DNF Review - The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

 

 

Title: The Angel of the Crows

Author: Katherine Addison

Pages: 448

Publisher: Tor Books

Release Date: 23rd June 2020

 

Blurb from Goodreads: 

A fantasy novel of alternate 1880s London, where killers stalk the night and the ultimate power is naming.

This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting.

In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings under a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent.

Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows.

 

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My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Rebellion and NetGalley*

- DNF @20% -

It's London in the 1880s, but not as we know it.

Supernatural creatures roam the streets, coexisting with humans, but there is also a killer on the loose.

An angel works to catch the killer with help from a human sidekick. Can they stop the killer together?

The premise of this book really intrigued me - Sherlock + Supernatural + Jack the Ripper should have been something right up my street and been something that I loved, but unfortunately this wasn't for me.

I did enjoy the first few chapters, but then I found myself losing interest and I couldn't get back into what was happening.

The characters were okay but I didn't really connect with or care about any of them.

This did feel a bit like fan-fiction rather than an original novel.

The descriptions of the victims bothered me. It's a misconception that Jack the Ripper's victims were all prostitutes, but this book (what I read, at least) did nothing to contest that misconception.

This was a book where I couldn't get on with the plot or writing style and in the end I decided to stop reading, which was disappointing as I'd been looking forward to reading it.

Unfortunately, this wasn't for me.