Publication date: July 2024
LGBTQ+ author? Unknown
Setting: Alternate history of 16th century London
I wanted to love this book. It’s both historical fiction and fantasy, with vampires, zombies and queer main characters. What’s not to love? Unfortunately, this book didn’t deliver for me.
Upper London residents Fang and Lazare wake up cursed with new special abilities after they are killed in violent gang fights. Fang can make things appear disgusting. Lazare has wings. The two strangers team up to try to remove the curse, even though this means they their deaths will probably now be successful.
Along the way they meet a tiny dragon named Amber, who is my favorite character, a woman named Nell and others. Eventually their little crew makes the trek down to Lower London where all the undead creatures live to finish their quest.
First of all, the plot barely made sense to me. Why would Fang and Lazare want to remove a curse when it will apparently just kill them when it’s gone? The whole book is built on this point and I just don’t understand. The whole plot is rather thin, with very little stakes and no real motivation to anyone’s actions.
The world building is the strongest part. I love that the police are magic swans. And Fang can make maggots appear. And Lazare looks like a vampire but isn’t one. And you can take a tube from Upper London to Lower London. And city dragons are stunted! Just so many fun little details like that.
However, it is supposed to be the 1500s London and I it just doesn’t feel like it at all. The characters’ concerns all feel very modern. We don’t get any fun details with clothes or food. There is a great deal of time spent talking about poop being thrown from chamber pots, or else I would have guessed this was an alternative modern time period or even a post-apocalyptic future.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy.
Queer Book Reviews 
Leave a comment