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Blood Moon A.W. Gryphon Sense Of Wonder hardcover $24.95 
review by Alasdair Stuart The war between the witches and the hunters has raged for almost as long as history has been recorded. The schism that incited the conflict has been the engine behind countless events and now, at last, in London, the conflict is coming to a head. Amelia Pivens Kreutzer finds herself caught up in the events leading up to the 'full blood Moon' whilst detective Denny Carlisle founds himself in the middle of a war he never knew existed but which will change his life forever. Supernatural fiction is rapidly becoming the most played out vein in all of popular fiction. From Laurell K. Hamilton to Mike Carey, every conceivable twist has been worked up into a book, or series, and the supernatural is looking, well... a bit mundane. It's a pleasant surprise then to find A.W. Gryphon's remarkably grounded, earthy and at times very, very grim take on matters. This is a story about people being caught up in events they can barely understand, let alone stop, and Gryphon manages to balance the human consequences of the conflict with the big stuff remarkably well. The final image in particular, is about as far form the standard resolution as you can get. There are problems certainly, and people expecting new ground to be broken in the genre are going to come away disappointed. But that's more due to there being no new ground to break. Instead, what you get here is a different perspective, a different approach to old source material that works very well. The ending, ironically, is the biggest problem, both because it's a strong closer and a set up for another book, but if the sequel is of similar quality, that really shouldn't matter. Fans of the genre will love it; non-fans will find it a great place to start. |
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