I think pacing is the same, but language use and the sheer amount of descriptions are very different. The Victorians could write ten pages describing a room or a chair. Modern readers don't generally have the patience for that. I think it has to do with our access to digital media. Then there's the fact that mass media has popularized more limited vocabulary. I haven't needed to use a dictionary reading modern fiction whereas I have my phone on me when I read someone like Nathaniel Hawthorne.