it is Strange and Norrell who are trapped in everlasting darkness while the silenced women, people of colour, and poor whites defeat the antagonist. Reception To promote Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Bloomsbury—who also published the Harry Potter series—launched what The Observer called "one of the biggest marketing campaigns in publishing history". Their campaign included plans for newspaper serialisations, book deliveries by horse and carriage, and the placement of "themed teasers", such as period stationery and mock newspapers, in United States coffeeshops. 7,500 advance readers' copies were sent out, a limited number wrapped in paper and sealed with wax. These sold for more than US$100 each on eBay in England in the weeks leading up to publication. By 2005, collectors were paying hundreds of pounds for signed copies of a limited edition of the novel. The book debuted at No. 9 on the New York Times best-seller list, rising to No. 3 two weeks later. It remained on the list for eleven weeks. Four weeks after the book's initial publication, it was in Amazon's top ten. Clarke went on a 20-city tour to promote the novel, after its near-simultaneous publication in 20 countries. Endorsements from independent booksellers helped the book sell out its first printing; by the end of September 2004, it had gone through eight printings. The novel met with "a crackle of favorable reviews in major papers". The New Republic hailed it as "an exceptional work", both "thoughtful and irrepressibly imaginative". The Houston Chronicle described Clarke as "a superb character writer", and the Denver Post called her a "superb storyteller". The reviews praised Clarke's "deft" handling of the pastiche of styles, but many criticised the novel's pace, The Guardian complaining that "the plot creaks frightfully in many places and the pace dawdles". In his review for Science Fiction Weekly, Clute suggested that "almost every scene in the first 300 pages should have been carefully and delicately trimmed" (emphasis in original) since they do little to advance the story. He argued that, at times, Clarke's Austenesque tone gets in the way of plot development. On the other hand, The Baltimore Sun found the novel "a quick read". Complaining that the book leaves the reader "longing for just a bit more lyricism and poetry", The Washington Post reviewer noted, with others, that "sex plays virtually no role in the story ... [and] one looks in vain for the corruption of