"It was the goths you had to watch out for." Four years ago something impossible happened: magic started working. All of those Latin incantations - used as graffiti or song lyrics or anything - suddenly actually worked. Only for teenagers, though, and only in the UK. Once you get a few miles offshore, it all … Continue reading Raising Hell – Bryony Pearce
"The two men stood on the rooftop, watching the city toss and turn in its sleep." Hannah is feeling rather desperate for work when she lands a job as the assistant editor with the Stranger Times newspaper. As a result, she hasn't actually researched the publication much - and is more than a little shocked … Continue reading The Stranger Times – CK McDonnell
"The Drain looked the same every time, with all the people screaming as they ran away from the giant dark cloud of chaos but never running fast enough." Ten years ago, a group of teenagers saved the world from The Dark One, a shadowy figure wielding terrible magical powers. The discovery that magic was real had … Continue reading Chosen Ones – Veronica Roth
"'Do some good,' she'd said. Well, I'd tried, hadn't I?" Welcome to Sunder City, once a shining beacon of industry and home to dwarves, vampires, centaurs and all sorts of other fae creatures. But when the 'Coda' happened - when magic disappeared from the world - these species had to find new ways to survive … Continue reading The Last Smile in Sunder City – Luke Arnold
"In late September, as the nights close in, a strange madness possesses my father." After seven books following PC Peter Grant in London, Ben Aaronovitch takes a slight detour with this novel. we are introduced to Tobias winter, Peter's German counterpart, sent to the town of Trier to investigate - you guessed it - somewhat … Continue reading The October Man – Ben Aaronovitch
"Jaget said he'd been watching this documentary on TV about the way people learn to track animals." Set between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree, The Furthest Station picks up with PC Peter Grant well into his training as a... well, magician is probably not a word he'd enjoy. Practitioner? Either way, this isn't really a … Continue reading The Furthest Station – Ben Aaronovitch
"I dreamt that I heard Mr Punch laughing gleefully by my ear, but when I woke I realised it was my phone." NB: this is the sixth book in a series, and as such it's almost impossible not to have vague spoilers for events in the previous instalments - read at your own peril!! Peter … Continue reading The Hanging Tree – Ben Aaronovitch
"Get up, Dresden." (Story by Mark Powers, Art by Diego Galindo) The Dresden Files is one of my all-time favourite series, but it's been a long wait since the last novel. So, despite not being a huge fan of graphic novels, I absolutely jumped at the chance to nab a copy of this. I hadn't … Continue reading The Dresden Files: Dog Men – Jim Butcher
"I was just passing the Hoover Centre when I heard Mr Punch scream his rage behind me." Following on from a bit of a shock at the end of the previous book, Broken Homes, Foxglove Summer feels like a bit of a deep breath and attempt at a fresh start for Peter - or at the very least, … Continue reading Foxglove Summer – Ben Aaronovitch
"At twenty-three minutes past eleven Robert Weil drove his 53 registered Volvo V70 across the bridge that links Pease Pottage, the improbably named English village, with Pease Pottage, the motorway service station." Despite finding the previous installment - Whispers Under Ground - a little disappointing in terms of the overall series, it did leave me keen … Continue reading Broken Homes – Ben Aaronovitch
