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215th out of 1,728 books
—
7,116 voters
A Madness of Angels (Matthew Swift #1)
by
Kate Griffin
For Matthew Swift, today is not like any other day. It is the day on which he returns to life.
Two years after his untimely death, Matthew Swift finds himself breathing once again, lying in bed in his London home.
Except that it's no longer his bed, or his home. And the last time this sorcerer was seen alive, an unknown assailant had gouged a hole so deep in his chest that...more
Two years after his untimely death, Matthew Swift finds himself breathing once again, lying in bed in his London home.
Except that it's no longer his bed, or his home. And the last time this sorcerer was seen alive, an unknown assailant had gouged a hole so deep in his chest that...more
Hardcover, 458 pages
Published
April 6th 2009
by Orbit
(first published April 2nd 2009)
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my FINISHING THE SERIES! list.
I loves me a good series! But I'm terrible for starting a new series before finishing my last - so this reading list is all about trying to close out those series I've got on the go.
My wife and I found our way to A Madness of An...more
"Welcome to telephone banking! To change your credit card details, please press one. To check your current account balance, press two. To dance in fire until the end of days, please press three....To cancel a direct debit, please press the star key. To send your soul across the infinite void faster than the blink of the mind dreaming in the moonlight, please press hash."
Two years after his untimely death, Matthew Swift wakes up in his old apartment, blinking open eyes that have transformed from...more
Two years after his untimely death, Matthew Swift wakes up in his old apartment, blinking open eyes that have transformed from...more
3 likes · like · see review
I really wanted to like this book more (especially since a friend here recommended it...sorry). It's not that it's a bad book. The idea is fairly original, based on the concept that "urban settings" cities etc. will or have developed their sort of "magic" (Charles de Lint for example has worked with similar ideas). The story is a pretty good one and the writing contains some very nice prose. Somehow the book just never appealed to me however. I couldn't get involved with him/them. I would recomm...more
9 likes · like · see review
"We be light, we be life, we be fire!
We sing electric flame, we rumble underground wind, we dance heaven!
Come be we and be free!"
This is quite a weird sort of book, probably a bit "marmite" in its style - you'll either love it or hate it. I loved it. I liked the fact that it was just so different to everything else I'd read. I also liked the fact that, having visited London a good many times, I was familiar with a lot of the areas that were being described in the story.
Lots of lovely twists on o...more
We sing electric flame, we rumble underground wind, we dance heaven!
Come be we and be free!"
This is quite a weird sort of book, probably a bit "marmite" in its style - you'll either love it or hate it. I loved it. I liked the fact that it was just so different to everything else I'd read. I also liked the fact that, having visited London a good many times, I was familiar with a lot of the areas that were being described in the story.
Lots of lovely twists on o...more
7 likes · like · see review
I really wish I could write a 5 star review for this book. Honest to God, A Madness of Angels has one of the most creative, mind-blowing universes I've ever read - filled with monsters and magic that are unfamiliar yet instantly recognisable. Yet, its' length and dense writing made A Madness of Angels a difficult book to finish. Even though I loved it, I could only read 4-5 pages at a time - it took me 4 months to finish! There is just so much to absorb in every line, and there are many many man...more
Mar 25, 2010
Wealhtheow
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
fans of Cas from Supernatural, Hellblazer, NightWatch
Recommended to Wealhtheow by:
N.K. Jemisin
Matthew Swift wakes up on the floor of his apartment--two years after he was brutally murdered. Now he has no money, no clothes, and an otherworldly presence in his head. Luckily, Matthew Swift is not your typical Londoner--he is an urban sorcerer, and he has a few tricks up his sleeves...
I loved loved LOVED the magic systems in this book. This book is one of the few with thoughtful, exciting, non-traditional magic--others that spring to mind are Hellblazer, Night Watch, Neverwhere, and the Book...more
I loved loved LOVED the magic systems in this book. This book is one of the few with thoughtful, exciting, non-traditional magic--others that spring to mind are Hellblazer, Night Watch, Neverwhere, and the Book...more
12 likes · like · see review
This book contains one truly fantastic conceit: magician Matthew Swift is brought back from the dead, but he doesn't come back alone; he contains within him entities known as the Blue Electric Angels, and so parts of his story are narrated in the first person singular, I, and parts in the first person plural, we. I love the shifts between Matthew's perspective and that of the otherworldly Angels; I love how throughout the book they start to come together a bit, to merge. There is such a fascinat...more
8 likes · like · see review
I liked this book a lot.
Having read the sequel - The Midnight Mayor - I had to read this!
The story is very good and like the sequel the demons/monsters are really new and counter spells are brilliant. The only possible downside was that it had fairly long descriptive passages, but since I've always liked London these did not distract me. Below are some extracts
About London
"Willesden, to most of the population of London, is a place that you pass through on your way to somewhere better."
Miscellane...more
Having read the sequel - The Midnight Mayor - I had to read this!
The story is very good and like the sequel the demons/monsters are really new and counter spells are brilliant. The only possible downside was that it had fairly long descriptive passages, but since I've always liked London these did not distract me. Below are some extracts
About London
"Willesden, to most of the population of London, is a place that you pass through on your way to somewhere better."
Miscellane...more
I wasn't sure if I would survive the first 36 pages of this book. I knew what was going on pretty early on, but spent most of the 36 pages waiting for the author to stop talking. Griffin describes everything to excessive detail: Paragraph-long lists that reiterate the same concept but in different turns of phrase, like a person practicing their language skills. Part of this is because Matthew Swift is part "I" and part "We." The We are new to his body and to this world and are savoring everythin...more
Good lord but this was an enjoyable book.
I spent basically the entire time (and with 500 pages, it was a decent amount of time) breathlessly turning pages and singing.
“La la la laaaaaaaa, wish I could beeeeee, part of Matthew Swift’s woooooooooooorld!”
The plot was convoluted enough and I read it so breathlessly that I’m not… entirely… sure I followed the story line as fully as I might have. The ending sort of got away from me, for sure. And parts of the middle. And maybe also the beginning.
But...more
I spent basically the entire time (and with 500 pages, it was a decent amount of time) breathlessly turning pages and singing.
“La la la laaaaaaaa, wish I could beeeeee, part of Matthew Swift’s woooooooooooorld!”
The plot was convoluted enough and I read it so breathlessly that I’m not… entirely… sure I followed the story line as fully as I might have. The ending sort of got away from me, for sure. And parts of the middle. And maybe also the beginning.
But...more
11 likes · like · see review
This is the first in Kate Griffin's series about sorcerer Matthew Swift, who dies and is resurrected, but not alone - his body also houses the blue electric angels, the spirits of the telephone wires. The Matthew Swift books are written in the great underLondon tradition - Neverwhere, King Rat, etc. - about the magic that lives in the margins of that city. (Unrelated to this review, this is a genre that I wish would expand beyond London, because there is so much potential in other cities too.) G...more
I know for sure that not everyone will share my high opinion of this book. A lot of people scorn it for the same reason I fell in love with it—experimental paragraph style and broken-up sentences, magic in the context of the city, a whole eclectic mish-mash of creatures and a good heaping helping of cursing. But I love it. I adore it. Kate Griffin—in reality, Catherine Webb—has created a world that is caked in grime and dirt and dust and is more alive for it, a world that sings with blue electri...more
This novel was a total surprise. Kate Griffin is a popular young-adult author and "A Madness of Angels" is her first adult novel. She simply nailed it. Almost everything in the novel is unique from the characters, to the locations (a mix of real, surreal, and unreal), to the refreshingly different magic system. For those of you who couldn't put the “Nightside” novels by Simon R. Green or “Neverwhere” by Neil Gaiman down once you started reading, you have just GOT to read Madness. While Madness h...more
Couple of points to start with on this one - I love Neverwhere and live in London. With that in mind it's probably no great shock that I picked this one up to read.
Confession time - at first I found the prose style more than a little irritating and difficult to get to grips with. Having encountered this author before in her YA guise I was used to her tightly written and lean prose style which often went hand in hand with plenty of action. Now she's writing for the grown ups it seemed at first t...more
Confession time - at first I found the prose style more than a little irritating and difficult to get to grips with. Having encountered this author before in her YA guise I was used to her tightly written and lean prose style which often went hand in hand with plenty of action. Now she's writing for the grown ups it seemed at first t...more
FINAL UPDATE
I really liked this novel. The plotline was strong, well thought out and compelling. Furthermore, the magic--while it could have been defined a bit more--was cleverly crafted. It didn't feel as haphazard as much urban fantasy does, and also felt like the various practitioners had potential. Sometimes with urban magic it seems that they are either near deity-like or are strictly based off their one form.
Occasionally, I will admit that the stylistics of the writing did get a bit confus...more
I really liked this novel. The plotline was strong, well thought out and compelling. Furthermore, the magic--while it could have been defined a bit more--was cleverly crafted. It didn't feel as haphazard as much urban fantasy does, and also felt like the various practitioners had potential. Sometimes with urban magic it seems that they are either near deity-like or are strictly based off their one form.
Occasionally, I will admit that the stylistics of the writing did get a bit confus...more
(Repost from http://drying-ink.blogspot.com/2011/0... )
A list of the most intriguing fantasies I've read would have to include Kate Griffin's A Madness of Angels by default. Why? I could name a number of reasons, but the first would have to be how the mysteries and the fast-paced narrative gripped me from the first chapter. Our protagonist, Matthew Swift, wakes up in a London not entirely his own: a London many years since he last lived. He's returned: but with differently coloured eyes - now, a...more
A list of the most intriguing fantasies I've read would have to include Kate Griffin's A Madness of Angels by default. Why? I could name a number of reasons, but the first would have to be how the mysteries and the fast-paced narrative gripped me from the first chapter. Our protagonist, Matthew Swift, wakes up in a London not entirely his own: a London many years since he last lived. He's returned: but with differently coloured eyes - now, a...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I'll be honest: I couldn't finish this book. While the ideas behind how magic worked and the characters were interesting, I found this to be a plodding read. The descriptions while sometimes wonderful could also come precariously close to purple prose. I distinctly remember the author recycling the same detailed sensory descriptions and similes to describe two separate phone booths.
The details just never let up. It made the pacing of the book oftentimes awkward. The main character of Matthew Swi...more
The details just never let up. It made the pacing of the book oftentimes awkward. The main character of Matthew Swi...more
3 likes · like · see review
This book was loaned to me by a friend at work; she subsequently gave ma a copy of the sequel, which I have not had a change to read yet. When she loaned me the book, she said London (as in England)was an important character, and she was so right. If you've been there (or live there now), you will find it all very familiar, and if not, you will feel like you've been there.
But this London has more to it than the city as it appears on the surface. This London has sorcerers and magicians and all ma...more
But this London has more to it than the city as it appears on the surface. This London has sorcerers and magicians and all ma...more
What’s Good About It
It’s an absolutely fantastic premise, executed with style and flair, the character Matthew Swift is compelling and interesting and intrigue bubbles from every page. But the best thing about the book is Griffin’s portrayal of London through the eyes of an Urban Sorcerer. The city is like another character in the book it’s so full of life and energy. I’m not by any means a city girl, but I would love to visit Swift’s London – it’s a fascinating place, where Oyster Cards hold po...more
It’s an absolutely fantastic premise, executed with style and flair, the character Matthew Swift is compelling and interesting and intrigue bubbles from every page. But the best thing about the book is Griffin’s portrayal of London through the eyes of an Urban Sorcerer. The city is like another character in the book it’s so full of life and energy. I’m not by any means a city girl, but I would love to visit Swift’s London – it’s a fascinating place, where Oyster Cards hold po...more
"When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford" - Samuel Johnson
In fact, Dr Johnson was only half right. There is in London much more than life - there is power. It ebbs and flows with the rhythms of the city, makes runes from the alignments of ancient streets and hums with the rattle of trains and buses; it waxes and wanes with the patterns of the business day. It is a new kind of magic: urban magic.
Enter a London where magicians ride the las...more
In fact, Dr Johnson was only half right. There is in London much more than life - there is power. It ebbs and flows with the rhythms of the city, makes runes from the alignments of ancient streets and hums with the rattle of trains and buses; it waxes and wanes with the patterns of the business day. It is a new kind of magic: urban magic.
Enter a London where magicians ride the las...more
An urban fantasy version of Kill Bill. Matthew Swift, sorceror, has been dead for two years but has been mysteriously brought back to find nearly everyone he knows is dead. He sets out to dismantle the Tower, the magical underworld of his former teacher, who he thinks is the man who killed him. Set this all in the backdrop of London.
This is Urban Fantasy in the most literal sense. Rather than just being magic in the modern day, this is about a sorceror who draws his power from the city itself, f...more
This is Urban Fantasy in the most literal sense. Rather than just being magic in the modern day, this is about a sorceror who draws his power from the city itself, f...more
I had high hopes for this book, and it has some splendid ideas. Ultimately, however, two things about it annoyed me so much I can't give it an enthusiastic thumbs-up. I do see how this can be a matter of taste, and perfectly respectable readers could give this five stars. Bet here are my beefs:
Length and Plot. The overall structure of the book is that our protagonist, newly-resurrected urban sorcerer Matthew Swift has to destroy a chief bad guy (gamers will recognize him as a boss) who has rings...more
Length and Plot. The overall structure of the book is that our protagonist, newly-resurrected urban sorcerer Matthew Swift has to destroy a chief bad guy (gamers will recognize him as a boss) who has rings...more
7 likes · like · see review
To a degree this was a book I had been looking for. Reading stuff like Hellblazer, Hellboy, Caballistics - works of modern fantasy, of contemporary occult/magic novels. Classically so many of these works go for the classics - latin, pentagram, nazis, like a tick box list of rules. With A Madness Of Angels Griffin consciously throws those rules out, she creates her own urban magic background with London as a background, which she brings to life with a dense, energetic prose.
At first I had my dou...more
At first I had my dou...more
Despite the fact that I'm getting more and more irked at all the categories, sub-categories, and sub-sub-categories it seems every author and every reader in the entire SF/Fantasy genre is for some reason so fixated on, I'll call this one a superb Urban-something-or-other and go wash my mouth out with soap later. Life as seen through the eyes of Matthew Swift and his on-board passengers is one helluva a unique experience, as is the London he goes above, below, around and inside.
An excellent ent...more
An excellent ent...more
Fabulous. Just... fabulous.
From its first pages, we are plunged headlong into endless action, interspersed with dense descriptions of urban London. This is truly Urban Fantasy, in that the VERY interesting and well-thought-out magic is based on a city's flux and rhythms. Rats and pigeons acted as eyes for the discerning sorcerous mind, electricity and voice remnants generated a semi-god, while the lawful carriage laws to the London Underground could be used raise protection spells.
Note: If you s...more
From its first pages, we are plunged headlong into endless action, interspersed with dense descriptions of urban London. This is truly Urban Fantasy, in that the VERY interesting and well-thought-out magic is based on a city's flux and rhythms. Rats and pigeons acted as eyes for the discerning sorcerous mind, electricity and voice remnants generated a semi-god, while the lawful carriage laws to the London Underground could be used raise protection spells.
Note: If you s...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A madness of angels, by Kate Griffin
This book is based on the premise that in large old cities like London, the life force of millions of people over hundreds or thousands of years becomes infused into the stones and brickwork and the city develops a magical aura. This results in the emergence of a mystical subculture of sorcerers, magicians, warlocks, etc, rather like the world of Harry Potter and the Ministry of Magic, in both cases to oversee the magical side of things.
AMOA begins with the a...more
This book is based on the premise that in large old cities like London, the life force of millions of people over hundreds or thousands of years becomes infused into the stones and brickwork and the city develops a magical aura. This results in the emergence of a mystical subculture of sorcerers, magicians, warlocks, etc, rather like the world of Harry Potter and the Ministry of Magic, in both cases to oversee the magical side of things.
AMOA begins with the a...more
Roman de fantasy urbaine, à Londres. À priori pas ma tasse de thé (ha ha !). La couverture (assez laide) m’avait même laissé craindre le pire… Et bien bonne surprise au final !
Matthew Swift, sorcier mort depuis deux ans ressurgit brusquement dans le microcosme occulte londonien. Visiblement changé, il compte bien retrouver celui qui l'a assassiné deux ans auparavant et en tirer vengeance.
Une écriture jubilatoire au service d'une histoire très prenante et bien menée. Les dialogues et les person...more
Matthew Swift, sorcier mort depuis deux ans ressurgit brusquement dans le microcosme occulte londonien. Visiblement changé, il compte bien retrouver celui qui l'a assassiné deux ans auparavant et en tirer vengeance.
Une écriture jubilatoire au service d'une histoire très prenante et bien menée. Les dialogues et les person...more
Most of the time my process for selecting the next book to read is very transparent, and then other times it seems mysterious. I have a couple of questions that I can’t answer about how I came to acquire and read A Madness of Angels. Where did I first see it? Who recommended it? What was it about the recommendation that caused me to finally buy it? Because I bought it off of Amazon on a whim and read it immediately. Immediately, as in it arrived in the mail at work and I started it at the bus st...more
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Kate Griffin is the pen name under which Catherine Webb writes fantasy novels for adults.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
More about Kate Griffin...
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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“We be light, we be life, we be fire! We sing electric flame, we rumble underground wind, we dance heaven! Come be we and be free!”
—
32 people liked it
“Offer me?" A shrill note of indignation entered her voice. "Young man, there are three things that make Britain great. The first is our inability at playing sports."
How does that make Britain great?"
"Despite the certainty of loss, we try anyway with the absolute conviction that this year will be the one, regardless of all evidence to the contrary!"
I raised my eyebrows, but that simply meant I could see my blood more clearly, so looked away and said nothing.
"The second," she went on, "is the BBC. It may be erratic, tabloid, under-funded and unreliable, but without the World Service, obscure Dickens adaptions, the Today Program and Doctor Who, I honestly believe that the cultural and communal capacity of this country would have declined to the level of the apeman, largely owing to the advent of the mobile phone!"
"Oh," I said, feeling that something was expected. "Oh" was enough.
"And lastly, we have the NHS!"
"This is an NHS service?" I asked incredulously.
"I didn't say that, I merely pointed out that the NHS makes Britain great. Now lie still.”
—
8 people liked it
More quotes…
How does that make Britain great?"
"Despite the certainty of loss, we try anyway with the absolute conviction that this year will be the one, regardless of all evidence to the contrary!"
I raised my eyebrows, but that simply meant I could see my blood more clearly, so looked away and said nothing.
"The second," she went on, "is the BBC. It may be erratic, tabloid, under-funded and unreliable, but without the World Service, obscure Dickens adaptions, the Today Program and Doctor Who, I honestly believe that the cultural and communal capacity of this country would have declined to the level of the apeman, largely owing to the advent of the mobile phone!"
"Oh," I said, feeling that something was expected. "Oh" was enough.
"And lastly, we have the NHS!"
"This is an NHS service?" I asked incredulously.
"I didn't say that, I merely pointed out that the NHS makes Britain great. Now lie still.”
May 24, 2013 03:09pm