This book gave me the most reading fun I've had in a while. It's a comic tale of underground goings-on in a London which has become a bolt-hole for deviants on the run from a near-future theocracy which cannot tolerate diversity. Christian vampires, Christian BDSMers, mad fundamentalists out to foil a plot to make God look silly and a twist you won't see coming (I didn't anyway, and I normally do.):these are the main ingredients of a funny and darkly satirical story which will appeal to anybody who isn't po-faced about fantasy literature or the occult.

Amid the comedy there is a serious examination of the psychology of those who want to put the world to rights and are totally sure of the truth of their cures for the world's ills. There is a great deal of irony in the mutual incomprehension, contemptuousness and pomposity of various characters and social groups. And if you never wanted to throttle an elf before, you will after reading All Lies and Jest.