Quirky, Unusual and Rivettiing

An immensely clever story set against the background of the familiar streets of London.
One can only be grateful that it is fiction, and good blood curdling fun for all of that.
Still, you can’t help wondering if Michael did his homework as he relies heavily on a Roman Catholic world view which the lead character seems to reject without reason in the same paragraph. Puzzling indeed!

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Great story

I love the character of Feix Castor. He's a cross between Sherlock Holmes and John Constaine. The book is a great blend of who dunnit and the supernatural. Highly recommend.

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A refreshing slice of London Noir

I’m surprised I’ve not come across these books before but glad that I’ve finally found them.

The main character (Felix Castor) has a slight touch of the John Constantine’s but generally more polished and less sleazy. If you are a fan of the Hellblazer comics or Peter McLean’s Burned Man books you will love this.

As a Londoner I did find the narrators accent a little eccentric but it did not detract from they story or the overall performance.

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Rating first three Felix Castor books together

I am still conflicted about this book (and series). After reading "The devil you know" I proceeded to read the next two books in series. I didn´t have a problem with the narrator (as many people do) - but I am not a native speaker, so I am not really sensitive to accents and all that stuff.
After the first book, I liked the author´s style. The detective plotline was intriguing, I liked the setting and it kinda reminded me of my beloved Dresden Files.
But the more books I read, the more disappointed I became.
1) The characters fail to get any real depth, I found it really hard to connect with them or even like them. They do not evolve, they do not change, they do not have any real...well character.
2) Felix Castor NEVER goes to the hospital when he is hurt or reports anything to the police. Why the hell? He is not even a private detective. And he is just a human (who is nearly dying sometimes)! This simply doesn´t make sense.
3) The books feel like action pumped scenes put together - there is no time to slow down, observe the emotions or thoughts of the characters. It is just bam-bam-bam. Action, action, small talk, action. It almost feels as if the author wrote the scenes apart and then arranged them somehow in order - not managing to reflect in them the mindset or physical health of characters, as it changes during the course of events.
4) Felix is almost never wrong, always gets all the slightest nudges, knows when someone is lying, etc even though we as readers have no idea how he came to this revelation. I found that frustrating.

I loved many of the authors' ideas. I am still curious how the world will evolve in the next books.
But I´ve simply had enough.
I´m not saying the books are bad. They just didn't work for me.

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Intriguing and a grower

I wasn't convinced when first starting this but after some perseverance it developed into a really good listen. So much so I will continue the series. Good listening.

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Awful choice of narrator

Totally agree with the previous review, what a strange English accent! Really spoilt the story

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1 person found this helpful

Reminded me of the Jack Nightingale series.

Great storytelling, we were fed the back story of characters as you would expect in the first book of a series. Dark in places as the plot unravels. I love Michael Kramer when reading Brandon Sanderson etc... but this setting is not the best fit for his talent. To a Brit the accent can't be distracting, didn't spoil the story by any means I loved it and intend to listen to all the others in the series.

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Narrated by Toast of London?

Brilliant world building and genius storytelling is ruined by the wrong narrator. Oh, to have this re-recorded by someone who can pronounce English words like a Londoner.

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2 people found this helpful

Must-read for Neil Gaimen fans

Mike Carey usually writes comics and TV shows which is a shame because he's one of the best fantasy novel authors out there.

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1 person found this helpful

Good story and very good narrator

Very engaging story, with a good story teller. I more or less listened non-stop except for sleep time.

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