A Madness of Angels: Or The Resurrection of Matthew Swift (Kindle Edition)

by Kate Griffin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

YA fantasy author Catherine Webb (The Obsidian Dagger) makes an ambitious leap to adult urban fantasy under the Griffin pseudonym. Matthew Swift, a young London sorcerer, was brutally killed thanks to the machinations of Robert James Bakker, a superpowerful mage who also targeted several of Matthew's colleagues. Two years later, Matthew revives as a we, sharing his body with an electric angel. While seeking answers, Matthew meets magician Dudley Sinclair, who wants to kill Bakker and crush his group of evil dark arts practitioners—including Matthew's former apprentice, who has become Bakker's lover. Griffin's lush prose and chatty dialogue, modeled after the best work of other modern British fantasy writers, create a wonderful ambience but often diffuse the tension, leaving readers to make their own way through the uncomplicated plot. (Apr.)
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Product Description

For Matthew Swift, today is not like any other day. It is the day on which he returns to life.

Two years after his untimely death, Matthew Swift finds himself breathing once again, lying in bed in his London home.

Except that it's no longer his bed, or his home. And the last time this sorcerer was seen alive, an unknown assailant had gouged a hole so deep in his chest that his death was irrefutable...despite his body never being found.

He doesn't have long to mull over his resurrection though, or the changes that have been wrought upon him. His only concern now is vengeance. Vengeance upon his monstrous killer and vengeance upon the one who brought him back.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 733 KB
• Print Length: 464 pages
• Publisher: Orbit; 1 edition (April 6, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001YWNAHI
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #42,502 in Kindle Store (See Bestsellers in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, gorgeous... chewy., April 20, 2009

By	Professor J (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Madness of Angels: Or The Resurrection of Matthew Swift (Hardcover)

I didn't want to read this book. It was a gift that I almost gave away unread. I'd practically given up on urban fantasy, put off by far too many mediocre books with far too-similar plots and revolting artwork (if I see one more supposedly-attractive woman's butt or bare back, I. Am. Going. To. Scream). Or in the rare UF with a male protagonist, far too many efforts to ape the pulp noir genre that fail miserably.

So I was caught a bit off-guard when this book turned out to be AMAZING.

The story follows Matthew Swift, an "urban sorcerer" in London. Although he can channel electricity from wall plugs and banish demons using trash bins, he was not an especially powerful or ambitious sorcerer -- that was, until somebody killed him and brought him back to life. Now Matthew's eyes are blue (they were brown) and now he has both incredible power and a driving ambition: revenge.

The story follows his quest for vengeance as he stalks and tackles his enemies one-by-one -- but with some fascinating diversions. First, he's being trailed by the Hunger, the same creepy wraithlike creature that killed him the first time. Second, Matthew himself is no longer quite human, as the story gradually reveals -- or wholly sane, really, but this is a minor matter. Griffin reveals all this with dark, dense, chewy prose that reminds me of China Mieville and Storm Constantine at their best. She sandwiches this between devilishly witty humor (as when Matthew weaves a powerful protective spell out of a subway ticket, simply by reading the ticket's fine print) and elegant characterization, and tops it all off with some of the most original magic I've ever seen. Best of all, she lovingly depicts London in all its multicultural, multilayered glory, from the rush of the Tube to the reek of the Thames, from bustling core to sleepy suburbs. I'm a New Yorker and I love my city, but this book makes me want to emigrate.

(No, seriously.)

(OK, maybe just an extended visit.)

Anyway, I don't give five-star reviews often, but this book deserves them. Buy it, and enjoy. I'm off to go waitlist the second book of the series.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Urban Fantasy, April 28, 2009

By	Manuel E. Garcia Quevedo (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I love novels that take the world I know and present fantastic elements just underneath it's surface. From the good (wisecracking Chicago-based wizards) to the not-so-good (Vampire executioners with poor impulse control), I'll read just about anything. What makes this book special is its rich mythology. The mysteries of what magic is and how it works are inventive and plausible. It takes a little getting used to as the reader, like the protagonist, is dropped into the story without knowing which way is up. If you like books about mystical forces and the people who wield them, you will enjoy getting to know Matthew Swift.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Puts the "urban" in "urban magic.", July 8, 2009

By	Singin' in the Rain - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Madness of Angels: Or The Resurrection of Matthew Swift (Hardcover)

Kate Griffin is actually Catherine Webb in disguise, and Catherine Webb is the author of the Horatio Lyle novels, which I tend to gush over whenever the subject of YA fiction comes up. So, being a fan of Webb, I was excited to get my hands on her foray into urban fantasy.

I adored this. It completely took over my brain and hasn't yet let go. The world Griffin-Webb (I've decided to hyphenate her) creates, the magical underworld of London, is utterly enthralling.

Griffin-Webb's signature style is here in spades, all run-on sentences and dense, surprising descriptions. The dual-first person narration was fascinating and unique.

The magic of this world, the layers and detail Griffin-Webb injects into her mythology, took my breath away. It runs through the tunnels of the Underground, sparks through power and telephone lines, hums with traffic. It ebbs and flows to the rhythm of the city, and it can be found in the pigeon, the rat, the concrete beneath your feet. Matthew Swift, urban sorceror, paints protective wards with spray paint, builds a magical barrier from the rules of a Travelcard, fights monsters made of trash and broken street signs.

The book is also a love song to London. Griffin-Webb's descriptions pull you into the city, and made me ache for the ability to just sit on a bench and soak in the smell and feel and crackle of it. But it's not love just for the shiny, tourist-friendly surface we're all familiar with. The smog and the smoke and the pigeons, the rats, the homeless, the trash - all of it is magical, all of it is life. And through Matthew Swift - whose heart beats with the rhythm of the city, who finds strength in its noise and light and heat - we love it all.

Consider me a crazy Matthew Swift fangirl as of about fifty pages into this book.