventually becomes entangled in the
strange tale of his ancestor and Angier.  Both Borden and Angier were
masters of deception, and it is this bent towards deception and
concealment that leads to their war against each other.  That both perform
a trick involving magical bilocation is part of their rivalry, but only
part.  How they perform their magic, and the implications thereof, are
only slowly unfolded throughout the book.  By the end it all makes sense
if one accepts some science fictional conceits and a certain amount of
misdirection.  But then, misdirection is what prestidigitation is all
about, and Priest manages his magic trick as neatly as Borden and Angier
do theirs.

     This is a book that you cannot read only once.  As with a stage magic
trick, there is a compelling desire after seeing the trick to go back and
see if one can figure out how it was worked.  This has been used to
excellent effect in a couple of movies of late as well.  After reading it
you'll know which ones I mean, but even saying which would be giving too
much of a hint.

     This is a magical book, and the one mystery is how it's managed to
remain as invisible as it has, especially given that it won the World
Fantasy Award.  It would be a better trick to materialize it on everyone's
night stand, though of course that would bypass the royalties for it.  So
I'll settle for giving you a strong recommendation for this book.

%T      The Prestige
%A      Christopher Priest
%C      New York
%D      October 1996
%I      St. Martin's
%O      hardback, US$24.95
%G      ISBN 0-312-14705-8
%P      404pp

Evelyn C. Leeper    |  [email-masked]
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