Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch

This was quite a strange little tale, but that is what we are reading the Peter Grant series for; right?  The premise of a magical pottery sherd being used as a murder weapon was definitely out there and yet, somehow the author manages to weave a whole civilization out of this one, small sherd.  To be honest I found it completely gripping and was nearly late for work twice reading this book.

Lesley May is finally back.  She is still suffering from Mr Punch's devastating atack on her from Rivers Of London but it isn't swept aside, her injuries are front and centre in a very matter of fact way.  To be honest, maybe that's why I like these books so very, very much, the Magical world is very matter of factly dealt with throughout and this gives it a real air of authenticity.  There is also a lot more about Police procedure in this book and the juxtaposition of the two worlds meeting through Thomas Nightingale and Peter Grant is sublime.  I really love the slightly ascerbic conversations with senior officers who are "in the know" about The Folly but don't particularly like that it exists.

This has everything you could wish for a book - high art (clearly Ryan Carroll is supposed to be a contemporary of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin but just never made it), underground trains on not so underground tracks, the grand Victorian Sewers underpinning the City and those pesky River Goddesses and their underground raves.  Throw in the Nazareth Market, a Goblin and a secret civilization and this book has just about everything you could want.

The same wit is present in this book as the previous two in the series and Peter grant is at his inept best.  He really can be a bumbling idiot at times but he's all the better for it!

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

I put off reading the second book as long as I could as I figured it would be a complete let down after I enjoyed Rivers Of London so much; now I am kicking myself because this book is every bit as good - if not actually more so.  The beauty of these books for me is the "voice" of Peter Grant - his narration is sublime and pulls me right in to the story and I think I could be half in love with him.  I think it helps that my sense of humour mirrors his, so a tendency to the dark and profanity strewn then.

The world building is exceptionally well done with real places being given a supernatural overcoat.  From the Jazz Clubs of Soho, where PC Grant has to face his father's past, to Dr Moreau's club (honestly I laughed like a drain when they called it that - mainly because it was already floating through my head and there is nothing like sharing the same headspace with an author as you read).  Although I don't know London at all, except though the medium of TV (especially Alan Cumming's wonderful Urban series which spent a whole episode in Soho) it all feels so real that the little pieces of the "weird stuff" that are allowed to permeate them has an unsettling ring of authenticity.

The weird and not so wonderful denizens of London are starkly set against the realities of Police work and I enjoy those bits almost as much as the oddities.  Even better are Peter's relationships with his fellow officers, his Master, Thomas Nightingale and the women in his life.  The fact that Peter is not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve and get involved with someone who we can immediately see is "dubious" to say the least is quite refreshing and even the physicality of their relationship is deal with in such a matter of fact way that I didn't find offputting.  I have an issue with "intimate" scenes on the page but somehow the author manages to bypass my inherent revulsion of those.

I am in severe danger of becoming a complete and utter fan girl for this series and I recommending it to everyone who I work with that has even a passing interest in reading Fantasy books.  Honestly, so far this series is one of the best things I have read in years (and that includes Book Three that I have already demolished).

Time's Fool by Alys Earl

2.5 Stars

This is an attempt at resurrecting the Gothic in literature and the reader is continuously reminded of this fact through both the quotations (from the likes of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankensteins, Sheridan Le Fanu's Camille and Oscar Wilde's Picture Of Dorian Gray) that start each chapter.  It is also further driven home as 2 of our 4 protagonists (Steven and Lucy) are studying literature at University in Barchester and, along with Sophia, seem to spend large chunks of the opening chapters discussing and dissecting literature.  John is always sadly on the sidelines during these discussions, indeed he seems to be on the sidelines for much of the book.

Initially the writing isn't too bad with the dialogue between characters having a ring of authenticity and the settings and the characters being pared back so we can find out about them through their words and actions rather than being told in no uncertain terms by the author who everyone is and how we should perceive them.  When they break in to a local abandoned mansion they meet the enigmatic Julian and now there is a fifth wheel to their friendship circle.

Everything is going swimmingly until about a third of the way through.  I was captivated by the story and the characters and there was that frisson of the unknown running through where the reader knew far more than our protagonists but not as much as I thought I knew.  From this point though it began to get a little bit bogged down with internal monologues from Sophia, Steven and Julian taking the place of conversations and actions and I started to lose a little interest. 

Unfortunately, from the halfway point onwards this becomes in exercise in completely pointless prose - why use 5 words when I can use 25 to describe one single fleeting emotion?  There is an almost desperate determination to emulate what is regarded, by some, as great Gothic literature but it is self-consciously executed and pulled me right out of the story.  Sheer determination not to be beaten by a book kept me reading to the end and things improve slightly towards the end from the perspective of the writing style but from a plot point of view it descends further into ridiculous parody.

If you are looking for a Vampire Tale written in a Gothic style then please pick up Dracula and see how it should be done.  Heck even pick up early Anne Rice books (Interview With The Vampire, Vampire Lestat and Queen Of The Damned may be over-flowery in their language but at least there is a discernible plot) for your vampire fix.

I'm sorry but this book was really not my cup of tea at all as it was style over substance and the style itself was flawed.

THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE

Million Love Songs by Carole Matthews

You need an awful lot of Patience to get through this book and no opportunity for a Take That song title pun is missed; somehow I guessed that would be the case from the title but I didn't realise going in how far that would be carried through in the book.  To be entirely fair this isn't a bad book, it just isn't a great one.  It is warm and surprisingly witty but it certainly didn't Relight My Fire (see, she's got me at it now!).

Ruby is a very relatable character.  She makes mistakes, she readily admits she has no clue what she is actually doing in life and drifts along from disaster to ill-advised fumble to moments of heart warming friendship.  She is startlingly normal for the heroine of this genre and I did find myself smirking at her antics.  Fir the record though I think she would have been much better off with Mason - at least he made her laugh and Joe is far too weighed down by his emotional baggage to ever make a good life partner.

I did enjoy the strength of friendship in the book and Ruby's determination to try and make lemonade from every lemon life dealt her.  She is not one of these relentlessly upbeat, perfect heroines either, she is deeply flawed and prone to emotional wallowing which made her all the more engaging to read about - simply because she is so "normal".  That said I don't think I would particularly like a real life Ruby, she is one of those people best kept to a page I fear.

This is a nice un-challenging commuter read that entertains for a brief period of time but doesn't really make you ache to get to the next chapter.

A Family Recipe by Veronica Henry

This book didn't seem to be able to make it's mind up about what it wanted to be - Was it the tale of Kanga and Ivy and their struggles during World War 2? Was it a more contemporary tale about empty-nester Laura?  I just felt that two different books had been started by the author and then both had petered out so with a bit of juggling and sleight of the relationship hand they were melded in to one book.  Unfortunately, there is such a sharp disconnect between the two that I just could not become invested in either story.

Of the two stories being told here Kanga's is far the best.  From her first love, through her enduring friendship with the marvellous Ivy and all stops in between she is a wonderful character.  Unfortunately, the end of her story is so odd and theatrical that it beggars belief and did ruin the integrity of the character more than a little.

Laura on the other hand is a disgrace.  The character has no redeeming qualities and how everything she turns her hand to is such a success is beyond me.  This is becoming a common theme in books at the moment - woman of a certain age starts her own business from home and is an instant success.  It drives me absolutely insane, at least in this one the need for hygiene certificates for a food preparation business is addressed so I should be grateful for small mercies.

There is little to really recommend this book as far as I can tell.  The only glimmer of hope is that the author can really write and the tale jogs along at a good pace without feeling rushed or dragging along interminably - this is some feat of literary merit when you realise how much the characters and their situations are beginning to grate.  It was my first Veronica Henry book and I may give the author another go but from this experience it would have to be at a low, low price.

1 Star for the writing and 1 Star because at least the second world war portion of the plot is interesting and engaging.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

First off I just have to say that I absolutely loved the character of Amy - she is bitter and exceptionally devious, yet somehow I found myself liking her.  Not someone you could trust with anything but I bet she is a riot on a boozy night out.  Nick I found to be far less likeable and although the author tries to manipulate us in to having sympathy for this man in the beginning he always came across to me as quite weak and personality-less.  I think it helps that although I am late to reading the book I have not watched the film - in fact I actively avoided it as the book is usually better anyway.  I am at a loss to see how this book could be made in to a film that captures every nuance and that can engender the same level of threat and anguish you feel from the book.

Although there is the theme of an investigation in to the missing Amy, the police seem to write her off as dead very early on and I did wonder if such a knee jerk reaction was typical - but this is fiction so I didn't dwell too closely on it.  I did enjoy the way the investigation slithers through the tale as though it is another character in it's own right.  This allows much more flexibility within the plot structure to misdirect the reader but also to enlighten them, quite a literary juggling act.

The plot and it's pacing were spot on for me, I just found that some of scenes in the Control Centre for co-ordinating the search for Amy where a little unnecessary and added a needless distraction from the central tale.  It also felt strangely like an old-fashioned morality tale, the moral in this one being "everybody lies to others and, most of all, to themselves".  It also felt a little unfinished, just tapering off to a nothing of an ending which, I suppose, gives scope for a follow up novel or just allows the reader to make their own mind up about what happens next.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and became absorbed by what these damaged people would do next - both to others and to themselves.

Soulbinder by Sebastien De Castell

          I realised when reading this book that I don't actually like Kellen of The House Of Ke'.  There I was thinking I had been enjoying the last 3 installments of his adventures when really I was enjoying the adventures of his "sidekicks" Reichis and Ferius Parfax - but especially Reichis.  Seeing as the opening chapters of the book see Kellen being separated from both of them this made it the whole book a bit of a slog for this reader.

All the elements of the previous books are here, in fact much of the plotting from previous books is here as it follows the same over-arching plot as all 3 previous books just with different people and different locations.  Kellen is under attack and is saved more by luck than good judgment, he then spends most of the book finding out about some huge conspiracy and ends it in triumph but on the road again.

The writing is taut and humorous and quite engaging - although it took me at least 100 pages to become engaged.  The plotting is well executed with a strong tension building and the world building is excellent.  Unfortunately, because I could not really sink into this book in the same way I did the others I soon realised that this was just a rehash of the earlier tales with one or two new spells and peoples thrown in.  A shame really as instead of looking forward with anticipation to the fifth outing now I am far more blase about it.

I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.