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A Madness of Angels Or The Resurrection of Matthew Swift Kate Griffin 9780316041256 Books

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A Madness of Angels Or The Resurrection of Matthew Swift Kate Griffin 9780316041256 Books

I adored A Madness of Angels.

A Madness of Angels starts with Matthew Swift, a sorcerer who died two years ago, suddenly awake in his old home. He doesn’t know why he’s back or who resurrected him, and he makes it his mission to find out and deliver vengeance.

I think a large part of why I liked this book so much was Matthew Swift himself, who is a fascinating narrator. He’s also no longer alone in his body – he’s sharing it with the electric blue angels. The narration is thus also shared between Matthew’s “I” and the angels’ “we.” How much of what is said is Matthew, and how much is the angels? Is there a line between the two, or, as claimed, they’re both the same?

There’s also a sense of exuberance to Matthew Swift. So many other urban fantasy protagonists tend to fall into the “jaded bad asses” mold, and he was a welcome departure.

The writing was also wonderful. The scenes of London’s magic came alive in my mind. While there are many “magical London” stories – Neverwhere, London Falling, and Midnight Riot being some I’ve read – A Madness of Angels may be the best I’ve read.

On the downsides, there was a bit of drag near the end, although the book as a whole was fast paced. The “Matthew runs away from danger” scenes became rather numerous by the end and felt a bit repetitive. Also, I think a minor character was fridged. If it wasn’t for that last one, I probably would have given the book five stars.

In short, I’d check out A Madness of Angels if you like strange narrators, London based magic, urban fantasy without a romance focus that manages to circumvent most of the genre tropes. All in all, I highly recommend it.


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A Madness of Angels Or The Resurrection of Matthew Swift Kate Griffin 9780316041256 Books Reviews

This is an exceptionally good fantasy book. The author manages to craft a brilliantly vivid magical world, without succumbing to the typical and boring conventions. No explanations of why magic works and how the practitioner skilfully applied two parts X with one part Y to craft an invisibility spell. No cliche staff carrying wizards with a lovable familiar and sidekick. I enjoyed Dresden but this is so much more... Urban. This world is is a bit grittier. More textured and subtle with a really interesting take on what magic is, why cities are magical places, and how magic plays into urban culture, or vice versa. While that was fantasy that happened to be set in a city, this is truly urban fantasy. Book 2 is even better but won't make any sense until you finish book 1. Highly recommended.
This is one of the best urban fantasy books I've ever read. Kate Griffin's world-building is similar to (but distinct from) Neil Gaiman's in that magic is infused into the everyday in a compelling and surprising way. From the moment Matthew Swift wakes up in his old apartment two years after his murder, you're pulled along with him on a breathless journey of discovery through London's gritty magical underbelly. I won't say more than that because the fun of this book is all in the journey, but I will say that I keep having to buy this book because I give it to so many people.
I'll be honest I was predisposed to like this author's work after having read the "Horatio Lyle" series, (written under her real name, Catherine Webb). All the same, I was tentative (being a relative amateur) to explore this daunting new world of so-called "urban magic". Would this be another knock-off, clichéd fantasy, chock full of stupidly cocky main characters with their cheesy one-liners? Or could it maybe, just maybe, be the real thing?
Needless to say, this book exceeded any expectations I may have had. Scratch that, it practically transcended my expectations. Listen, I've seen the nastier reviews. The descriptions are too long, the characters too bland, etc. etc.. And fine. If you want to believe that stuff, go ahead. When you pick up this book, don't expect any idiotic Avengers junk. Not every single second is packed full of explosions and blood and gore. Sure, there's some fight scenes, some witty banter--but there's also respite, reflection, and a sort of...deepness that I've never seen captured in any other novel before.
I won't drag this review on and on,
This book was so good that I went out and bought a map of London so that I could re-read the book and follow Matthew Swift on his travels through London. That's how good it was.
Modern urban fantasy, magick, wow! Knocked my socks off. Some of the best and most original uses of magick I have ever read in a novel. Example how do you stop a conjured demonic creature from killing you and eating your soul? With a Oyster Card ( British Rail Pass prepaid Card) Yeah, I had to look in up in Wikipedia too to understand it,, as well as some of the British teams and slang. The book is good enough that pausing to look up information is worth it.
Amazingly original take on urban fantasy/magick. Do yourself a favor and read it.
The story starts out at a good pace and with quite an interesting setting. It's the first book related to urban magic I've read, but it's a concept I grasp easily, and while the concept of "magic is all around us" is played out nicely, there are some parts that due feel corny.

Sadly, from my point of view the book has a flaw, and it's the overly use of detail to describe environments, things, situations, etc. and when you get past the middle of the book or little bit further, it gets to you, all the extensive paragraphs. I really think the book would be only half as long if it wasn't for this.

All in all, if readings your thing, and don't have anything else to read or don't want to do recycled reading, this book should keep you interested for a while, if only to satisfy the curiosity generated around the "shadow." As for continuing the series (there are 3 or 4 books total), I'll only do it if I can get the books on sale, and as I mentioned before, if my reading queue is clear enough to give them a chance.
I adored A Madness of Angels.

A Madness of Angels starts with Matthew Swift, a sorcerer who died two years ago, suddenly awake in his old home. He doesn’t know why he’s back or who resurrected him, and he makes it his mission to find out and deliver vengeance.

I think a large part of why I liked this book so much was Matthew Swift himself, who is a fascinating narrator. He’s also no longer alone in his body – he’s sharing it with the electric blue angels. The narration is thus also shared between Matthew’s “I” and the angels’ “we.” How much of what is said is Matthew, and how much is the angels? Is there a line between the two, or, as claimed, they’re both the same?

There’s also a sense of exuberance to Matthew Swift. So many other urban fantasy protagonists tend to fall into the “jaded bad asses” mold, and he was a welcome departure.

The writing was also wonderful. The scenes of London’s magic came alive in my mind. While there are many “magical London” stories – Neverwhere, London Falling, and Midnight Riot being some I’ve read – A Madness of Angels may be the best I’ve read.

On the downsides, there was a bit of drag near the end, although the book as a whole was fast paced. The “Matthew runs away from danger” scenes became rather numerous by the end and felt a bit repetitive. Also, I think a minor character was fridged. If it wasn’t for that last one, I probably would have given the book five stars.

In short, I’d check out A Madness of Angels if you like strange narrators, London based magic, urban fantasy without a romance focus that manages to circumvent most of the genre tropes. All in all, I highly recommend it.