Peter is back in another magical mystery in London. With Nightingale
recovering from his bullet wound, Peter must pick up a lot of the slack on his
own. And there’s some major events that call for his attention.
The discovery of vestigia on certain bodies points to a
supernatural reason for the death of a large number of jazz musicians not just
in the present but going back through history – and something that touches very
close to his own life and family.
Or the series of men found with their penises ripped off –
which in turn leads to another magical practitioner in London – perhaps even a
whole cabal of them. It’s a discovery which leads to far more magical history
and, more frightening, a true look at the extent of dark and dangerous magic in
the wrong hands. We also see how it connects to London’s own underworld and
corruption in the police.
Add in Lady Tyburn’s ongoing antipathy, Molly’s moods, a whirlwind love affair, his father’s musical come back and Leslie’s recovery and he certainly has a lot of balls to juggle
Reviewing this book is difficult for me, simply because
I’m sorely tempted just to write praise after praise. It’s especially difficult
after reviewing the first book because everything that book got right, so did
this one. It’s a great sequel for building on that foundation and continuing
the plot and the world development.
The first thing I like is that it is a continuation of the last book, the canon hasn’t reset and a lot hasn’t magically happened in the downtime. Lady Tyburn still hates Peter. Leslie hasn’t been magically healed and nor has Nightingale. Which is very surprising in so many series where people take a bullet wound then next episode/book are right as rain with nary a twinge.
We have another wonderfully real feel to London. The author
is a Londoner and it shows in every word. The setting and theme are such that
you could almost be there. The humour is constant, dry, wry and wonderfully
snarky. You will smile. You will laugh.
The story itself twists back and forth and brings several
plot lines together and they come together really well while still being separate.
Sure Peter connects them and his connecting brings the storylines together. The
depiction of the evil wizard is both frightening and really well described –the
magical fight was epic yet the discovery of his den was truly and utterly
horrific and carries the full level of that horror in the description. It was
really well written and disturbing. The other storyline with the jazz musicians
was a wonderful break in between, lighter but still vital and very very
personal to Peter with his personal history. It also didn’t require you to know
about jazz to follow, but you could feel the passion behind their music.
