Sixty-One Nails: Courts of the Feyre, Book 1 [Mass Market Paperback]

Mike Shevdon (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 31, 2010 | Series: Courts of the Feyre (Book 1)

THERE IS A SECRET WAR GROWING BENEATH THE STREETS OF LONDON.

A dark magic will be unleashed by the Untainted...Unless a new hero can be found. The smarter, faster brother to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere has arrived.

The immense Sixty-One Nails follows Niall Petersen, victim of a suspected heart attack on the London Underground, into the hidden world of the Feyre, an uncanny place of legend that lurks just beyond the surface of everyday life. The Untainted, the darkest of the Seven Courts, have made their play for power, and unless Niall can recreate the ritual of the Sixty-One Nails, their dark dominion will enslave all of the Feyre, and all of humankind too.

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Hidden War | Ancient Rituals | Secret History | Gallowfyre! ]

E-book ISBN: 978-0-85766-029-9

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I came away from this read feeling like I'd taken a stroll through Mike Shevdon's imagination. Is this bad? Not at all, because it's a great place to visit and poke around."
- Examiner.com

"Sixty-One Nails is Neverwhere for the next generation. The pacing is spot-on, the characters engaging, and the world fits together beautifully to create a London that ought to be. I stayed up too late finishing it." - C.E. Murphy

"Mike Shevdon strikes sparks from the flinty core of English folklore, as a hero every reader can relate to finds he's part of an incredible and scarily believable parallel realm. If you've been thinking urban fantasy has nothing fresh to offer, think again." - Juliet E. McKenna

"This book is magnificent in every way. Sixty-One Nails is a novel I will remember for a very long time. 5*****" - ScienceFictionandFantasy.co.uk

"I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes for something different in the urban fantasy genre." - Fantasy Book Critic

"...  a charming, magical book, and I am a confirmed Mike Shevdon fan."
- www.mybookishways.com

"Sixty-One Nails is deeply compelling; it will tempt you away from social commitments and sleep."  - www.thecontextuallife.com

From the Author

PLEASE NOTE: THE KINDLE FORMATTING ERRORS HAVE BEEN FIXED

Because of an error, the initial release of Sixty-One Nails had formatting errors in the Kindle version caused by the wrong file being issued by mistake. This problem was quickly fixed but copies of the bad file are still around from the initial download.

To fix the error, delete the file from the Kindle and reload it and you will have a copy without these problems.

I apologise for this and hope that it doesn't spoil your reading enjoyment. My publisher is doing everything they can to make sure this doesn't happen in future. Thanks, and happy reading.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Angry Robot; Original edition (August 31, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0857660284
• ISBN-13: 978-0857660282
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.5 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #332,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mike Shevdon was born in Yorkshire, grew up in Oxfordshire and now lives in Bedfordshire, so no-one can say he hasn't travelled. An avid reader of fantasy since his early teens, he has a bulging bookshelf going back more than thirty years. His love of fantasy started with Edgar Rice Burroughs and C S Lewis and expanded rapidly, spilling over into SF, crime fiction (usually mystery in the US), thrillers, the back of cereal packets, instruction manuals and anything else with words on it.

He is a keen cook (his wife would use the word 'messy' but that's another story) and is the inventor of Squeaky Cheese Curry. He particularly loves food from South East Asia and is on a life-long quest to create the perfect satay sauce.

His favourite books include Barabara Hambly's Darwath Trilogy, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and any of John Le Carre's George Smiley books. He is a big fan of Robert Crais and the Elvis Cole series and loves all the Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum novels. He believes Sir Terry Pratchet's knighthood is richly deserved.

Mike draws his inspiration from the richness of English folklore and from the history and rituals of the UK. The Courts of the Feyre is a new series that follows the adventures of Niall and Blackbird as Niall discovers a world of dark magic and strange creatures hidden in plain sight.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Very fast paced, unique plot .... Kindle formatting is bad indeed September 28, 2010

By Pruitt Hall

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Just a quicky review commenting two things: 1) This is just a fast, fast page turner. The plot gets moving in a hurry and I found myself staying up half a night almost finishing the thing in one setting. It's really an urban, gothic thriller with the author's knowledge of contemporary London very obvious. Unique twists on a tried and true story line...ancestry of another race inbred with humans, trying to 'cross over' but I'll leave it there and not spoil the story. It's a quick, good read.

But: The e-book formatting is one of the worst I've seen. It took me three pages or so before I began to trust my own eyes that it wasn't a one-time occurance, rather it runs throughout the book. The characters will reply to each other and there's no break between the replies; the 'other' character's reply will be right after the first and you catch yourself re-reading a bit to figure out 'who' is talking. It's not a killer to the experience, overall, but pretty darn close.

Word of advice to Amazon on their ebooks; proof read them just like you do a paper book. Jeesh, you'd only have to read two pages and see the formatting is dorked up! As a group, readers, authors and publishers alike, we have got to start demanding that ebooks take on a real book experience if we're ever going to get out of being a 'niche' in my opinion.

But, it's just that...my opinion. The book, however, is a fun, quick read and I'm already wanting more of the series. Highly recommended if you'll amp yourself up to knowing you may have to fight the text a bit.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Urban Fantasy Debut and Series Opener September 12, 2010

By misplaced cajun

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Sixty-One Nails begins when Niall Peter Petersen suffers a heart attack in one of London's tube stations. He is saved by a woman who calls herself Blackbird, a woman who then reveals to him that the Feyre have been living amongst humans for centuries. Not only have then been living amongst us, but they've been breeding with us as well and Niall shares blood with the Seven Courts. But all of this is just the beginning as Niall is sent on a quest that might be the only hope in maintaining the balance between the Feyre and humankind.

Mike Shevdon's blend of historical fact and folklore make Sixty-One Nails a true stand out. This first in the Courts of the Feyre series sets the bar high for Shevdon, but I've no doubt he can live up to expectations after such a strong beginning. A wonderful new voice in the urban fantasy genre!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 stars, similar to Neverwhere by Gaiman September 29, 2010

By Kyle

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Bottom line, I liked this story. The concept was very similar to Neverwhere written by Neil Gaiman, but different enough to stand on its own. The story is one of a hidden world in plain sight in today's London. While magic plays into the plot as do magical creatures, it doesn't over-power the story and isn't really what the story is about (it's more of the backdrop against which the story takes place).

My litmus test for whether I like a story is generally if I can remember the names of the characters... meaning do I form an attachment to them in some way (be it respect, hate, etc) and whether I felt compelled to finish it. In the beginning it felt a bit unpolished and took a few chapters to get going but as the began to unfold I was hooked. I wouldn't expect any major surprises as you can generally see where it's going but like I said, I enjoyed it.

I'd say it's solidly GOOD not great and I'd rate it around 3.5 stars (4 being stuff I really like and 5 being my favorites). I paid $4 for it (looks like it's free right now) and I'd do so again. It was enough to make me purchase the second in the series.

(Note: There are issues with the formatting as others have described).