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A review by vermidian
A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin
3.0
More like a 3.5 star read for me, I rounded down to make the average score tip in my ideal rating direction. You may have noticed that the reviews for this book are very polarized. Here's more or less why:
I absolutely loved the rich description in the story. If you haven't read it yet, start it and you'll immediately see what I mean. And that description doesn't let up. While it's really artfully written, it's a lot. And I'm not kidding, it's intense to read so much of it. A lot of the reviews with lower ratings are rated low because of this.
But here's the thing: the character of Matthew Swift is just kind of a character made to carry those descriptions. He only really starts to have a personality beyond the angels toward the very end of the book. Up until that point, he carries only a sense of revenge that's never quite articulated despite all the rich description and the naive joy of the angels. Past that, he doesn't have much of an actual personality to speak of. He's more of a conduit for the story than a person in his own right, which I find frustrating as a reader. The minor characters often had more of a personality than he did. His lack of personality is often masked by all the rich description of the world, but I really decided this was the case when I couldn't list more than two personality traits for the main character and I was half way through the book.
The story was decent, though predictable for me. The world building was quite good and the way the urban magic functions is beautiful. I can see why the book was compared to Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, though it's been a while since I last read it. It definitely has a Gaiman-esque feel to it in places. My only other complaint is that there are one or two bits where the author describes people who are overweight and the descriptions, rich as ever, are far from flattering. I'm not sure I'd go as far as calling them fatphobic, but they certainly aren't very body positive.
I will probably get around to reading the second book eventually, but it's not high on my list.
I absolutely loved the rich description in the story. If you haven't read it yet, start it and you'll immediately see what I mean. And that description doesn't let up. While it's really artfully written, it's a lot. And I'm not kidding, it's intense to read so much of it. A lot of the reviews with lower ratings are rated low because of this.
But here's the thing: the character of Matthew Swift is just kind of a character made to carry those descriptions. He only really starts to have a personality beyond the angels toward the very end of the book. Up until that point, he carries only a sense of revenge that's never quite articulated despite all the rich description and the naive joy of the angels. Past that, he doesn't have much of an actual personality to speak of. He's more of a conduit for the story than a person in his own right, which I find frustrating as a reader. The minor characters often had more of a personality than he did. His lack of personality is often masked by all the rich description of the world, but I really decided this was the case when I couldn't list more than two personality traits for the main character and I was half way through the book.
The story was decent, though predictable for me. The world building was quite good and the way the urban magic functions is beautiful. I can see why the book was compared to Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, though it's been a while since I last read it. It definitely has a Gaiman-esque feel to it in places. My only other complaint is that there are one or two bits where the author describes people who are overweight and the descriptions, rich as ever, are far from flattering. I'm not sure I'd go as far as calling them fatphobic, but they certainly aren't very body positive.
I will probably get around to reading the second book eventually, but it's not high on my list.