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| The Prestige | 
 enlarge | Author: Christopher Priest
Publisher: Tor Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $0.83
You Save: $14.12 (94%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $0.83
Avg. Customer Rating:  (89 reviews)
Sales Rank: 133838
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0312858868
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780312858865
ASIN: 0312858868
Publication Date: September 15, 1997
Release Date: November 29, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In 1878, two young stage magicians clash in the dark during the course of a fraudulent seance. From this moment on, their lives become webs of deceit and revelation as they vie to outwit and expose one another.
Their rivalry will take them to the peaks of their careers, but with terrible consequences. In the course of pursuing each other's ruin, they will deploy all the deception their magicians' craft can command--the highest misdirection and the darkest science.
Blood will be spilled, but it will not be enough. In the end, their legacy will pass on for generations...to descendants who must, for their sanity's sake, untangle the puzzle left to them.
Amazon.com Review
The Washington Post called this "a dizzying magic show of a novel, chock-a-block with all the props of Victorian sensation fiction: seances, multiple narrators, a family curse, doubles, a lost notebook, wraiths, and disembodied spirits; a haunted house, awesome mad-doctor machinery, a mausoleum, and ghoulish horrors; a misunderstood scientist, impossible disappearances; the sins of the fathers visited upon their descendants." Winner of the 1996 World Fantasy Award, The Prestige is even better than that, because unlike many Victorians, Priest writes crisp, unencumbered prose. And anyone who's ever thrilled to the arcing electricity in the "It's alive!" scene in Frankenstein will relish the "special effects" by none other than Nikola Tesla.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 84 more reviews...
 The Prestige August 22, 2008
I watched the movie ("The Prestige" directed by Christopher Nolan) before reading the novel. They actually differ on several points, and I don't think watching the film spoiled the reading. The novel spans a longer time period and is framed by a story set in today's world (a meeting between descendants of Borden and Angier, the two rival magicians). The plot alternates between different times and persons, like a puzzle where the pieces are different perspectives on basically the same events. In this the novel is really effective: it made me sympathise with the different narrators, although two of them are enemies. Also, even though I had watched the movie the story kept me guessing about some things until the very end. The movie is very good, but I actually like the book a little bit more as I think it makes some things more 'believable'.
The Prestige is very well written and hard to put down, and I will definitely read more novels by Christopher Priest.
 Good... not great July 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book was a good, enjoyable read. However i believe that the movie (The Prestige) took the book and vastly improved upon it. The book somewhat lacks a climax and could be considered a disappointment. The movie outdid the book, but that doesn't mean it's not a good read.
 Okay, just okay June 11, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I bought this book based on its review and was extremely disappointed.
The basic idea and plot of The Prestige was good enough, but I'm not fond of diary-style writing at all, and was unaware that most of the book would consist of this. Priest just droned on and on about details that proved to be quite mundane in the end. The ending would have been satisfying if it was not for the extra 100 pages or so of nothing.
Enchanting! June 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an amazing story filled with all the suspense and intrigue you've come to expect from modern thrillers and even more. Priest creates two believable characters and sets them afloat in a self-inflicted storm of revenge and regret. Borden and Angier grab you by the throat and don't let go. Good intro, great build-up, great climax, and an eerily satisfying resolution. As any magic show would, it leaves you gasping for more.
great story May 26, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
the book came in a timely matter and I look forward to my summer reading
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