A Madness of Angels

[sawyl]

Urban fantasy this week in the form of Kate Griffin's A Madness of Angels, which I enjoyed but, for various unconnected reasons, took an unconscionable amount of time over.

The action opens with Matthew Swift appearing naked in the bedroom of his old house. Stealing clothes from the wardrobe, he makes a dash for it only to be cornered by a litterbug — a summoned creature made entirely of street rubbish. Swift sets about tracking down his old contacts, only to find that almost all of them have vanished during the two years that have passed since his death and resurrection. When a chance meeting puts Swift in contact with a man called Dudley Sinclair, he learns that most of his friends have been killed for opposing the Tower, a sinister organisation of urban sorcerers set up by Swift's former mentor, Robert James Bakker. Determined revenge himself on the man he believes murdered him Swift sets about taking down Bakker's lieutenants, gradually working his way closer to the head of the Tower.

Written in a hard-boiled style, Swift's first person narrative constantly shifts from first person singular to plural — something that unsettles at first, but which comes into focus when the mystery behind his return to life is revealed. The system of magic is intriguing, involving a reinterpretation of the environment into a metaphor that the sorcerer can then manipulate — for example, Swift is able to create an impenetrable barrier using a turnstile and the conditions of carriage on the back of his tube ticket. The plotting feels a little rough in places — there are some odd cul-de-sacs and characters that don't really develop — but it was enjoyable stuff, even if it did take me far longer than it should have done to finish...