Mini-Reviews: The Neon Court and The Minority Council by Kate Griffin

I like to write reviews for the books I read in a timely manner. The life I live these days often does not allow it – at least without me losing a lot of sleep, something that I really cannot afford to do. So, it comes to me writing up ‘mini-reviews’ for two books by Kate Griffin I read a number of months ago. Why did they get put off so long when I read and reviewed others since? Not because they are bad, or that I didn’t enjoy them. Both are good books that I enjoyed quite a bit. Mostly because they are books from an established series and I don’t really have that much to add to what I’ve already said before about A Madness of Angels and The Midnight Mayor (really, read those reviews, because what I write below is terribly brief and general).

Both The Neon Court and The Minority Council continue the story of Matthew Swift, urban sorcerer and the Midnight Mayor of London. Matthew is an eccentric, half-crazy character (in every sense of the word) who always surprises with his creative problem solving capabilities (think understatement here). In combination with the unique flavor of urban magic that Griffin has created, London transforms from the mundane into a magical wonderland where a pile of garbage just might come alive and try to kill you.

These books feature typical urban issues such as gang turf wars, religious zealotry, drug addiction, business and political conflict, and alderman wrapped in Griffin’s truly modern magical realization. This is a reflection (in part) of Griffin’s continued maturing as a writer, though for me, the biggest draw to these books and the London of Griffin’s vision is simply it being a whole lot of fun to read about.

As I’ve mentioned above, I enjoy Griffin’s version of a magically-infused London and look forward to reading more. While The Minority Council is (seemingly) the last book about Matthew Swift, her world lives on through a new protagonist in a new series – Magicals Anonymous (Book 1 – Stray Souls, Book 2 – The Glass God), and I believe that Matthew makes an appearance or two in them as well.

And I simply must say, Kelly, the Personal Assistant to The Midnight Mayor, is one of my favorite characters in genre. Her role is relatively minor, often comic relief, and perfect.

Matthew Swift Series

A Madness of Angels (my review, Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

The Midnight Mayor (my review, Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

The Neon Court (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

The Minority Council (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

Magicals Anonymous Series

Stray Souls (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

The Glass God (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

Review: The Midnight Mayor by Kate Griffin

Magic. When you hear the word what image is invoked? Druids in the twilight mist of an ancient henge? An aged (white) wizard, with beard and staff incanting some unintelligible spell? A meditating monk worshiping at the top of a mountain? A witch invoking a cryptic rhyme as she peers into a bubbling cauldron? Angels? Vampires? Faeries?

Did you think a pile of garbage? The last subway? The disclaimer written on a transit card? The discarded phonebook on top of the canopy at the bus stop? The heavy beat of the latest hot nightclub?

Kate Griffin imagines a world of magic unlike any other – magic that has evolved from those tales of legend we all see so often into real urban magic. Magic is life. Life is magic. And life in the city of London has a magic all its own. Griffin introduced the urban sorcerer Matthew Swift in A Madness of Angels (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) and The Midnight Mayor (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) follows with Swift’s ascension to a responsibility that he doesn’t want or need.

The subtitle of The Midnight Mayor: Or, The Inauguration of Matthew Swift says it all. The old Midnight Mayor is killed and the title passed Swift, who didn’t actually believe in the Midnight Mayor in the first place. The city is under attack – the ancient guardians fall under the onslaught of a mysterious entity known only as the Death of Cities. Fighting for his life, Swift must come to terms with his new responsibility and save London.

The Midnight Mayor begins much in the same way as A Madness of Angels – confusion, danger, frantic flight and clever resolution. In fact, the whole of The Midnight Mayor follows much the same formula as A Madness of Angels – this is truly an example of, if liked x than you’ll love y. I really enjoyed A Madness of Angels, but the overt similarity brings down The Midnight Mayor – it felt like the same outline with only a few different players – it felt like Griffin may have used up all her best tricks in A Madness of Angels and could do nothing but cut and paste.

Thankfully Griffin makes up for the repetition with her vision of London. Only a person prone to long walks and a deep love of the city could write this novel. Griffin takes the moods of the city and its people and turns them into magic, a magic that is wonderfully clever and almost cynically insightful. A cigarette in a beer bottle becomes a powerful weapon. Reciting the arcane legalize of criminal code becomes a ward against supernatural malcontents. A can of spray paint is as powerful as any traditional wizard’s wand.

Griffin’s biggest improvement with The Midnight Mayor is in her characterization – Swift truly comes alive instead of simply being the vehicle for her view of London. Swift grows. And through his new role as the Midnight Mayor and his internal struggles of humanity versus possession by the blue electric angels, he becomes real. Griffin balances Swift against the non-magical, evangelically righteous Oda and rounds things out with smaller players like the Alderman, an abused traffic cop, and a worrying mother. She also resists the need for neat, happy resolutions to all and even plays a bit with idea of redemption.

In spite of Griffin’s tendency to rely too heavily on description, The Midnight Mayor is a tighter, better book than A Madness of Angels. And that tells the tale – The Midnight Mayor is more of the same, yet an improvement to A Madness of Angels. London comes magically alive though the unique urban fantasy of Griffin – urban fantasy that I enthusiastically recommend. And the adventures of the urban sorcerer Matthew Swift will continue in Spring, 2011 with The Neon Court: Or, The Betrayal of Matthew Swift (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound). 7.5-8/10


Related Posts: Review of A Madness of Angels; Kate Griffin Answers Questions Five

Kate Griffin Answers Questions Five

Catherine Webb is a Carnegie Medal-nominated author who began her writing career at 14 and has written seven books aimed at the YA audience. Now in her early 20’s and writing as Kate Griffin, A Madness of Angels is her first book aimed squarely at the adult audience, and it is something special (US, UK, Canada, IndieBound, my review). The Midnight Mayor is a sequel planned for fall 2009 (US, UK, Canada, IndieBound). Cat is a life-long resident of London, and her love of the city is clearly reflected in her writing.

Thanks to Kate for taking the time to answer Questions Five.


If I were going on holiday to London and I can only visit one pub, which pub do you recommend and why?

KG: Well, I kinda don't drink, owing to expense and taste and the fact that I never really had much fun doing it. But I do have fond memories of the Sherlock Holmes, which is to the north of Hungerford Bridge, and the Castle on Pentonville Road has a very nice roof terrace in the summer, which almost redeems the fact that it's on the Pentonville Road. If you're after drink + fun, may I heartily recommend Cafe Kick on Exmouth Market, which is a sports cafe. This essentially means a lot of football, many photos of men in bad shirts looking mud-splattered, much booze and, best of all, bar footie. Many, many hours have been happily whiled away playing bar footie in Cafe Kick.

If the A Madness of Angels were a fortune cookie, what would its fortune be?

KG: Sweet and sour chilli sauce much good makes; but be careful what you say on the telephone.

How would you interpret this fortune if it were your own? Or Catherine’s?

KG: Um. As a profound culinary truth combined with a bit of sound social advice? I mean, if I was going to wax profound, I'd say something about yin and yang, unlikely combinations being so good, about the best and worst of life combined, and maybe talk a bit about the kind of stuff we say over the telephone and how it makes us behave that might not otherwise be the case. But I think my first, short answer, was probably the best, since there's very few dishes which don't benefit much from sweet and sour chilli sauce. Particularly all those Thai starters you can get - oh, sesame prawn toast! Now if you could find a way to inscribe a fortune cookie on the surface of sesame prawn toast, I'd be gobbling that down. As it is most fortune cookies are a really disappointing event.

As for this whole Catherine Webb/Kate Griffin business... while I did consider inventing a whole alter-ego for Kate Griffin, based largely on a theme of her being an Antarctic explorer with the kung fu skills of Michelle Yeoh and the ability to speak Tagalog as a fluent second language, I quickly realised that the amount of work involved in maintaining this cover, both physical and linguistic, was probably beyond my grasp. So, after much debate, I have come to the conclusion that Cat is Kate and Kate is Cat, and they both share the same fortune cookies, are avid fans of Dr Who and the West Wing, and need to have a haircut. I am still hoping to be thrown out of various parties for Kate Griffin owing to lack of appropriate ID, but alas, no one has yet thrown a party in Kate's honour for Cat to be chucked out of, so that plan is still on hold...

What other peculiar qualities of A Madness of Angels should readers be aware of?

KG: It's magic, Jim, but not quite as we know it...

It's a fantasy book, full of sorcery, mystery, monsters, and blue electric angels, but it's also fantasy given a sharp kick into the 21st century. Magic in A Madness of Angels isn't about how well you can intone in dodgy Latin, or whether you've got a spare bit of the chalk of destiny roaming around your alchemy lab. It's fantasy that rides the top deck of the inner city bus, casts its spells in street patter and, I hope, catches enough of real life in it to make the world seem that little bit more exciting and strange than it already is. Miracles and mysteries in this happy urbanised age are no longer about sacred waters from holy springs, or green-skinned dryads hiding in trees. These days, your ring of power is made of plastic and kept at the back of a charity shop with the snow globes, and your dryads skins' are the colour of dusty metal, their lairs buried inside the street lamps that are the new urban forests. Also, while death may only be the beginning, no one ever bothered to write a survivors guide for after the event...

Why should A Madness of Angels be the next novel that everyone reads?

KG: Hopefully, because it's got a bit of everything in there for everyone. It's (I hope) funny enough to make the tired commuter smile, strange enough to make the mundane seem peculiar, real enough to catch at the memory of pretty much anyone who's ever waited for the last train on a cold night in December while wearing the wrong kind of shoes, dark enough to make the night seem long, magical enough to make the night seem brighter, and different enough to promise a flavour of something new for hopefully everyone who reads it.

And if none of that appeals to you, it's got some really sound advice on why skipping your underground fare is a bad idea, and why it's always a good idea to pack extra clean shirts when embarking on a vendetta where high voltages are involved.

Review: A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin

Magic – it lies at the heart of the fantasy genre, the very definition for many. Often magic can do anything and equally often it has limits, but one thing that magic nearly invariably fails to do is evolve. The inspiration for magic is typically rooted in myth and legend resulting in a concept that feels stuck in distant past. It’s rare that a book truly shows magic evolve with the experience of the human species – A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin is one such rarity (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound).

In Griffin’s London magic has urbanized. The mythical last train is powerful magic, the electricity flowing through wires is powerful magic, the graffiti scrawled across walls is powerful magic, the litter thoughtlessly discarded is powerful magic, even the disclaimer written on an Underground ticket is powerful magic. Bikers travel magical routes through time and space, bag ladies and beggars are magical gods, and the phone lines possessed by blue electric angels. Sorcerers rise above other magic users to be become a thing of magic itself – magic is life – and urban sorcerers are the city of their magic.

The sorcerer Matthew Swift died by the hands of a magical creature of shadow wearing the face of his former mentor and benefactor, Mr. Bakker. A Madness of Angels carries the subtitle of Or, the Resurrection of Matthew Swift, giving away what comes next. The book opens with the bewildered Matthew Swift’s resurrection, the reader feeling every bit of the confusion of Swift. Once bearings are gained, what remains is a story of vengeance. Swift focuses on killing the shadow creature he names Hunger even as he knows that in reality he must kill his former master, Mr. Bakker.

The brilliance of A Madness of Angels is magic – the urban magic of London. Urban Fantasy has evolved of late into a new feeling genre, and while Griffin’s magic evolves, A Madness of Angels is classic Urban Fantasy. The mood is reminiscent of Gaiman and Mièville with a magical feel closer to de Lint – and the result is splendid. The unique-feel of Griffin’s magical view of London permeates the book and is enough all on its own to make A Madness of Angels a great success – of course there is more.

Madness plays an important role throughout the story while somehow not taking it all over. Swift and Bakker become a yin and yang of madness – one a madness of multiplication and the other of division. Both suffer confusion along with moments of intense fear and great confidence. With the entire story told through Swift’s first person view point, it’s this madness that allows Griffin to carry a sense of mystery through the book, hiding information from the reader that Swift knows but won’t necessarily admit.

A Madness of Angels suffers from a few weaknesses that are largely overshadowed by the simple magic of her writing. Griffin is new to adult fiction and like Mièville’s early work, at times Griffin over-writes her vision of London and its magic, particularly early in the novel. In terms of characterization for all but Swift, Griffin lays a good foundation and seems to leave off the finishing touches that bring a character fully to life. It’s a wonderful journey that we see, and as often happens, the ending suffers in comparison. Griffin’s desire to hold back key information until the end does maintain a mystery, but it doesn’t quite make sense at the end – particularly with its abruptness. But, as I hinted above, the magic of Griffin’s London dominates, washing out the weaknesses, with a promise of Griffin’s future improvement as an author.

Kate Griffin has written books for younger audiences since her early teens, starting even younger than the infamous Christopher Paolini. Now in her early 20s, A Madness of Angel is her first effort aimed at the adult market – and it’s a great start. The dark, magical atmosphere of Griffin’s London saturates everything, making it wonder to read and A Madness of Angels a book that I enjoyed a lot. 7.5-8/10

Related Posts: Inteview with Kate Griffin, Review of The Midnight Mayor