I'll reserve my rating until I get to know Evadne and Kingsley a little better, but get to know them I will. After 6 books, my heart is still with Aubrey and Caroline in Laws of Magic. I love Michael Pryor's wryness, his affection for his characters and his imagination. This is a much more complex world than Laws of Magic; there's an underworld of Neanderthals (quite sympathetic characters) and Immortals with evil intent. Above is London 1908, at the time of the Olympic Games. Kingsley (an escap More...

Take one young man, raised by wolves and trying to break into showbiz as a magician.

Take one young woman, white-haired and pink-eyed, with a passion for creating gadgets.

Add Rudyard Kipling, writer and creator of Mowgli, the wolf-raised boy of The Jungle Book.

Add an assortment of angry Neanderthals, a profit-obsessed businessman in a bowler hat, and creepy immortal creatures who inhabit the bodies of stolen children.

Throw in a gruesomely murdered housekeeper and a collection of robotic rats.

Set More...

Plot summary: On the brink of the 1908 Olympics, Kingsley wants nothing more than to launch his career as a conjurer and escapologist. But Kingsley has a secret wild side that he sometimes can't contain, and besides - there's a group of immortal magicians who want his brain. And if the immortal magicians aren't bad enough, a group of Neanderthals want him (and all homo sapiens) dead too. With the help of Evadne, a mysterious albino girl, and Rudyard Kipling, Kingsley is about to have the adventu More...

"So the Olympic Games are being jeopardised by a band of evil sorcerers who want my brain, Kingsley said , while I try to find my foster father who may have been abducted by creatures from the dawn of time." This quote nicely sums up what this novel is about and if you have a puzzled frown on your face and saying "What?" you aren't the only one. Kingsley Ward is an escape artist and just when he is about to make a career for himself his adoptive father goes missing. Along with Evadne, a juggler More...

What can I say...

I really enjoyed Michael Pryor's latest book. He takes inspiriation from Jungle Book and the Olympics. The story is set in London 1908 and main character is a young man called Kingsley Ward. Kingsley is a magician (like Houdini) After learning his foster father has been kidnapped he emmbarks on a adventure to stop the end of the world.

A very good start to a new series, Kingsley is a likeable fellow and his companion Evadne is just as well written. Highly recommended to anyone wh More...

Kinglsey: amatuer stage magician and escapologist is also the inspiration for Kipling's story The Jungle Book. Evadne: a juggler and weaponsmith has a vendetta against child abusers. A world called the Demimonde holds secrets like Neanderthals & sorcerers

An interesting concept and world has been created and the story told very well. The interaction between Kingsley and Evadne is delightful. And the steampunk-ness is seamless and interesting

Snazzy. Liked the Edwardian setting, and of course the time travel. Best of all was the witty banter between the two leads. Pryor has a vocabulary to rival JG Ballard, almost, and it's kind of wasted here on the youth. At times, the story felt a little convoluted -bit too much crammed in for the suspension of disbelief.

I was never enthralled by this to the point of not being able to put it down, as I increasingly was the further I got into the 'Laws of Magic' series. That said, The Extinction Gambit is filled with superbly witty exchanges that I have come to associate with Mr. Pryor's writing. It's a promising beginning to what I'm sure will be another excellent series. Very much looking forward to the sequels!

Oh gosh. This looks fantastic.
If I wasn't already reading the Laws of Magic, I would be on this faster than flies on a dead horse.

Michael Pryor fans will know how great this book is when I say that it's even better than his wonderful Laws of Magic series. A must-read!

Had a difficult time trying to read this, glad I got through to then end! :)

DNF - I tried but failed to get into this book, may tackle it at a later date.

Four-and-a-half stars for this entertaining romp through a richly re-imagined 1908 London, where magic flourishes, an enclave of Neanderthals survives in hiding, and a wolfish young man and a beautiful albino are all that stand between a trio of Immortal magicians and their plans for world domination. Wry and witty, and destined to appeal to those who love their steam punk.