Quote:
Originally Posted by xg4bx
61 Nails by Mike Shevdon
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I read the first two chapters but I didn't like the writing style very much. The characters tend to repeat sentences several times, and it is jarring. Feels too much like the author is dumbing down the dialog so that not-so-clever readers can follow the plot.
HOWEVER, I am glad you recommended this book because I found a series by Ben Aaronovitch while flipping through the Amazon recommend list for 61 Nails. It starts with a book called Rivers of London, followed by Moon Over Soho and the yet-to-be-released Whispers of the Underground. I liked it a lot! The main character is a mixed-race constable for the Metropolitan Police who discovers magical murders. The writing isn't as tight and poetical as Neil Gaiman but the story is fun, exciting, and more than a little scary.
To be fair, Ben Aaronovitch is clearly heavily inspired by Neverwhere, Terry Pratchett's Watch sub series, and I think Tom Holt's Expecting Someone Taller, but I think his world-building (the hero Peter Grant looks at magic from a very scientific viewpoint) is sufficiently different and the characters (Nightingale! Molly!) mysterious enough that I want to know more about them in the next book and not TOO derivative.