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Strange Practice: A Dr Greta Helsing Novel by Vivian Shaw (view source)
Revision as of 11:10, 6 July 2017
, 11:10, 6 July 2017no edit summary
|reviewer= Olivia Tierney
|genre=Fantasy
|summary= An original concept that explores the supernatural world. Strange and Practice is the first in a new fantasy series set in London. With exceptional character development and a riveting plot, it's definitely worth a read!
|rating=4
|buy=Maybe
As a cult of mysterious monks emerges from the shadows, leaving rosemary beads in their victim's mouth, killing both the living and the undead, London cries out for help. And Greta is determined to answer.As events escalate and the danger creeps ever closer, Greta finds she will have to use all of her unusual skills to ensure her clients safety and she'll need help from a team of unlikely allies.
''Strange and Practice'' surprises and delights. It's completely different from anything I've read before. It ticks so many boxes: action, mystery, suspense, an exciting and different world adjacent to our own to name but a few. But the greatest elements of the book are the characters. They shine. The personalities of Greta, Ruthven, Fastitocalon, Varney and Cranwell contrast superbly and leap off the pages – it really feels as if they're in the room with you. Their dialogue together is fantastic and will have you smiling and laughing. They form the most unlikely but brilliant team of a supernatural doctor, a vampire, a demon, a lunar sensitive, and a very ordinary human museum curator, which readers will love rooting for. Shaw puts her own spin on her supernatural characters, dispelling myths and creating new exciting (and very cool) powers.
Our main protagonist, Greta, is extremely likable, and her narration is refreshing. Readers will admire her courage to face dangerous enemies, putting her safety behind those of her supernatural clients and through Shaw's writing will feel everything she does; love, joy, anger, frustration, and heartbreak. In short, it's a book that you can't help being emotionally invested in.
The plot takes a backseat to character development but that's not to say it's isn't exciting. It keeps you guessing throughout, worrying and fretting about whether your beloved characters will survive. The pacing is also on the whole great but I personally found there were times when the writing could have been more engaging without the detailed descriptions which I didn't seem to be relevant to the plot.
With that being said ''Strange and Practice'' is definitely an imaginative and original book which is definitely worth checking out to explore a different genre. It's a great novel setting up a new and interesting team of characters who will no doubt embark on future adventures together with the next book in the series!
Many thanks to the publishers for providing the BookBag with a copy for review!