Tannat

Series: Shadow Police #1

I was tempted to drop this book at first, because I wasn’t enthralled with the hard-boiled gritty undercover cop operation it started it off with, but it moved past it after a couple chapters and became more interesting. Quill and his crew are thrown into a deep end with sharks when they acquire the Sight and become sensitive to the Things That Go Bump In The Night. You can imagine how this might play out in London in an investigation that acquires supernatural elements.

Parts of the book were a bit predictable and I tried to ignore the historical backstory of one of the characters for fear of noticing stuff that didn’t work but overall it was a pretty good read, and I think I’ll be checking out the next book in the series. I should note that the novel retains the grittiness it started off with and there is a witch who boils children alive for power, though. I thought the magic system where people seemed to be mostly just mucking about and keeping whatever seemed to work was interesting.

There was one quote I noted and there ought to be a word for feeling you get when you’re tempted to snicker while wincing at the same time (swickering?):

“It is time that defines whether something is real or not. Time is what makes what people experience a tragedy or a love story or a triumph. Hell is where time has stopped, where there’s no more innovation. No horizon. No change. I sometimes think Hell would suit the British down to the ground, and that, given the chance, they’d vote for it. You’d better make sure they never get the chance, eh?”

This book was published in 2012, btw.