The Prestige cover art

The Prestige

 Preview

Audible Standard 1-month free trial

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo + applicable tax after 30-day trial. Cancel Anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

The Prestige

Written by: Christopher Priest
Narrated by: Simon Vance
Try for $0.00

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $22.16

Buy Now for $22.16

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. Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Science Fiction Magic Users
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

What the critics say

  • 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)
All stars
Most Relevant
I loved it and simply could not stop it!!!!!!! I can't wait to watch the 2006 movie from a totally new perspective.

wow!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really good story. Gripping and illuminating. I like the way the author made good book. The narrator can talk good.

As usual the movie doesn’t do it justice

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You won’t regret choosing this story. The story and performance are both wonderful. I was surprised.

Captivating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Both narration and story had me enraptured from beginning to end. Incredible! Different than the movie.

Wonderful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I confess that I have never seen the evidently popular film adaptation of this Christopher Priest story. If it is similar to this book, it's worth a viewing. The first ⅔ of the book chronicles an intriguing duel between two rival turn-of-the-century Vaudeville-styled stage illusionists.. and then evolves into a SciFi-flavored cautionary tale involving teleportation and the experiments of Nikola Tesla.
Priest's vocabulary/prose is creditable, his dialogue is realistic, and his description skills are commendable. Less fortunately, he jumps around with his plot - rendering the book occasionally hard to follow.

Simon Vance's performance is likewise excellent - but imperfect. His diction, cadence, timbre, and tone are beyond reproach.. but his voice-acting is variable (Vance's American accents are noticeably subpar, for example).

Altogether, this recording of 'The Prestige' was an outstanding listening option for a couple of quiet afternoons. If you can get it as a 'Plus' option, downloading it is a no-brainer. Even if Audible requested a Credit for this 8/10-star offering, you wouldn't go wrong spending it.

Entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.