Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Prestige

By: Christopher Priest
Narrated by: Simon Vance
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

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.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Ubik cover art
Hyperion cover art
The Dying Earth cover art
The Thousand Earths cover art
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson: A Study in Illusions of Terror cover art
The This cover art
Six of Crows cover art
14 cover art
Elantris (3 of 3) [Dramatized Adaptation] cover art
The Shadow of What Was Lost cover art
When We Were Orphans cover art
The Punch Escrow cover art
No Country for Old Men cover art
Wizard cover art
The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Moriarty cover art
The New York Trilogy cover art

Critic reviews

Winner of the World Fantasy Award

"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)

What listeners say about The Prestige

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    366
  • 4 Stars
    160
  • 3 Stars
    41
  • 2 Stars
    15
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    381
  • 4 Stars
    88
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    303
  • 4 Stars
    126
  • 3 Stars
    52
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brillant

Really enjoyed the film which is why I purchased this book. Story peers into the minds of both magicians but focused in particular on one of them. Fasinating introduction which lead me to consider if I bought the correct book, but ties it up near the end with me wanting more and wondering about certain aspects

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very good read, highly recommended

Really enjoyed listening to this book, the story is multilleyered and very interesting. The narrator makes it extra enjoyable

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Worth a listen

I have seen the movie many times as it is a favourite of mine, and I have now finished the book as well.

Without comparison, the book is thoroughly entertaining and kept me guessing a lot. The characters are all well developed and Simon Vance provides excellent narration. 100% worth a listen.

In comparison to the Movie the story is quite different, meaning I still couldn't guess key points in the book until they happened. The movie probably held me back in this respect. I think overall the movie has a better storyline and is perhaps a bit less confusing but I loved and would recommend both.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Fantastically Brilliant Story, Beautifully Narrated with Flawless Finesse

A rather complex though fantastically brilliant story, so beautifully narrated with flawless and impeccable finesse.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great read

I didn’t know anything about the story when I started it. My goodness, that ending was intense!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Narration

This is the first unabridged audio book I have managed to get all the way through. The story is excellent (much better than the film version) and the quality of the narration is first class.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Why hadn’t I come across this before?

I really enjoyed this audio book & would have bought it had I known about it. As it is, I enjoyed it as part of Audible plus. Refreshingly well written, unlike many of the books that Audible suggests I might like!
Some of the things at the beginning seemed hard to make sense of, but all became clear as the story progressed. I was soon gripped by this imaginative Gothic tale. Four stars for the story, only because I would have liked a bit more at the end.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

This is an excellent book, cleverly written, in and of itself, but I personally feel that having watched the movie adaptation a number of times before reading this ruined some of the twists for me. I had the faces of the characters fixed in my head the way they were portrayed by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman (to name but two) and so this is how they looked in my minds eye, but I was nevertheless captivated by the writing style, which was lovely and precise. This book is a marvel in and of itself and deserves to be read.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Clever (but you have to keep up!)

It is a goof story well told but I found myself having to go back a bit to follow the plot.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Compulsive listening

I've always loved the film, but it isn't nearly as good as this. Like another reviewer, I found the ending a little odd. Maybe there's a sequel?
Simon Vance, as always, narrates brilliantly.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!