Review of Hammered – Book 3 of The Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne

Having already read the first two books in this enjoyable series, Hounded and Hexed, I settled down for more of the same kind of mischief from Atticus O’Sullivan, who is the last of the old Druids – twenty one centuries old – living in Tempe, Arizona. But I was in for a surprise. Hearne has suddenly taken a left turn in this third book and instead of more high jinks in and around Tempe, where ancient gods collide with modern America, Atticus has undertaken to confront one of the most powerful and famous old gods on his home turf. So… does the series – whose initial success rests heavily on the drama and humour around that collision of cultures – still seem as fresh and original once Atticus and his team invade Asgard for a bloody showdown?

Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is worse than a blowhard and a bully – he’s ruined countless lives and killed scores of innocents. After centuries, Viking vampire Leif Helgarson is ready to get his vengeance, and he’s asked his friend Atticus O’Sullivan, the last of the Druids, to help take down this Norse nightmare.  One survival strategy has worked for Atticus for more than two thousand years: stay away from the guy with the lightning bolts. But things are heating up in Atticus’s home base of Tempe, Arizona. There’s a vampire turf war brewing, and Russian demon hunters who call themselves the Hammers of God are running rampant. Despite multiple warnings and portents of dire consequences, Atticus and Leif journey to the Norse plane of Asgard, where they team up with a werewolf, a sorcerer, and an army of frost giants for an epic showdown against vicious Valkyries, angry gods, and the hammer-wielding Thunder Thug himself.

This new shift in surroundings also meant that a raft of established characters I’d grown to like were relegated to bit parts and we were introduced to some new protagonists. It took me a couple of chapters before I fully relaxed into the new scenario – but once I did, it was a complete blast. Hearne certainly knows how and when to blend humour into action scenes and I also get the strong impression that he knows about sword fighting, rather than having just Googled it…

Hearne also mixes up genre conventions – urban fantasy is generally fast-paced and snappy with a linear narrative. In this book, however, there is a long section where each of the team who are set to invade Asgard embark on a slice of their life story to explain to the others their personal grudge against Thor. It’s a neat device to bond us with the characters and also give us a greater emotional investment in wanting to see Thor’s death, given that in both Hounded and Hexed, the Norse god has been regularly mentioned as a total jerk, but only in terms of telling rather than showing us. So when the big climax comes, we are now fully involved in the plot and eager to see the end of such a callous, unpleasant character.

Hearne takes some big risks in this third instalment and they all pay off – including the deaths of some major characters. Hammered is arguably the best book in the series so far – the stakes keep getting higher and Atticus manages to keep ahead. Just. Meanwhile, Hearne steps away from the backdrop that established this series as One To Watch and turns it into something else completely, while adding yet another twist to this original take on urban fantasy.

Any quibbles? Well, I’ll confess to finding the drinking session with Jesus uncomfortable. Yep. I know – I’ve happily seen all sorts of other gods wheeled out for my entertainment. But, this is my pantheon and I discovered I didn’t much enjoy seeing it messed around with – despite the fact that Hearne has depicted Him in a very positive light…

Hammered has taken a series that could have cruised along with more of the same for at least another book – and shaken it up into something else, making Tricked, the next book in the series, a must-have addition to my already insanely long reading list… I’d already marked Kevin Hearne has a significant addition to the cadre of authors who are establishing this period as a golden age for urban fantasy – Hammered absolutely confirms that he should be right up there with the likes of Jim Butcher and Charlaine Harris.
9/10

Review of Fated – Book 1 of the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka

There’s been a slew of excellent fantasy featuring London, recently – Kate Griffin’s Midnight Mayor series, Ben Aaronovich’s Peter Grant series and Nick Harkaway’s latest hefty offering, Angelmaker, spring to mind, for starters. Now add another newcomer – Benedict Jacka. The snag in choosing a genre as popular as urban fantasy, however, is that it is already crowded with plenty of excellent writing. Can Jacka’s new hero, Alex Verus, favourably compare in such company?

In the heart of Camden, where rail meets road meets leyline, you’ll find the Arcana Emporium, run by one Alex Verus. He won’t sell you a wand or mix you a potion, but if you know what you’re looking for, he might just be able to help. That’s if he’s not too busy avoiding his would-be apprentice, foiling the Dark, outwitting the Light and investigating a mysterious relic that’s just turned up at the British Museum.

If you’re thinking that the blurb sounds a tad familiar, you’d be right. There is a lot about this book that will be squarely bang in the middle of the genre conventions – London is used as an effective backdrop to a lot of the magical chicanery; Alex Verus with his trolleyful of emotional baggage could fairly be described as isolated and conflicted; there is a swathe of magical infighting that somehow sucks Alex in… But what is also true is that Jacka has added some twists of his own. Alex is a probability mage. His particular gift is the ability to be able to see into the future. Jacka has thought through what this gift actually would encompass – and I found his take on divination a plausible and enjoyable version that provides Alex with problems and strengths in equal measure.

And he certainly has problems as he crosses paths with the Dark Mages, whose brutal treatment of their apprentices – or anyone else who takes their fancy – is overlooked by the Council responsible for magical law and order. There are a number of vividly depicted antagonists whose brand of aggressive battle magic manage to make Voldemort look almost cuddly. There are also some intriguing allies – Luna, whose family curse means that if anyone gets too physically close to her they end up dying; Starbreeze, a friendly air elemental that whisks Alex off at the speed of wind that ensures the pace doesn’t flag and Sondor, a bookish mage with a real interest in History.

The writing is slick and accomplished. Scene setting and exposition are all seamlessly woven into the story arc, which is a deal harder than Jacka makes it look. As I’ve mentioned, the story is set in London and Jacka uses particular landmarks, such as the British Museum, to great effect. While Alex is hauled unwillingly into the middle of the action, we are also given slices of backstory that explains why he is so paranoid and anti-social. Overall, this debut is a thoroughly entertaining, satisfying read that establishes Jacka as One To Watch. If you have a weakness for conflicted wizards that operate in a hostile, layered world and haven’t yet encountered Fated, then I recommend that you go looking for this book – because when you do, I’ll be very surprised if you don’t immediately go hunting for the sequel, Cursed, once you’ve completed the book.
9/10

Review of Hounded – Book 1 of The Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne

This interesting urban fantasy offering deals with characters more usually depicted wearing skins and leaping around mist-draped Irish landscapes from the Dark Ages. Hearne has taken a slice of ancient Irish mythology and transplanted straight into the middle of modern-day Arizona. Does it work?

Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, has a peaceful life running an occult bookshop in Arizona. His neighbours and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old – when in fact, he’s twenty-one centuries old. He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.

Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power – plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a sexy bartender possessed by a Hindu witch and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish – to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil.

So that is the scenario. Atticus is certainly an interesting protagonist. Initially I wasn’t sure if he came across as sufficiently sharp to have survived for over two thousand years with a vengeful god on his tail. But as the story progressed and I got caught up in the whirlwind of events – this story moves along at a fair clip – I was completely convinced. Hearne has taken the Irish mythic pantheon and done a modern makeover on them, with some very entertaining results.

Along with the full-on action, there is also a fair dollop of humour – and Hearne’s humorous exchanges are generally delivered with panache and flair. In fact, the whole story unfolds with deft assurance. In addition to Atticus, the supporting cast of characters are enjoyable – my favourite being the Morrigan, the goddess of Death. She comes across as genuinely scary, if slightly adrift in parts of the world where corpses aren’t scattered across battlefields. Hearne’s magic system is robust and convincing – I found myself wondering why other magical protagonists weren’t also harassed by nosy neighbours who found their extraordinary activities sufficiently worrying to call the local law enforcement agency to investigate…

My only niggle was that I wasn’t completely convinced by Oberon, the huge Irish wolfhound, who accompanies Atticus and with whom he can hold telepathic conversations. It seemed to me that Oberon’s vocabulary was too complex and sophisticated to be canine-based. However, I’ve read other reviewers who have praised their relationship, so I am aware that this is largely a matter of taste.

Other than that minor misgiving, I think this addition to the urban fantasy canon is a really enjoyable, well told romp – to the extent that I immediately hunted down the sequel, Hexed, while profoundly offering silent thanks to Orbit for their very civilised habit of releasing series’ sequels in quick succession. Now – I’ve just got to get hold of Hammered…
8/10

Review of Stray Souls – Book 1 of the Magicals Anonymous series by Kate Griffin

This is set in the same world – and the same backdrop – as Griffin’s highly successful Midnight Mayor series, featuring Matthew Swift as her conflicted and very powerful protagonist. So – given that such a very strong hero is having to make room for Sharon Li and her group of maladjusted magic-users – does this series have the same star quality evident in the Midnight Mayor books?

When Sharon Li unexpectedly discovers she’s a shaman, she finds herself called upon to use her newfound oneness with the City to rescue it from a slow but inevitable demise.

The problem is, while everyone expects her to have all the answers – from the Midnight Mayor himself to Sharon’s magically-challenged self-help group – she doesn’t have a clue where to start. But now that London’s soul is gone, the Gate is open and the hunt begins.

Like the Midnight Mayor series, this is definitely one for the adults. Sammy the Elbow, the world’s second best shaman, sprinkles his dialogue with language almost as foul as his smell…

This book is written in multiple viewpoint, so we get a ringside seat to the struggles of Rhys, a druid forced to shelter from Nature due to his chronic hay fever; Gretel the troll, who wants to cook; Sally the banshee, who writes everything down on a whiteboard so that her magically-enhanced voice doesn’t drive men mad; Kevin, the vampire who has major issues with blood – along with any other fluids that may pose a risk of infection… Even Matthew Swift, the Midnight Mayor isn’t particularly effective – his specialty being to blow things up in a messy destructive manner, whereas this job requires finesse. I’ve enjoyed all the Midnight Mayor books and come to admire Griffin’s writing talent – however my misgiving was that with such a very powerful main character, the forces ranged against him also had to be equally huge, or there was no real plot. But, the motley crew surrounding Sharon certainly don’t fall into that category.

I expected an action-packed plot wound full of tension and vivid descriptions of some of the less wholesome parts of London, which I certainly got – but what was a delightful surprise were the laugh-aloud moments. And this book is full of them. Griffin’s humour is pitch-perfect and a wonderful counterpoint to the full-on action and pathos. A book that leaves me with a lump in my throat while making me laugh always has a special place in my heart – it doesn’t happen all that often. Matt Haig’s The Radleys was the last time I read one of these rare novels…

And if Griffin’s descriptions leap off the page, then her dialogue is a joy – pin-sharp, funny and perceptive. With such a strong cast of interesting characters, Sharon’s slightly desperate flailings to discover just exactly what she should be doing could have been completely eclipsed by the likes of Rhys and Kevin. Yet Griffin avoids that pitfall with the same deftness that she handles the issue of how to neutralise a magically potent protagonist such as Matthew Swift.  Her simmering anger at social injustice that produced the King of Rats, the tribe and the Bag Lady is still apparent in Griffin’s character, Greydawn.

As for the ending, it was beautifully handled – both satisfying and poignant. All in all, while Griffin’s books have always been excellent, Stray Souls is outstanding and the best urban fantasy book I’ve read this year.
10/10

Review of The Neon Court – Book 3 of The Matthew Swift series by Kate Griffin

When the city was founded, he was the mad native spirit that waited in the dark, on the edge of the torchlight. When the streets were cobbled over, he became the footsteps heard on stone that you cannot see. When the Victorians introduced street lighting, he was the shadow who always shied away from the light, and when the gas went out, there he was. The shadow at the end of the alley, the footsteps half-heard in the night.

A daimyo of the Neon Court is dead. So are two warriors of the Tribe. And a freshly-prophesied ‘chosen one’ is missing. Each side blames the other and Matthew Swift is right in the middle of it, trying to keep the peace. Because when magicians go to war, everyone loses.

And there you have it – most of the blurb for Griffin’s third book in the series that created such a stir with A Madness of Angels. So, does Griffin manage to maintain the high standard of writing and outstanding characterisation that she established in that first book?

Matthew Swift is now the Midnight Mayor, albeit reluctantly. It’s his job to step in and save the day when London is threatened by magical forces – along with the Aldermen and his assistant, Penny. Matthew’s still the bloody-minded individual with a planet-sized chip on his shoulder that at times saves his life – and at other times has him haring down yet another noxious alley with no shoes on… But what Griffin is now offering is the beginnings of a team forming around Matthew. We start to learn more about Penny, and Dee, one of the Aldermen who steps into the line of fire alongside Matthew in his battle against the thing at the end of the alley.
What makes this series outstanding, is the way Griffin incorporates her magic into the London landscape – and then twists it into something quite different, often revolting… The sequence with the King of Rats had me profoundly grateful that I was inbetween meals when reading it – and then there is the unforgettable image of escaping off a burning building on a flying creature made up of discarded plastic carrier bags. Needless to say, there is nothing Flower Fairies about Griffin’s depiction of the fae – The Neon Court. They are portrayed as exquisite – and completely ruthless about the humans who they ensnare to serve them. Their deadly enemies, the Tribe, mutilate themselves with bizarre piercings to prove their physical toughness and as a declaration to the world that they care nothing for material values. The downtrodden and reviled often find a niche with the Tribe, who also speak in a form of text-speech. I’m hoping that they reappear later in the series – I found them fascinating.

So, any grizzles? Well, it’s more of an observation, really. The majority of long-running series that I’ve read tend to start with someone stumbling across the issue that ultimately makes them a bit powerful in the first book, and steadily becoming more formidable as they gain strength and experience. This didn’t happen in A Madness of Angels – Matthew Swift was more or less as he is, now. So, while the opponents change, they are all very heavy duty – they have to be because Matthew is such a force. Using the word formulaic is far too harsh – Griffin’s poetical prose with her wonderfully imagined magical landscape and quirky unpleasantness is a one-off. But there is a definite pattern emerging within each storyline. Did it ultimately spoil my enjoyment of The Neon Court? No. But I am hoping that in the fourth book of the series, Griffin manages to ring the changes – maybe take the Midnight Mayor somewhere else, for instance…

If you have a weakness for well written, gritty urban fantasy and you haven’t yet picked up this series, then you’re in for a treat – however, don’t start with The Neon Court. Give yourself a treat and track down the first two books, first. Meantime, I’m off to find a copy of The Minority Council.  Hats off to Orbit – the covers for this series are absolutely wonderful.
9/10

Review of Deadlocked – Book 12 of the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris

Our favourite cocktail waitress, Sookie Stackhouse, is once more embroiled in another adventure… A young girl has died at a vampire party – and it looks as though her lover, Eric, might be responsible. Eric swears he didn’t do it, the police don’t believe him, and even Sookie isn’t so sure. Nor is she inclined to take his word for it, having caught him enjoying the victim’s blood minutes before she was killed.

But something strange is going on. Why was Sookie asked to come to the fateful party a few minutes early – just to catch Eric in the act? And why had the victim spiked her own blood before approaching Eric? Was it simply because she wanted to be irresistible, or was it something more sinister?  Sookie will have to find out… but it’s the worst moment to investigate, as her Fae family are having troubles of their own and Sookie is, inevitably, drawn in.

This is the penultimate book in the series, and I think even if you didn’t actually know it, there is a sense of Harris drawing together various storylines and starting to provide us with the concluding storylines for some of the main players in this popular, likeable series. There is a marked darkening in the overall tone of this book. Sookie is increasingly unhappy with her single status as her biological clock is chiming… There is also a significant lack of steamy sex in this book. Having turned 28 and experienced enough tumult in the last few years of her life to fell an ox (the two-natured kind, of course) Sookie is bound to be tired of constantly being in danger – and fed up with the lop-sided power ratio in her relationship with Eric. Even the most infatuated girlfriends start counting the cost when they have to continually drop everything to spend quality time with that special someone – and Eric is never going to do contented domesticity. While Sookie is, at heart, an intensely domesticated woman…

Hooray for Harris having the guts to shine a bit of honest relationship reality in amongst the supernatural murder and mayhem! So, does Deadlocked unduly suffer with Sookie so depressed? Well, the pace is certainly slower than the usual headlong rush – but that didn’t find me wanting to skim or skip. I was enjoying catching up with the other characters, while appreciating Sookie’s issues. It’s refreshing to find a feisty female protagonist struggling to cope.

Harris is clearly cranking up the overarching story climax ready for the final denouement in the final book of the series, Dead Ever After, due to be released next year. In the meantime, does the murder investigation in Deadlocked reach a credible conclusion? Yes, I think it does. Like many others, I’d already guessed who had killed the girl well before the end – but that isn’t the heart of this plot. The other issue surrounding Sookie’s unique qualities were being addressed in this book – I’m going to some lengths to avoid Spoiler territory, here – which was one plot-point waving in the wind that was starting to annoy me, anyhow. So I was quite happy to see Harris tie it into previous storylines and other characters, while providing yet more information on Sookie’s background. I happen to think that she is one of the most competently written main characters in urban fantasy and all that Deadlocked has done is confirm that opinion.

I know that I’ll miss my annual visit to Bon Temps, but the way that Harris is winding up the series makes some kind of crisis leading to a step-change in Sookie’s fortunes an inevitability. All I’m hoping is that poor Sookie ends up with someone who will ultimately make her happy – and I, for one, am not convinced that someone should be Eric…
9/10

Review of The Vampire Shrink by Lynda Hilburn

This is a slightly different take on vampires, told from the viewpoint of a professional who finds herself involved when a client starts talking about the vampire world.

Denver Psychologist Kismet Knight, Ph.D., doesn’t believe in the paranormal. She especially doesn’t believe in vampires. That is, until a new client introduces Kismet to the vampire underworld, and a drop-dead gorgeous, 800-year-old vampire named Devereux. Kismet isn’t buying the vampire story, but can’t explain why she has such odd reactions and feelings whenever Devereux is near. Kismet is soon forced to open her mind to other possibilities when she is visited in her office by two angry bloodsuckers, who would like nothing better than to challenge Devereux by hurting Kismet.

And suddenly Kismet is up to her chin in the vampire world. Hilburn tells this story with spark and flashes of ironic humour that kept me laughing throughout. I particularly liked the Miss Piggy slippers… The other thing that I enjoyed, was that it took an almighty long time before the heroine really believed that the vampires around her were more than deluded wannabes. I do get a tad fed up when supernatural creatures pop up in the middle of everyday situations and those around them completely fall in with the hurried explanation in amongst all the chaos that follows them. It was refreshing to find a heroine who didn’t believe until the proof was absolutely incontrovertible.

Any niggles? Well, what I did find jarring was that Kismet – who hadn’t had any kind of intimate relationship for two years – is then apparently willing to become sexually available to three men after her encounter with Devereux. I don’t think she worries nearly enough about this behaviour. It bothered me that the implicit explanation was that Devereux’s influence had lowered her inhibitions. Oh, really? And that’s a good thing? Graphic sex scenes are often part of the sub-genre, but they are generally in the context of a loving relationship – however, I wasn’t so convinced that this was the case in this novel. And – yes – for me that was a problem.

I’m hoping that this wrinkle is one that Hilburn will address in the next book, because I enjoy her irreverent humour and sparky writing style – and this series has potential to really take off.
8/10

Review of Whispers Underground – Book 3 in Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch

D.C. Peter Grant – U.K.’s answer to Harry Dresden – serves in a little known branch of the Metropolitan Police. So in this, the third book in the series does Aaronovitch manage to sustain the energy, quirky humour and detailed knowledge that has made this series so popular so quickly?

In Tuffnell Park, North London, a pair of railway tracks dive under a school, taking trains to and from Kings Cross. Wet, filthy, dangerous. Lovely place. And one Sunday before Christmas a sweet (sort of) kid called Abigail took me and my long-suffering Lesley May down there to look for a ghost.

We found one.

And that was that, I thought, because come Monday, I get to do some proper policing. Persons Unknown has been stabbed to death on the tracks at Baker Street tube. Magic may have been involved. And sure enough, in the blood; vestigia, the tell-tale trail magic leaves. Person Unknown turns out to be the son of a US senator and before you can say ‘International Incident’, FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds and her firmly held religious beliefs are on my case. And down in the dark, in the tunnels of London’s Underground, the buried rivers, the Victorian sewers, I’m hearing whispers of ancient arts and tortured, vengeful spirits…

That’s the premise – and with that we are whisked off in Peter Grant’s engaging, chirpy first person viewpoint to a ringside seat as he embarks on another investigation. Once more, we are treated to his cinematic descriptions of the city he clearly loves and knows as well as a London cabbie, while he plunges into another plot more twisty than Mama Thames herself.

Lesley May is accompanying him for most of the ride – and the sparky, yet poignant interaction between the two of them lit up sections of the book for me. In any successful long-running series, it becomes as much about the supporting characters as the protagonist. Aaronovitch doesn’t rely solely on having one of the most cheekily engaging main characters to keep our interest – he also surrounds Peter with a quirky cast. This ranges from Molly, the housekeeper at The Folly (think Mrs Hudson with sharp teeth and chronic insomnia); Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, Peter’s boss and that last official English wizard, to the pantheon of headstrong river goddesses who all seem to have a bit of a thing for Peter…

Aaronovitch is a highly experienced writer and knows that one of his writing strengths is creating powerfully effective backdrops, providing mood music to the action. This book has underground tunnels as a creepy setting to the action – not just the Underground, but also slices of the complex warren that burrows under London for a variety of purposes. I’d strongly advise you to avoid reading the passages set in the sewer while eating your dinner – it’ll put you right off your food…

Whispers Underground is every bit as good as the first two books – if anything, better. Peter’s character sings off the page and as Aaronovitch refines and fleshes out the world and supporting cast, his voice gains in emotional depth and confidence. This is certainly one of 2012’s outstanding reads.
10/10

Review of City of Ghosts – Book 3 of The Downside Ghosts by Stacia Kane

This gritty urban fantasy is an interesting take on ghosts and magic in a world where the Church has taken control and trains witches and wizards.

Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside and Chess’s bosses at the Church of the Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack this grisly case. Chess is under a binding spell that threatens death if she talks about the investigation, but the city’s most notorious crime boss – and Chess’s drug dealer – gets wind of her new assignment and insists on being kept informed. If that isn’t bad enough, a sinister street vendor appears to have information Chess needs. Only he’s not telling what he knows or what it all has to do with the vast underground City of Eternity.

Now Chess will have to navigate killer wraiths and a lot of seriously nasty magic – all while coping with some not so small issues of her own. And the only man she can trust to help her through it all has every reason to want her dead.

This is the third book in the series and as I hadn’t come across the previous two instalments, the first hurdle was to negotiate the backstory. However, Kane manages to reprise all the necessary connecting plot points without holding up the narrative – a fairly nifty trick, as it happens. As you may have gathered by the blurb, Chess isn’t exactly squeaky clean. She is a drug addict who also happens to be a talented witch – an interesting take on the whole urban fantasy magic-user scene, if not entirely original.

Kane is at pains to depict Chess as something of an anti-hero – in addition to being a drug addict and using her highs to feed her magical talent, she has also been around the block one or three times… And uses the full range of graphic swear words to describe said block. Chess also has a somewhat torrid love life. Fully depicted in all its… torridness. Add in some fairly gruesome descriptions of the dark magic that is practised, then you have a book that is definitely more along the lines of True Blood, rather than Harry Potter and isn’t one I’d recommend for the shelves of your fourteen year old.

However, if graphic sex and language doesn’t offend you, then this is an urban fantasy that zips forward at full tilt and doesn’t ease off until the final page. In common with some of the better written books in this sub-genre, there is a sprinkling of humour to leaven the dark nature of the magic and I enjoyed Chess’s snappy first person narrative voice – although personally I could have done with a few less ‘f’ words. And one of the sex scenes (the one in the public toilets) seemed unrealistic to the point of silliness.

The baddies were convincingly scary and I particularly liked the passages during the Church rituals, which managed to convey a real sense of menace. Kane is very good at providing detailed and threatening backdrops to her various adventures without losing pace or narrative tension, which is trickier to pull off than Kane makes it look. Overall, I enjoyed the story and felt that Chess was an interesting and mostly convincing protagonist. City of Ghosts certainly enlivened a long train journey and I shall be interested to see how Kane further develops this character.
8/10

Review of Moon Over Soho – Book 2 of the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovich

Ben Aaronovich’s first book, Rivers of London, garnered a great deal of critical acclaim and positive attention from reviewers and critics alike. I certainly enjoyed it. So, does the sequel, released only a few months later by those busy folks at Orion, live up to the high standard set by the first book?

The song. That’s what London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club. The notes of the old jazz standard are rising from the body—a sure sign that something about the man’s death was not at all natural but instead supernatural.

Body and soul – they’re also what Peter will risk as he investigates a pattern of similar deaths in and around Soho. With the help of his superior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, and the assistance of beautiful jazz aficionado Simone Fitzwilliam, Peter will uncover a deadly magical menace – one that leads right to his own doorstep and to the squandered promise of a young jazz musician: a talented trumpet player named Richard “Lord” Grant – otherwise known as Peter’s dear old dad.

Apart from the fact that this book reaffirms Aaronovich’s detailed research/knowledge of London’s tucked-away corners and we learn that he is also a jazz nut – it also firmly establishes this series as One To Watch. Peter Grant is a delightful protagonist – funny, slightly vulnerable and insatiably curious. And someone who seems to trip over trouble with great frequency. I liked the way this book immediately picks up the threads from Rivers of London, so we get to see more of the engaging cast of characters. Molly is a standout favourite and I’m waiting to see her get a lot more action. Peter’s long-suffering mentor, DCI Nightingale is still recovering from the injuries he sustained at the climactic ending of Rivers of London, as is PC Lesley May, Peter’s girlfriend. We also get to see more of the river deities at the heart of this series and the adventure with Ash is one of the more exuberant set pieces in the middle of this fast-paced whodunit. It is a relief to have an urban fantasy protagonist who isn’t nursing all sorts of major emotional damage due to a dysfunctional upbringing. While Peter was raised in a tough part of town, he also has a strong, loving family around him – even if it was rather haphazard.

I sort of guessed who was responsible for killing off the jazz musicians well before the denouement – though that didn’t really matter. I hadn’t seen the how and besides there’s another case where the threat is even more deadly and is clearly going to be taking up Peter’s time in the next book. The humour threading through the story immediately drew me in and held me. I read the book in a single sitting – however, in devouring it so greedily I’m conscious that I’m selling this novel short. There is a wealth of detail packed alongside the engrossing storyline – descriptions of London haunts; snippets of magical lore and delightfully irreverent insights into police procedure. So you can pounce on it and gorge on the story, but I think this is also a book that would benefit from being reread at a slower pace to fully appreciate what Aaronovich has crafted and I’m very much looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Whispers Under Ground.
10/10