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songwind's review against another edition
4.0
The shadow police are back, and even better than their first outing.
Austerity measures are driving London into a frenzy of protest and anger at the government. In the midst of the protest, a series of brutal murders begins - murders that shouldn't have been possible.
DI Quill and his team are called in to figure out what's going on. As usual, they're out-manned, outgunned, and in over their heads. But that's not going to stop them from nicking whoever is responsible.
Cornell builds on the excellent start he created in [b:London Falling|18808081|London Falling|T.A. Foster|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386253853s/18808081.jpg|26740374]. We learn more of the occult community of London in this volume, and find out about some changes it's been going through.
Where this book really shines is the relationships between the characters. Both within Quill's team and between the members and outside forces. Quill, whom I started off disliking in the first book, really comes into his own as a leader and source of strength for the team. We learn a lot more about the background of the different coppers, too.
A very enjoyable read, and well written.
Austerity measures are driving London into a frenzy of protest and anger at the government. In the midst of the protest, a series of brutal murders begins - murders that shouldn't have been possible.
DI Quill and his team are called in to figure out what's going on. As usual, they're out-manned, outgunned, and in over their heads. But that's not going to stop them from nicking whoever is responsible.
Cornell builds on the excellent start he created in [b:London Falling|18808081|London Falling|T.A. Foster|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386253853s/18808081.jpg|26740374]. We learn more of the occult community of London in this volume, and find out about some changes it's been going through.
Where this book really shines is the relationships between the characters. Both within Quill's team and between the members and outside forces. Quill, whom I started off disliking in the first book, really comes into his own as a leader and source of strength for the team. We learn a lot more about the background of the different coppers, too.
A very enjoyable read, and well written.
gatun's review against another edition
5.0
I enjoyed "London Falling" and looked forward to reading the sequel "The Severed Streets". I was quite happy to find the sequel was equal if not slightly better than the first book. I think I like "The Severed Streets" slightly better because I was already familiar with the characters, cared about what happened to them and found the adversary much harder to predict. Great books have at least one line that makes you stop, come to a full stop, and consider what you just read. In this book it was, "To Londoners, bombs and riots were just an extreme form of weather." What an excellent image it gives me of the spirit of the people who live there. Read "London Falling" and then jump right into "The Severed Streets". I hope there is another book in the series coming soon.
themanfromdelmonte's review
4.0
It's quite hard to get into. I put it down several times because I couldn't care enough about the protagonists and that's because they're strangely flat, almost as if the author felt he'd done enough character development in London Falling (the first novel in the trilogy) I'd have liked to know a little more about Sefton and Joe and had the awkward romance between Costain and Ross developed a little more.
There are a lot of crossovers between this and the Rivers of London. The protagonists are policemen. Magic exists for a few. The protagonists are those few coppers able to navigate the demi-monde. It's extremely London-centric. There are magical opponents that thrive on chaos. There is an over-arching super-villain (The Faceless Man in Rivers and The Smiling Man in the Shadow Police)
Anyway, the author sets up the principal bad guy as a very thinly disguised Boris Johnson. Given that this was published in 2014 he must have got quite a shock when the Bluffer became PM. Talk about truth being stranger than fiction. Then again I don't suppose anyone that laughed while he flailed around for comic effect on HIGNFY ever thought he'd actually be in charge of anything. More fool us.
I'll read the third novel in the series because the author can be a bloody good writer, (check out his Lychford series) and has rightly been Hugo nominated for his work
There are a lot of crossovers between this and the Rivers of London. The protagonists are policemen. Magic exists for a few. The protagonists are those few coppers able to navigate the demi-monde. It's extremely London-centric. There are magical opponents that thrive on chaos. There is an over-arching super-villain (The Faceless Man in Rivers and The Smiling Man in the Shadow Police)
Anyway, the author sets up the principal bad guy as a very thinly disguised Boris Johnson. Given that this was published in 2014 he must have got quite a shock when the Bluffer became PM. Talk about truth being stranger than fiction. Then again I don't suppose anyone that laughed while he flailed around for comic effect on HIGNFY ever thought he'd actually be in charge of anything. More fool us.
I'll read the third novel in the series because the author can be a bloody good writer, (check out his Lychford series) and has rightly been Hugo nominated for his work
rosieclaverton's review against another edition
5.0
This book is exactly what I needed. Paul Cornell paints a slightly-parallel London, one where all the things London residents have witnessed recently are magnified and made more horrible. And then his heroes flail about in the mess, losing a horrifying amount as they solve this case.
The mystery aspects of the plot were fairly straightforward, but with some extraordinary unexpected twists. Highly recommended for a great urban fantasy read.
The mystery aspects of the plot were fairly straightforward, but with some extraordinary unexpected twists.
Spoiler
NEIL GAIMAN WTF?!hildea's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bluestarfish's review against another edition
2.0
London is facing a Summer of Blood with chaos and occult and barely jointed character jumps in the book. Bit of it were absorbing but I found myself struggling to care on too many occasions. Most of the interesting stuff was used as a prop and it read like an action film a lot of the time. I happened across an author's reading of this book when it came out (was in shop by chance at the time) and it was enough to pique my interest so I have now at least found out why a famous person makes an appearance in the book...
nearside's review against another edition
3.0
Not bad, not quite as good as the first one, but it's still a fast-moving, compelling read. Still not quite sure about the "stunt casting" in this one, but I suppose it wasn't too off-putting. I'll read the next one whenever it's available!
branch_c's review
3.0
Not bad, but for me it was a bit of a letdown after the first in the series. While London Falling was striking in its originality, this one was understandably less original since it builds on the concepts from the first. But this story was also less focused than the first, with less attention on the cool aspects of the supernatural situation the team encounters and more on the dark and horrific elements. The inclusion of a well-known living person as a character was surprising, but not necessarily in a good way - to be honest, it came across a bit fan-fiction-ish, until it took a particularly dark turn, and then it was just disturbing. The grimness of the team's dealings with supernatural London was rather overwhelming. The positive twist toward the end somewhat made up for this, but then Quill's otherworldly experience seemed rushed and perfunctory, lacking in the depth it might have deserved. Finally, the villain's expository speech was clearly info dumping, no matter that there was some justification for his behavior. So again, not terrible; retaining some of the brilliance of the previous book, but not enough for to me to give it a high recommendation.
eastofthesunwestofthemoon's review against another edition
3.0
Strong 3 1/2 stars. I almost gave this one 4 stars, but it's just too dark throughout, and I didn't feel satisfied enough at the end. I liked the story and I like his characters. But, I feel like this second tale gets bogged down a bit too much in the morass of bleakness. I think it's relatively natural for readers to want to see the condition of characters we like improving, or at least having some high points. Most of this book seems to be about low points, and going lower after you think they've hit bottom. It worked OK this time, but if the series is to continue to engage me, there will have to be some growth "toward the light". If it's all grim, what's the point to reading it?
Possible spoilers:
The cameo that wasn't a cameo started off as kind of cool, but then evolved into a what the hell, why??? kind of plot point - I didn't come out of the book feeling like that was a great success. I was also disappointed that he never returned to the viewpoint of the entity in the barrow after the glimpse into its mind.
Spoiler
Possible spoilers:
The cameo that wasn't a cameo started off as kind of cool, but then evolved into a what the hell, why??? kind of plot point - I didn't come out of the book feeling like that was a great success. I was also disappointed that he never returned to the viewpoint of the entity in the barrow after the glimpse into its mind.