I was very, very close to giving up on this book. It was taking so long for ANYTHING to happen or even for Jonathan Strange to show up. The writing was beautiful from the beginning and the world was interesting and unique, especially considering it was set in Victorian England, but I was falling asleep every other page, and this book is long. Around 40%, things finally started to get interesting, and it was good enough from there on to almost make up for those first 300 pages, so I'm glad I powered through. 
 The magic in this book is amazing. It's reminiscent of ancient mythologies rather than the "common" magic that shows up in most fantasy books. It's grand and unusual and seemingly limitless. The characters were incredibly complex. It took 800 pages, but I finally grew to like Norrell a little bit, although I think I'm in the minority. Jonathan Strange is likable and charming from the start. The supporting characters fell across a wide spectrum, but I didn't feel like any of them were flat. 
 I'm unsure of my feelings on how the actual story resolved, but it's not that I disliked the end; it's just an ending that I'm going to have to think about for awhile.