Wednesday 11 April 2012

HISTORICAL URBAN FANTASY REVIEW: The Sword of Albion 3: The Devil's Looking-Glass - Mark Chadbourn

Release Date: 12/04/12

SYNOPSIS:

1593: The dreaded alchemist, black magician and spy Dr John Dee is missing...Terror sweeps through the court of Queen Elizabeth, for in Dee's possession is an obsidian mirror, a mysterious object of great power which legend says could set the world afire. And so the call goes out to celebrated swordsman, adventurer and rake Will Swyfte - find Dee and his feared looking-glass and return them to London before disaster strikes. But when Will discovers the mirror may help him solve the mystery that has haunted him for years - the fate of his lost love, Jenny - the stakes become acutely personal. With a frozen London under siege by supernatural powers, the sands of time are running out. Will is left with no choice but to pursue the alchemist to the devil-haunted lands of the New World - in the very shadow of the terrifying fortress home of England's hidden enemy, the Unseelie Court. Surrounded by an army of these unearthly fiends, with only his sword and a few brave friends at his back, the realm's greatest spy must be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice - or see all he loves destroyed.


REVIEW:

I love it when two seemingly improbable worlds collide and as such Mark Chadbourn’s Swords of Albion series has brought the Fey and historical fiction together in an epic Elizabethan mash up.

It’s quirky, the characters are people that you want to be around and when you add an author as skilful as Mark with sleight of hand, it leads to something very special.

Add to this great prose, solid dialogue alongside an overall arc with many twists as well as devious manipulation and this is a series that has been a pure joy to read.

1 comment:

Angela Addams said...

This looks awesome!

Well, I just don't know what to do...you've given me way too many books to read my tbr pile is going to topple over and crush me.