The Prestige
Christopher Priest · 1995
Two Victorian stage magicians conduct a feud across decades. The plot turns on a real scientific mystery (Tesla's wireless electricity) and the nature of sacrifice. Priest wrote both the best Victorian fantasy and the best novel about the cost of obsession.
The case against
Priest wraps his Victorian feud in a present-day frame about descendants that delivers little and keeps interrupting; the final basement-gothic pages swerve into outright horror that the cool, documentary tone hasn't prepared. Read attentively and Borden's secret is guessable a hundred pages out, after which his diary becomes an exercise in waiting for the other man to catch up.
Science Fiction & Fantasy · the Pro canon
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