Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin

1 review

cursedepub's review

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The book is good, but not incredible. Matthew Swift (+the blue electric angels) is an amazing protagonist, but I found the supporting cast not very compelling. The tone and style is a fun mixture of urban wit and lush, detailed narration and description that at times is a little too rich to swallow; action scenes tend to sound less like action scenes and more like prose-poetry. There are various scenes that are very interesting and charming but seem to exist just for their own sake - or to add to the worldbuilding - which slows down the pacing significantly despite quite a lot happening over the course of the novel. I would say that the book as a whole read like a series of connected vignettes rather than one cohesive story. 

I'm not 100% on the treatment of people of color and/or women in this; nothing was egregiously offensive, but it was very clearly written through the white gaze. 

The novel is also very much a love letter to the city of London, which may influence how much someone enjoys it (as someone who has never set foot there, and is born and raised in Southeast Asia, I feel I may have failed to really appreciate this). Really enjoyed the mechanics of magic and myth tying into the life and history of the city, though. 
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