Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

The found the first chapter a little hard to get into - briefly introducing some characters and scenarios that may or may not appear in the story later on - but once the book started properly it was enjoyable, witty, full of interesting ideas, and inclusive of endearing characters. I’ve never been to London (the closest I've come is Peter Ackroyd’s 'London: A Biography', and having a flight booked and cancelled in 2020) so I likely missed out of lot of references in the streets of the superior London, but it didn’t make my experience of the novel less enjoyable, and I imagine that the kind of references Moore would include would be quite obscure even for the locals. It was an interesting mix of fantasy and real historical events and characters, and I could never really tell where one started and one ended, though I am vaguely acquainted with Austin Osman Spare as a historical figure. The pacing of the whole book was a little off - not enough tension in parts, and the whole story seemed to be resolved about three quarters through before an action packed final quarter seemingly out of nowhere. The last little chapter seems to set up the next book with its reference to Joe Meek, who sounds like an intriguing subject for a book, and I will continue to follow the series. Apparently a TV show is also in the works, with Moore's involvement!

I’m not very good with audiobooks (I can't take in the text with just audio alone) but at several points I tried listening at the same time as reading this. It was useful for parts set in the Great When, which are all printed in italics and are a bit more florid. The speaker had a nice voice, and these otherworldly sections were complemented by some moody ambient rumbles in the background.