With her Matthew Swift novels, Griffin has created a truly remarkable magic system, and the first true urban-based magic system I have ever read, and she has populated her version of London with a first-rate cast of characters. Swift and the blue electric angels are endlessly fascinating to me, and I love how effortlessly she handles the I/we me/us dynamic. Though this installment finds Swift more firmly in control of his unique nature than the previous outing, when the Angels emerge, they do so with a vengeance.

Griffin crafts an interesting tale, despite knowing that certain events are inevitable before you have finished the first quarter of the novel. She is a master of description and of a the interesting journey, but in both this novel and its predecessor I have felt something lacking in her climaxes. There is a sense of walking away underwhelmed, of having expected more after so spectacular of a build-up. I felt it with “A Madness of Angels” and I felt it here.

Perhaps I am a bit too in love with this world, with its urban-based magic and myth, and with Swift and the Angels themself. Perhaps I am setting myself up for disappointment by expecting more out of the conclusion of these works. Or perhaps it is a genuine flaw of the narrative. To me, it certainly feels like the latter.

Regardless, I am very much looking forward to the next installment of the series and will be a fan of it for a long time to come.

4/5
Would be five stars with fewer overblown descriptions of London neighborhoods that all read exactly the same with a few minor shifts in detail.

It's chaotic and beautifully written.

A much better read than the first. I imagine part of it is due to understanding the nature of Matthew Swift this time around, and not having been thrown into the middle of his "madness" right from the beginning. Again, though, a fun read, with an interesting take on modern sorcery, with characters that leave you wanting to know more about them.

I absolute love Kate Griffin's world! Which is to say, she makes me love our world, and our London- she fully sells me on the true magic of real life and the real life of magic in her works. It is absolutely my favourite Urban Fantasy series, and I'll happily argue with anyone that it is, in fact, the best UF series. I am of course willing to be proved wrong on that one, I'm just yet to encounter anything superior.

The descriptions throughout are lavish to a fault; totally necessary to conjure up the living, breathing city that serves as a main character in this deeply atmospheric novel. Like the sorcerors within, you can almost smell the smog, and the dirt from the river; you can feel the pulsing of the commute and the roar of the underground wind as a train passes by beneath your feet. She somehow manages to create this magnificent, magical world that I desperately want to visit and then I remember that I actually can, because it's London. Her deep passion for the place is highly evident and highly contagious. Even the negative sides of the city, of which there are a lot, feel lived-in and entirely authentic.

Plot-wise then, we follow our main man Matthew Swift, half dead-sorceror resurrected, and half Blue Electric Angels, gods of the telephone summoned and bound in human flesh. His/their internal dialogue is pretty great, with the continuing uncertainty of "I am us and we are me"; which entity is in control at any given time, and is it actually relevant, is there a distinction any more? It is a really interesting situation, and fun to follow along. After an opening that is possibly too obfuscated (my main reason for giving this 4* rather than 5; the In Media Res worked amazingly in the first book given the situation, but here it feels redundant and frustrating), he soon finds that someone or something is destroying the magical barriers that defend the city from supernatural threats. Only slightly reluctantly, he is dragged into the search for the cause, along with the Midnight Mayor; supernatural protector of London and boss of the mysterious Aldermen.

What follows is a fantastic search and chase through the various boroughs of London, trying to piece together what is happening, and how to save London. Despite the very life of the city being on the line, most of the book is suprisingly low stakes, with things only really kicking off in the final quarter. This gives us plenty of time to explore the wondrous world that is being offered to us, and it's worth the ride. The ending, when it comes, is immensely satisfying (even if does feel slightly like only set-up for the next one); the explanation of events deeply believable and grounded in humanity.

So overall, a novel of just brilliant imagination, a magnificent sense of place and location, lavish descriptions, and fun characters; with enough of a fun thrill ride of a plot to drag you through all the wonders without getting bored.

Evidently a person *has* to read this series in order. I have not read the first book in the series. I made it about 25 pages into this one, realized I still had no clue what was going on, and gave up. If I can find the first book, I'll give the series another shot.

Brilliant and bizarre book. Matthew is not quite sane and it's really fun to read the half delirious but very gritty London that he lives in, the writing is weirdly poetic about the grimy underside of a city because Matthew sees beauty there. It's also a slightly easier read than the last one, Matthew still has multiple personalities (the Angels and Matthew Swift) but they seem less separate and there were less disconcerting switches between.

I love the way that magic works in these books, sorcerers are swept away by the city- by exhaust fumes, pigeons and the grumbling machines that keep a city going and their power comes direct from that source, using the underground and oyster cards as wards, life is magic and cities are full of life and power. It's such a modern way of imaging magic and I really enjoyed it.

The plot was fast paced and fun- there was always something happening but we didn't know what for most the book, it took quite a while for the characters to figure out what was going on. It was a bit confusing in places but I didn't mind, I was still caught up in the story.

Delightful urban magic. Deep love of London and really city life in general.