The Prestige by Christopher Priest
I read this because I REALLY REALLY loved the movie, and because I had to read a science fiction title for class this week. Now this particular book actually won the World Fantasy Award in 1996, but was also a nominee for the Arthur C. Clarke award that same year. I think it’s really more sci-fi than fantasy, as it’s grounded in the real world, and the illusions performed are all just illusions, except for the one that’s made possible by Tesla’s science experiments.
Journalist Andrew Westley is brought to an old house to speak with its mistress, Kate Angier, about an incident that happened when they were children. Kate claims that she saw her father kill him when he was about two years old, yet here he is speaking with her. The two join forces to read and interpret the diaries of their respective ancestors, Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier, who were illusionists in the late 19th century.
As we read the two men’s journals, the mystery is unraveled. The feud began when Borden attended a seance run by Angier and his wife. In his eagerness to uncover their scam Borden injures Mrs. Angier, causing her to miscarry. In the years following they ruin each other’s acts countless times while constantly improving their own acts. Borden finally comes up with a new illusion that he calls the New Transported Man, in which he transports himself instantaneously from one cabinet toanother amidst flashes of electrical energy. Angier becomes obsessed with figuring out how the illusion works. After receiving a one-word clue from Borden (”Tesla”), Angier travels to Colorado to meet with theeccentric electrical engineer Nikola Tesla, and commissions a machine that will allow Angier to transport himself for real, with no illusions.
With the machine complete Angier begins performing his new illusion, In a Flash, in England (only in electrified theaters, of course), baffling his audiences and Borden. At one performance, however, Borden manages to get backstage and ruin the illusion at the worst possible moment. The story of what happens afterward helps Kate and Andrew solve the mystery of Andrew’s apparent death and rebirth.
The story is told with a dark, suspenseful tone, reminiscent of gothic literature. It begins slowly, fleshing out the characters and building on the early lives and developing feud of the two illusionists. Their lives and personalities are integral to the plot,which snowballs into a fast-paced sci-fi/mystery tale. The reader is allowed to see into the minds of all the major characters, Andrew, Kate, Borden, and Angier, and so is allowed a chance to piece together the mystery of both Borden’s New Transporting Man and Angier’s In a Flash.
If you like The Prestige, you’ll also probably like the following:
The Amazing Dr. Darwin by Charles Sheffield: This book is also a fantasy/sci-fi/mystery involving real scientists: The physician Erasmus Darwin (the main character and Charles’ grandfather), Joseph Priestly, and James Watt.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark
I understand this book is more fantasy than sci-fi. It, too, involves a magicians’ feud, where the magicians have radically different ideas about illusion. While set in Europe against a historical background,the story includes involvement with the Faerie world.
Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
As I was looking for readalikes for The Prestige an Amazon.com review of the book reminded me of Frankenstein. Gothic flavor, slow pace (but engrossing), focus on the characters’ personalities, science, obsession, revenge, and story-within-a-story are all elements the two books share. If you like the setting, good news: they are also both set in Europe, in the 1800s.
Red Flags: Woohoo! Yes! (Attempted?) murder of a child, miscarriage, heavy drinking, revenge, unappetizing bodily ills, and a grisly secret.