Review

“The Prestige” by Christopher Priest is to many a well-known story, due to it being turned into a film in 2006 by Christopher Nolan. The story of the book itself only slightly deviates from the film, yet it is still worth a read. It is told in a most engrossing and mysterious way, where misunderstandings and accidents lead to a rivalry between two illusionists. The interesting thing is also how the illusionists in question both come from different walks of life, with different views of the world as well as magic. This also shows that the rivals would’ve been even better off being companions, because in both cases what one character misses, the other has in abundance - This in some way makes the story somewhat heartbreaking. Yet, without the rivalry would they each have achieved their individual greatness?

I find that the book is extremely well-written and constantly leaves the reader guessing (unfortunately, having watched the movie, I have to imagine the guessing) and the book itself is cleverly construed to resemble a performance. Reading the story told from both perspectives is an excellent way to illuminate the misunderstandings between them. The main characters do unfortunate things in their ignorance of youth and fail to communicate properly in order to resolve their differences, only to cause each other further pain. At the end of the day, they are both illusionists in love with the magic they perform and both learn the sacrifices and effort that is needed to become truly great at their artform - It is a shame that they are unable to see their lives from the perspective of the reader.

Comparing “The Prestige” to other books is an interesting challenge. Though it is written in 1995, the closest comparisons I can think of are “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson. Though, those books are both much older, due the period setting in “The Prestige” it closely resembles those two books, both in terms of style and subject matter.

Score: 8/10

It is the first book I’ve read by Christopher Priest and his style of writing feels extremely solid. Writing a book like this leaving no gaps is an impressive feat and though I know little of stage magicians, I find that it will be difficult to find a book that can exceed “The Prestige” in terms of telling a more enthralling story of stage magicians at the turn of the 20th century.

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