The Prestige

By: Christopher Priest

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1878, two young stage magicians clash in the dark during the course of a fraudulent séance. From this moment on, their lives become webs of deceit and revelation as they vie to outwit and expose each other. In the course of pursuing each other's ruin, they will deploy all the deception their magician's craft can command. Their rivalry will take them to the peaks of their careers, but with terrible consequences. In the end, their legacy will be passed on for generations to descendants who must, for their sanity's sake, untangle the puzzle left to them.

©1995 Christopher Priest (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

• Winner of the World Fantasy Award, 1996
• Audie Award Finalist, Fiction, Unabridged, 2007

"Extraordinary, like a dazzling magic act!" (Entertainment Weekly)
"A brilliant conjuring act by one of the master illusionists of our time." (Wired)
"A taut, twisting, prize-winning story of two magicians and their fierce fin-de-siècle rivalry that taints successive generations of their respective families....An unexpectedly compelling fusion of weird science and legerdemain." (Kirkus Reviews)

Slow-building dread with elegant manners….

….and a supernatural surprise or two. This is my first novel by Christopher Priest and he has made a new devotee.

Briefly: The coming of age of electricity coincides with the lives of two illusionist rivals, both of whom glimpse a way to pervert the new medium’s power for personal gain. In the hands of a few unscrupulous men (including Nicola Tesla), a form of electrical teleportation is cobbled roughly together. One of our magicians uses the power to create the mother of all stage illusions, besting his rival at last. Of course there are consequences to the misuses of power, as there always are.

Some of the meticulously told story is repetitive, but the book wove a moody spell that more than made up for any editorial lapses. I wouldn’t call it an edge of the seat thriller, but I don’t think I blinked during the tense fifth and final “part.” One or two questions remain unanswered for me, but maybe that’s how this book will stay in my memory. I won’t mention because they’re spoilers.

One thing: reader Simon Vance was convincing and brilliant. But he did provide some comic relief when he devised a voice for Nicola Tesla. His American accent was execrably bad—and odd, considering that Tesla came from the Balkans. I already respected Vance’s acting chops so I let myself ROTFL, as it were. :)). He was otherwise amazing.

Film was better

The movie was significantly better than the book. Book was still good, but the films story was genius.

A cherished re-read

Gave this a listen after reading the book and seeing the movie, and the story is just as gripping years later despite knowing what unfolds.

Magic!

Didn’t think I would be this fascinated with the ins and outs of illusionist and magic tricks. Really good, deftly woven plot and overall intriguing story.

Excellent Novel

well written smart and thrilling. Keeps you in suspense while you have the info to figure it out

Great Narration of a captivating mystery

I recently stumbled upon the Movie with the same name. I don’t know why they insist on buying the rights to great stories and ruining the integrity of everything that makes a great story interesting. The movie is a crappy rendition of a complex, well developed story. This audiobook is greatly entertaining and I would recommend it to be well worth listening.

Very Good All Around

This is a great story that's been adapted by Christopher Nolan into the movie with the same name. The story and the performance overall were great and I really enjoyed this telling, got to watch the movie again!!

The Prestige

"The Prestige" is the basis for an excellent movie that was released in 2006. The movie and the book are more dissimilar than alike, but each one is fascinating and has its own pleasures. The book is long, sometimes convoluted, and packed with details that do not always advance the plot. And then it stops, moreso than it ends. Still, the book was captivating and enjoyable, largely thanks to a lively, theatrical reading by Simon Vance. So, yes, I would recommend it.

Highly suspenseful, highly recommended

This is not the typical kind of book I listen to, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story of these two late Victorian magicians is framed within a modern story about two of their descendents. Fascinating for the period details. Fascinating for the representation of art, performance, and secrecy of magical illusion. Although I personally found the science fiction aspect of it (the latter part of the book) to be less convincing and appealing than the earlier, more realistic parts, I found the book so intriguing that I could hardly put it down. The narration by Simon Vance is a superb performance.

Odd knickknack of a story — Stick with the film.

I absolutely loved the movie version of this story. And I typically enjoy books more than their movie counterparts, but not in this case. The movie refined the book's plot, and made it an overall more interesting story.

The book does add plot not included in the movie (naturally), but in few cases does it make a considerable difference in the overall story. I believe that the plot twists and tension was presented best in the movie's format. The book (written in diary-style) had a wandering feel to it. And the big reveal that makes the movie astounding seemed significantly less important in this version.

I do admit that knowledge of the plot contrivances beforehand may be coloring my perception of the novel, but I came into this book with great love for the story, and I was not impressed by the presentation.

Simon Vance was a great narrator, however.