To The Last Page

The wonderful thing about A Madness of Angels is how it takes the concept of sorcerers and magicians and places it in a present day setting in familiar London locations, finding mystical powers can be drawn from the lights, neon and communication highways of the modern metropolis and that regulations, by-laws and even the conditions of sale on an underground ticket all have the powers of ancient spells. Somehow, through these means, sorcerer Matthew Swift, having been killed two years earlier in what seemingly was a purge of the community by a powerful group known as The Tower, is now back walking on the streets, his consciousness sustained by a collective entity known as the electric blue angels, seeking to find and destroy this growing and dangerous threat. This isn’t of course an entirely original idea - London urban fantasy has been explored by Neil Gaiman in Neverwhere , Alan Moore in From Hell , in works by Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd - but Kate Griffin’s book seems to chann...