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The Long London Quintet #2
I Hear A New World
Not yet published
Expected 26 May 26A daringly inventive fantasy novel about murder, mayhem, and magic from New York Times bestselling author and legendary storyteller Alan Moore.
It's 1958 and Dennis Knuckleyard has decided to leave his adventures in the Great When in the past where they belong. For nine years, he's avoided so much as thinking about the magical version of London, until he rediscovers an unpleasant reminder of his last adventure-a key that he'd secretly brought into his own world from the other for safekeeping.
But while Dennis may believe he's done with the Great When, it's far from done with him. When Dennis gives the key to a friend, its magical properties reawaken, bringing creatures from the other world into Dennis's and sparking riots in Notting Hill. Even worse, Dennis's old crush Grace Shilling has been forced into the Great When to investigate strange happenings in both cities.
Desperate to keep Grace safe, Dennis follows her into Long London. But once inside the other city, it will not let him go away again so easily, and Dennis and Grace must fight to set things right in the Great When and their own world, or forever lose their lives-and each other.
Full of Moore's characteristically stunning world building and rollicking prose, I Hear a New World is the extraordinary second adventure in the Long London series.
It's 1958 and Dennis Knuckleyard has decided to leave his adventures in the Great When in the past where they belong. For nine years, he's avoided so much as thinking about the magical version of London, until he rediscovers an unpleasant reminder of his last adventure-a key that he'd secretly brought into his own world from the other for safekeeping.
But while Dennis may believe he's done with the Great When, it's far from done with him. When Dennis gives the key to a friend, its magical properties reawaken, bringing creatures from the other world into Dennis's and sparking riots in Notting Hill. Even worse, Dennis's old crush Grace Shilling has been forced into the Great When to investigate strange happenings in both cities.
Desperate to keep Grace safe, Dennis follows her into Long London. But once inside the other city, it will not let him go away again so easily, and Dennis and Grace must fight to set things right in the Great When and their own world, or forever lose their lives-and each other.
Full of Moore's characteristically stunning world building and rollicking prose, I Hear a New World is the extraordinary second adventure in the Long London series.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 21, 2026
About the author
Alan Moore
1,624 books22k followersAlan Moore is an English writer most famous for his influential work in comics, including the acclaimed graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. He has also written a novel, Voice of the Fire, and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces) with The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, some of which have been released on CD.
As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Anton Wilson and Iain Sinclair; New Wave science fiction writers such as Michael Moorcock; horror writers such as Clive Barker; to the cinematic–filmmakers such as Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Bryan Talbot.
As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Anton Wilson and Iain Sinclair; New Wave science fiction writers such as Michael Moorcock; horror writers such as Clive Barker; to the cinematic–filmmakers such as Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Bryan Talbot.
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March 12, 2026Despite being by Alan Moore, about London arcana, and heavily referencing not just Arthur Machen but probably my favourite Machen story, The Great When didn't altogether do it for me, and at first I worried its sequel might be headed down the same path. We open on protagonist Dennis Knuckleyard doing a bit better, a little less of a hapless patsy than he was in the first book – as you'd expect, given he was a teenager then and a decade has now passed. Only for the narrative to immediately delight in having him fall flat on his face again and be dragged right back into the orbit of terrifying former landlady Coffin Ada. It feels like a reset button and gratuitous authorial meanness all at once, though I can't deny I was chuckling despite myself as, thinking he's finally about to get his end away in circumstances less dismal than the lovingly enumerated prior approximations, the luckless Knuckleyard instead gets cock-blocked by Joe Meek. Who, with that title, was always going to play a part here, and, as the sixties emerge uncertainly from their chrysalis, is joined by various other spirits of the age, from Francis Bacon and Norman at the Coach and Horses to the more alarming likes of Rachman, Litvinoff and Kray. Plus, of course, the other sorts of spirit, from the even stranger city hidden behind the streets we know. It's still not perfect; a historical novel leaning too hard on the easy irony of hindsight will often get my back up, and the pacing feels lumpy, with our heroes on a life or death quest to save both cities which nevertheless often grinds to a halt for weeks on end over a lack of leads, and one character who's supposedly on his deathbed when first seen, then takes so long about the dying that even an opera crowd would be starting to tap their watches. As for the prose...it's been ever so slightly dialled down, I think, which is for the best, or else I was just more prepared for it. Certainly, there's a sense at times that Moore is mostly here to see what he can get away with, especially when it comes to never referring to a speaker the same way twice, so that Meek is "the disheartened producer", "the hit-maker", "the excitable entrepreneur", "the well-dressed nervous breakdown" and more across the course of that memorable first appearance (though my favourite comes later, "the hesitant pop nonconformist"). Which, every so often, becomes more exhausting than fun – but is mostly fun. Which is the appeal here, as much as anything, Moore not having to worry about sharing the spotlight with an artist anymore, free to juggle with language and, if he occasionally ends up dropping some on the audience's heads, nevertheless keeping more of it in the air than most; I'm still grinning at "she'd contrived to touch his hand and then smiled knowingly, though what she thought that she was knowing, Dennis didn't know." And by the end of it the bearded mage even seems sufficiently enlivened by his own performance to let poor bloody Dennis catch a break too, experience some growth that isn't promptly weedkillered, and if the epilogue reminds us it won't last, well, on that sort of timeline, what does?
Also, I never knew Margot Fonteyn had been involved in a coup in Panama.
(Netgalley ARC)
Also, I never knew Margot Fonteyn had been involved in a coup in Panama.
(Netgalley ARC)
April 6, 2026
This is a review of an ARC from publisher Bloomsbury and Netgalley. Publication date is 21 May 2026. I previously reviewed The Great When here.
Are you ready for more Long London? It’s ten years later, and Dennis Knuckleyard, now 28 and trying to make a career as a professional writer, tries not to think about the Great When. He mostly thinks about shagging, morning noon and night, but is mostly failing to score. He writes saucy stories for trashy magazines but often gets facts wrong.
He’s left behind his horrible landlady and is living downstairs in a divided house. He’s not exactly thriving, but at least he has got rid of his souvenir from Long London, the iron key that some otherworldly creature gave him. And he has a date, and, well, it might be on tonight. But who’s this knocking at the door?
The most obvious comparison to Alan Moore’s Long London for me would be the work of Tim Powers. Like Powers, Moore writes about the incursion into the real world of supernatural entities. His hapless hero has to negotiate these intrusions with only the shakiest understanding of what’s going on. And, just like Powers, Moore likes to include real characters and real historical events which send you, the reader, into rabbit holes.
This is all slightly uncanny for me because Moore and I appear to be on parallel research tracks. The Great When was set in 1949, as was my novel Codename Hirondelle. I Hear a New World comes along with a late 1950s setting, and my next novel, Hard Rain, is set in 1957 and 1958.
But Moore, of course, is going deep into the weird. A couple of the rabbit holes he sent me down this time:
David Litvinoff, aka David Levy, denizen of London’s Soho, associate of the Kray Twins, acquainted with Lucien Freud, well known around the jazz clubs, and organised crime adviser on the film Performance.
Iron Foot Jack, another Soho character, club owner, mystic, wannabe Crowley, itinerant, and a man with one leg shorter than the other, which he compensated for with an iron extension.
Joe Meek, record producer, space pop pioneer, and composer of the song from which this novel takes its name.
It’s easy to get distracted by all this fascinating background and lose track of the story, but I don’t think the story is the point. The point is to immerse yourself in Moore’s freewheeling invention and possibly drown in modifiers.
I said of The Great When that it was overwritten at times, and the same is true here. But as I suggested above, I think too much is the whole point. The reader is overwhelmed by adjectives just as Dennis is overwhelmed by Long London. And while the overwriting can sometimes grate, you have to admire Moore’s ingenuity and his ability to riff.
For example, here is a list of just some of the “second mentions” for record producer Joe Meek:
the producer
the skiffle-vending lunatic
the recording industry phenomenon
the memory distraught producer
the frenzied pop promoter
the vinyl virtuoso
the music man
the hitmaker
the excitable entrepreneur
the well-dressed nervous breakdown
the chemically bewildered sound magician
It’s a wild ride.
Are you ready for more Long London? It’s ten years later, and Dennis Knuckleyard, now 28 and trying to make a career as a professional writer, tries not to think about the Great When. He mostly thinks about shagging, morning noon and night, but is mostly failing to score. He writes saucy stories for trashy magazines but often gets facts wrong.
He’s left behind his horrible landlady and is living downstairs in a divided house. He’s not exactly thriving, but at least he has got rid of his souvenir from Long London, the iron key that some otherworldly creature gave him. And he has a date, and, well, it might be on tonight. But who’s this knocking at the door?
The most obvious comparison to Alan Moore’s Long London for me would be the work of Tim Powers. Like Powers, Moore writes about the incursion into the real world of supernatural entities. His hapless hero has to negotiate these intrusions with only the shakiest understanding of what’s going on. And, just like Powers, Moore likes to include real characters and real historical events which send you, the reader, into rabbit holes.
This is all slightly uncanny for me because Moore and I appear to be on parallel research tracks. The Great When was set in 1949, as was my novel Codename Hirondelle. I Hear a New World comes along with a late 1950s setting, and my next novel, Hard Rain, is set in 1957 and 1958.
But Moore, of course, is going deep into the weird. A couple of the rabbit holes he sent me down this time:
David Litvinoff, aka David Levy, denizen of London’s Soho, associate of the Kray Twins, acquainted with Lucien Freud, well known around the jazz clubs, and organised crime adviser on the film Performance.
Iron Foot Jack, another Soho character, club owner, mystic, wannabe Crowley, itinerant, and a man with one leg shorter than the other, which he compensated for with an iron extension.
Joe Meek, record producer, space pop pioneer, and composer of the song from which this novel takes its name.
It’s easy to get distracted by all this fascinating background and lose track of the story, but I don’t think the story is the point. The point is to immerse yourself in Moore’s freewheeling invention and possibly drown in modifiers.
I said of The Great When that it was overwritten at times, and the same is true here. But as I suggested above, I think too much is the whole point. The reader is overwhelmed by adjectives just as Dennis is overwhelmed by Long London. And while the overwriting can sometimes grate, you have to admire Moore’s ingenuity and his ability to riff.
For example, here is a list of just some of the “second mentions” for record producer Joe Meek:
the producer
the skiffle-vending lunatic
the recording industry phenomenon
the memory distraught producer
the frenzied pop promoter
the vinyl virtuoso
the music man
the hitmaker
the excitable entrepreneur
the well-dressed nervous breakdown
the chemically bewildered sound magician
It’s a wild ride.
May 15, 2026
Alan Moore’s I Hear A New World is a striking, haunting, and fully immersive dark fantasy set in late 1950s London. As the second novel in the Long London series, it follows Dennis Knuckleyard, who has spent years attempting to escape the supernatural parallel city known as the “Great When.” After giving away a mysterious iron key linked to that hidden world, Dennis inadvertently unleashes dangerous magic when the key falls into the hands of an unsuspecting man, unleashing occult creatures and chaos across London.
When Dennis discovers that his former love, Grace Shilling, has returned to the Great When to investigate the disturbances, he is compelled to re-enter the surreal world he had tried to leave behind. Moore masterfully combines layered storytelling, dreamlike imagery, mythic beings, and political unrest to create a haunting narrative where the boundaries between fantasy and reality are constantly shifting.
The novel’s characters are vivid and deeply human, providing emotional depth to the surreal and hypnotic story. Moore’s bold writing style and rich world-building make I Hear A New World a compelling and rewarding read.
My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Group for providing an e-arc and the opportunity to share an honest opinion.
When Dennis discovers that his former love, Grace Shilling, has returned to the Great When to investigate the disturbances, he is compelled to re-enter the surreal world he had tried to leave behind. Moore masterfully combines layered storytelling, dreamlike imagery, mythic beings, and political unrest to create a haunting narrative where the boundaries between fantasy and reality are constantly shifting.
The novel’s characters are vivid and deeply human, providing emotional depth to the surreal and hypnotic story. Moore’s bold writing style and rich world-building make I Hear A New World a compelling and rewarding read.
My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Group for providing an e-arc and the opportunity to share an honest opinion.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I Hear A New World takes us back to Long London, or The Great When. Book one introduced us to Long London, a secret other London that exists alongside the real one. In a post war Britain, Dennis Knuckleyard, an awkward young bookseller’s assistant, accidentally comes into possession of a dangerous occult book that should not exist and things very quickly spiral out of control. What begins as a relatively simple errand ends up with run ins with gangsters, mystics, writers, and bizarre supernatural entities as Dennis is pulled into the chaotic hidden world beneath London’s surface.
I Hear a New World sees us returning to Long London and takes place almost a decade later in 1958. Now an adult, Dennis has spent years trying to avoid anything connected to the magical other version of London, and wants to put the traumatic events of his teens behind. However, he discovers that a mysterious key he secretly kept from Long London has resurfaced and is creating chaos. The key creates a series of magical disturbances in ordinary London, bringing with it strange creatures and occult forces. Attempting to hide from it all, Dennis is forced back into Long London to save Grace Shilling, his former love interest, and the pair are forced together in an attempt to stop both Londons from collapsing into one another.
While I do fully appreciate both books,and did enjoy them a lot, they just never quite fully what I was hoping for. Alan Moore’s imagination is genuinely incredible, and the sheer ambition of the Long London series is impossible not to respect. The worldbuilding is dense, strange, vivid, and unlike almost anything else I’ve ever read. Both books absolutely overflow with atmosphere, weirdness, occult mythology, and incredibly detailed descriptions of both Londons and their inhabitants make everything really come alive.
I did find the book incredibly hard work at times, particularly the scenes set in Long London where it reads as a stream of consciousness. I also found that in I Hear A New World, scenes that were fairly simple got way over described, almost as if Alan Moore had too many ideas and had to get them all out. Dennis is an incredibly passive protagonist for the majority of the book with things constantly happening to him rather than because of him, and I sometimes struggled to stay emotionally invested. I guess he is like this by design, as he really doesn’t want to be involved in anything to do with Long London, but I just feel like he could have been just...more?
One major gripe I had with this was the sex scenes. Yep you read that right. There are sex scenes. They were WAY over described and too full of metaphor, which ended up making it feel a little bit gross and awkward. It kinda felt like these bits were shoehorned in to maybe appeal to a whole other market of readers, but it actually just didn’t work and was wholly unappealing.
I really did enjoy most of both books, especially the setting and sheer originality, but they also felt overly long, messy, and occasionally inaccessible. There were huge chunks where I kind of just glazed over a bit, and most likely skim read, but actually didn’t miss out on anything important. The series is definitely one for readers who are looking for something incredibly unique, ambitious and undeniably epic, but for me it just wasn't quite what I was looking for.
I Hear a New World sees us returning to Long London and takes place almost a decade later in 1958. Now an adult, Dennis has spent years trying to avoid anything connected to the magical other version of London, and wants to put the traumatic events of his teens behind. However, he discovers that a mysterious key he secretly kept from Long London has resurfaced and is creating chaos. The key creates a series of magical disturbances in ordinary London, bringing with it strange creatures and occult forces. Attempting to hide from it all, Dennis is forced back into Long London to save Grace Shilling, his former love interest, and the pair are forced together in an attempt to stop both Londons from collapsing into one another.
While I do fully appreciate both books,and did enjoy them a lot, they just never quite fully what I was hoping for. Alan Moore’s imagination is genuinely incredible, and the sheer ambition of the Long London series is impossible not to respect. The worldbuilding is dense, strange, vivid, and unlike almost anything else I’ve ever read. Both books absolutely overflow with atmosphere, weirdness, occult mythology, and incredibly detailed descriptions of both Londons and their inhabitants make everything really come alive.
I did find the book incredibly hard work at times, particularly the scenes set in Long London where it reads as a stream of consciousness. I also found that in I Hear A New World, scenes that were fairly simple got way over described, almost as if Alan Moore had too many ideas and had to get them all out. Dennis is an incredibly passive protagonist for the majority of the book with things constantly happening to him rather than because of him, and I sometimes struggled to stay emotionally invested. I guess he is like this by design, as he really doesn’t want to be involved in anything to do with Long London, but I just feel like he could have been just...more?
One major gripe I had with this was the sex scenes. Yep you read that right. There are sex scenes. They were WAY over described and too full of metaphor, which ended up making it feel a little bit gross and awkward. It kinda felt like these bits were shoehorned in to maybe appeal to a whole other market of readers, but it actually just didn’t work and was wholly unappealing.
I really did enjoy most of both books, especially the setting and sheer originality, but they also felt overly long, messy, and occasionally inaccessible. There were huge chunks where I kind of just glazed over a bit, and most likely skim read, but actually didn’t miss out on anything important. The series is definitely one for readers who are looking for something incredibly unique, ambitious and undeniably epic, but for me it just wasn't quite what I was looking for.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
“First, and most ominously, he recalled that he was Dennis Knuckleyard, which surely wasn’t a good sign…”
“I read this book – but should you read it too?” Yeah, it’s not that bad…
I Hear A New World has us returning to ‘Short London’, reuniting with your favourite sack of uselessness, Dennis Knuckleyard, along with other favourites from the first book. Having now delved into ‘Long London’, you’re taken on a mystery tour of such, as Dennis and company are thrusted head first into….well, you’ll find out! Although still heavily overwritten, it’s an overall improvement from the first book, so give it another chance if you previously wrote this series off.
Plot: 8/10
Always tricky to improve on a plot, where so much to be discovered has now been discovered. However, I’d say the storyline this time around was actually better than the first book! It’s more of a historical fiction mixed with a little mystery, which was fine – added to the adventure. For me, the plot is what kept me hooked.
Characters: 7/10
Still a strong point throughout the book, but a little less depth than before. Even though you meet a bunch of new characters, there doesn’t seem to be too much detail around them. Whether this is intentional or not, I’m not sure, but I feel it differed from the first book where we got a lot more detail on everyone.
Worldbuilding: 7/10
I think having already covered what ‘Long London’ looks like, there was certainly a feel of ‘less importance’ when it came to the worldbuilding this time around. Sure, you’re taken to new areas of London, and this is what earned the decent rating – otherwise I got the sense that you were just supposed to remember what a certain place looked and felt like, which might not be enjoyable for everyone.
Writing Style: 5/10
Slightly improved from book one – although still be prepared for numerous ramblings and pages of irrelevant history lessons. It’s honestly a little frustrating that this sort of thing is a feature of this series, as I feel more time could’ve been spent on finer details (descriptions of surroundings, character development, etc.), but instead I feel like I was back in school for page after page. Oh, and the endless descriptions and focus on certain characters ‘private life’ was just pointless, that could’ve all been removed and nothing would’ve changed in the story.
Summary
I Hear A New World is an improvement from the trawling-feel of The Great When, although still be prepared for random ramblings and history lessons. I’m starting to wonder if this whole series is just an experiment for Alan Moore to share his vast knowledge and see how far he can push metaphors and analogies – which in some ways was enjoyable. However, in others, it was just difficult. Overall, it was still quite a slow read and was frustrating in parts, but better than book one.
Overall rating: 7/10
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Alan Moore continues to stun with his absolutely delirious exploration of London throughout history and throughout whatever corporeal realms his madness has us traversing. This book and series is not for the faint hearted. This is choc-a-block with literary, political, and general pop-culture references of the 1950s ranging from Arthur Machen, to Enoch Powell, to Mervyn Peake all creating layered imagery and commentary to form the development of London and our protagonist, Dennis Knuckleyard.
There is a reason I can only rate this 4.25, and why the first book has such an astoundingly low rating. Dennis Knuckleyard's journey to save London by entering the surreal parallel Long World of the Great When is difficult. His prose is testing, the imagery surreal, and the thematic explorations dense. His switch of tense from past in our London, to the present tense of The Great When will throw people out of their comfort zone. That's the point! Embrace a master exploring form! I encourage everyone to give this series a go if you're looking for that challenge. This is Alan Moore, a living legend; someone for a time that I never thought we would ever get art from again. This is like David Lynch coming back for Twin Peaks: The Return, and I think we should all be appreciative of having his voice in the world.
Even elements that feel like something pulled from a few decades ago - like the amount of sex scenes or our protagonist as a struggling writer with a woman who is a dancer - all resolve beautifully at the end to explore the shifting dynamics of London post-war, creating a rumination on art and who decides what makes art worthwhile. For such an incredibly funny and zany book, it is filled to the brim with brilliant ideas to delve into.
There is a reason I can only rate this 4.25, and why the first book has such an astoundingly low rating. Dennis Knuckleyard's journey to save London by entering the surreal parallel Long World of the Great When is difficult. His prose is testing, the imagery surreal, and the thematic explorations dense. His switch of tense from past in our London, to the present tense of The Great When will throw people out of their comfort zone. That's the point! Embrace a master exploring form! I encourage everyone to give this series a go if you're looking for that challenge. This is Alan Moore, a living legend; someone for a time that I never thought we would ever get art from again. This is like David Lynch coming back for Twin Peaks: The Return, and I think we should all be appreciative of having his voice in the world.
Even elements that feel like something pulled from a few decades ago - like the amount of sex scenes or our protagonist as a struggling writer with a woman who is a dancer - all resolve beautifully at the end to explore the shifting dynamics of London post-war, creating a rumination on art and who decides what makes art worthwhile. For such an incredibly funny and zany book, it is filled to the brim with brilliant ideas to delve into.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Alan Moore’s I Hear a New World is a dizzying, delirious journey through London—both real and fantastical—seen through the eyes of Dennis Knuckleyard, now ten years older but no less hapless. Moore’s prose is dense, playful, and often overwhelming, packed with literary, political, and pop-cultural references that layer the city with history, myth, and surreal invention. From Arthur Machen to Joe Meek, from the Kray twins to obscure Soho mystics, Moore pulls real and imagined figures into a tangled, intoxicating tapestry.
Fans of The Great When—which I described as “part surreal dream and part overly verbose nightmare… many will love, just as many hate”—will recognise Moore’s signature style: tense shifts, sprawling digressions, and a love of modifiers that keeps readers on their toes. Humour, sex, and zaniness punctuate the narrative, balancing its intellectual and surreal density. Dennis’s growth is slow and often comically thwarted, making him a relatable anchor amidst the chaos.
At times, the pacing feels uneven, and Moore’s verbosity can feel relentless, yet his ingenuity, wit, and ability to riff on language are mesmerising. Fans of literary and fantastical fiction who relish historical and pop-cultural rabbit holes will delight in the novel’s rich, unpredictable world. I Hear a New World is a testament to Moore’s mastery, a book to be savoured, marvelled at, and occasionally got lost in—exactly as it should be.
Thanks to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing and the author for an advance copy.
Fans of The Great When—which I described as “part surreal dream and part overly verbose nightmare… many will love, just as many hate”—will recognise Moore’s signature style: tense shifts, sprawling digressions, and a love of modifiers that keeps readers on their toes. Humour, sex, and zaniness punctuate the narrative, balancing its intellectual and surreal density. Dennis’s growth is slow and often comically thwarted, making him a relatable anchor amidst the chaos.
At times, the pacing feels uneven, and Moore’s verbosity can feel relentless, yet his ingenuity, wit, and ability to riff on language are mesmerising. Fans of literary and fantastical fiction who relish historical and pop-cultural rabbit holes will delight in the novel’s rich, unpredictable world. I Hear a New World is a testament to Moore’s mastery, a book to be savoured, marvelled at, and occasionally got lost in—exactly as it should be.
Thanks to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing and the author for an advance copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
As always for a novel such as this being published in installments, I can't really give on opinion about how successful this book is (besides the trite "So far, so good") until I've read the entire narrative. Here at least two characters are introduced whose stories will likely become significant with future volumes.
Now, Alan Moore is a writer who is much better understood and appreciated though the entirety of his output, rather than just limiting to his famous comic books (V for Vendetta, Watchmen) - which at this point were published over 40 years ago.
Seeds for "Long London" are in the text sections - which the comics fans most likely skipped - of Moore's magnum opus "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", the overlapping Northampton through time and space in the novel "Voice of the Fire" and his recent Kabbalistic confessional "The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic". For instance, the dance sequence near the end is based on the Dutch Dolls companions/lovers of Galley-Wag from League.
Moore is very playful with language, throwing in pastiches and parodies left and right, including the alliterative Stan Lee type introductions whenever real-life record producer Joe Meak makes an appearance.
Rating subject to change after I read the final page of Book Five.
Now, Alan Moore is a writer who is much better understood and appreciated though the entirety of his output, rather than just limiting to his famous comic books (V for Vendetta, Watchmen) - which at this point were published over 40 years ago.
Seeds for "Long London" are in the text sections - which the comics fans most likely skipped - of Moore's magnum opus "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", the overlapping Northampton through time and space in the novel "Voice of the Fire" and his recent Kabbalistic confessional "The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic". For instance, the dance sequence near the end is based on the Dutch Dolls companions/lovers of Galley-Wag from League.
Moore is very playful with language, throwing in pastiches and parodies left and right, including the alliterative Stan Lee type introductions whenever real-life record producer Joe Meak makes an appearance.
Rating subject to change after I read the final page of Book Five.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
For a novel that contains several extraordinarily gruesome demises and not a little blind terror, this is a very joyful book. Alan Moore is clearly having a huge amount of fun writing here, peeling off marvellous sentences and asides seeming at will (I mean, it might be that he spent the writing cursing in his garret, painfully pulling each syllable out of his subconscious like a particularly tenacious nostril hair, but it doesn’t seem that way). Being the further adventures of Dennis Knuckleyard, last seen in The Great When, it is a combination of carefully researched late 50s / early 60s London with several historical characters in the cast, and an occult phantasmagoria of another London that lies behind the quotidian one. Another hugely entertaining book from one of the greats.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
If you enjoyed the first installment then you'll enjoy this. Ten years have passed since the events of the first novel and things have improved slightly for the hapless Dennis Knuckleyard but things are about to change as he's plunged back into the magic and mystery of dark London.
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