BOOK BLURB:When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford - Samuel Johnson In fact, Dr Johnson was only half right. There is in London much more than life - there is power. It ebbs and flows with the rhythms of the city, makes runes from the alignments of ancient streets and hums with the rattle of trains and buses; it waxes and wanes with the patterns of the business day. It is a new kind of magic: urban magic. Enter a London where magicians ride the Last Train, implore favours of The Beggar King and interpret the insane wisdom of The Bag Lady. Enter a London where beings of power soar with the pigeons and scrabble with the rats, and seek insight in the half-whispered madness of the blue electric angels. Enter the London of Matthew Swift, where rival sorcerers, hidden in plain sight, do battle for the very soul of the city ...
REVIEW:
To be honest this was a book that I really wasn’t sure on for the first 25 pages. Whilst this might sound silly I really wasn’t enamoured with the Dickensian descriptive prose that really dragged the tone of the tale down. That said, however, after those first few pages you really get the flavour of Jonathan Swift ‘s London along with Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere as the story continues to develop into its own unique being whilst dragging the reader through the city by their heels kicking and screaming as they worry about what nasty is around the corner.
Its magical, its fascinating and it really does add a layer to the readers world that will last long after the final page is turned as they watch those eerie alley’s on their way past. Any book that can do that to a reader really does deserve to be picked up and enjoyed and whilst it won’t be my top Supernatural of the year it will be a damn close run thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment