ARC Review – Breaking the Lore

I received a free eARC copy from Canelo, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

From Goodreads:

A magical, mischievous mystery perfect for fans of Douglas Adams and Ben Aaronovitch.

How do you stop a demon invasion… when you don’t believe in magic? Inspector Nick Paris is a man of logic and whisky. So staring down at the crucified form of a murder victim who is fifteen centimetres tall leaves the seasoned detective at a loss… and the dead fairy is only the beginning.

Suddenly the inspector is offering political asylum to dwarves, consulting with witches, getting tactical advice from elves and taking orders from a chain-smoking talking crow who, technically, outranks him.

With the fate of both the human and magic worlds in his hands Nick will have to leave logic behind and embrace his inner mystic to solve the crime and stop an army of demons from invading Manchester!

I was drawn to this book, as when you combine two of my favourite authors in the blurb I am going to pick the book up. While I really enjoyed this book and there are similarities in premise to Ben Aaronovich’s Rivers of London it is not quite up to the same standards. However, this book is good in its own merit.

It is a great pun filled and lighthearted urban fantasy. I honestly think this would be a great transition book from YA into Adult fantasy for those looking for a gateway into such reads.

I have to admit I was slightly trepidatious at the start as the cliche of the drunken haunted inspector that is great at his job, with the slightly oaf-like Sargent is immediately thrown at us. But I was put at ease as soon as this is media staple is twisted and turned with the introduction of the fantastical aspects. I will say I was never really fully enamoured with Inspector Paris, instead I, and I suspect most readers, was instantly drawn to Morbus, the chain smoking, talking Crow! But the character that really shone for me was Cassandra, a sassy new age witch that really gives Paris a run for his money. Cassandra runs rings around Paris but in a fun and flirty way, she flings puns and quips out in rapid fire, her intelligence present with a quiet grace. She quickly became my favourite.

The worldbuilding its self is also really interesting. We learn as Paris learns and there is never a huge dump of information instead it just organically grows. There is a great combination of large action scenes and quiet one-to-one conversations that just give the book great structure. There are twists that blindside the reader while others creep quietly into the plot all keeping a nice steady page and an enjoyable read. The only pacing issue I found was the ending seemed a little abrupt. It just seems to resolve in a chapter in a very understated way that left a kind of “oh its finished” feeling. It was just a little underwhelming after the build up.

Overall, I really enjoyed this fun fast paced novel and would gladly read on in the series. I can see this being more appealing to the British audiance than an international one (there is use of British slang that may not sit well with some international audiences. But I would recommend it to those who are wanting a fantastical and entertaining tale!