The Neon Court

Matthew Swift #3

by Kate Griffin

War is coming to London. A daimyo of the Neon Court is dead and all fingers point towards their ancient enemy - The Tribe. And when magicians go to war, everyone loses.

But Matthew Swift has his own concerns. He has been summoned abruptly, body and soul, to a burning tower and to the dead body of Oda, warrior of The Order and known associate of Swift. There's a hole in her heart and the symbol of the Midnight Mayor drawn in her own blood. Except, she is still walking and talking and has a nasty habit of saying 'we' when she means 'I.'

Now, Swift faces the longest night of his life. Lady Neon herself is coming to London and the Tribe is ready to fight. Strange things stalk this night: a rumored 'chosen one,' a monster that burns out the eyes of its enemies, and a walking dead woman. Swift must stop a war, protect his city, and save his friend - if she'll stop trying to kill him long enough for him to try.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, London, Paranormal, Science Fiction Fantasy

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Kate Griffin is the pen name under which Catherine Webb writes fantasy novels for adults. She also uses the pen name Claire North.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent novel in this terrific urban fantasy series. Clever, snarky, dark and very imaginative!

Mathew Swift, resurrected sorcerer and host to the blue electric angels of the electric wires is not enjoying his enforced role as the Midnight Mayor. Having previously saved London from a monstrous entity called The Death of Cities, he now has someone plotting to start a war between two opposing magical factions, the Neon Court, modern urban faeries and the Tribe, those rejected by society and other magical groups. And of top of that his friend Oda is behaving strangely and something is keeping London in the dark and preventing the sun from rising.

This is another fast paced race around London as Mathew tries to discover out what is causing the everlasting night, while also preventing the war and work out what to do about Oda. Kate Griffin really knows her way around London and the urban magic scenes are great, especially those involving the underground and the night bus. Mathew is as broody and sarcastic as ever, ever switching between the voice of reason and diplomacy and the blazing fury of the electric angels. His apprentice Penny is developing into a good, if snarky side sick and it was good to see Dr Seah of the NHS back in action. Lots of great action scenes and dialogue and as always superb writing culminating in a fast paced climax.

[carol. · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my problems with reading books in a completed series is the tendency to read through the books back-to-back. I did that with the Matthew Swift series by Kate Griffin, and I think my first read of The Neon Court suffered, strictly because of a surfeit of Matthew Swift, along with surprisingly similar plotting and characterization to the prior book. Had I been waiting a year between books, I wouldn’t have minded. But I didn’t, so I did. Luckily, my second read was much more enjoyable.

True to format, the story begins with a ringing phone, and the bottom falling out of Matthew’s world. It appears he has been summoned by Oda, the magic-hating, sometimes-bodyguard, fundamentalist to a burning building. Oda, normally human and quite mortal, appears to have sustained a major stab wound to her heart, and yet here she is, walking and talking. After an eventful escape, hampered by Penny, Matthew’s new apprentice, and an unknown fae, Matthew’s presence is requested at a meeting with an Alderman, Ms. Dees. She presents the latest magical political crisis to Matthew, which he summarizes in his usual charming manner:

“‘Ms. Dees,’ I said, ‘let me get this absolutely clear. The Neon Court–a bunch of narcissistic wankers who haven’t yet come to terms with the fact that the age of the Faerie Court is over–have this major-league grief with the Tribe, a bunch of self-mutilating wankers who haven’t yet come to terms with the fact that the world isn’t out to get them personally–and someone somewhere is dead, which is very sad, and they’re threatening to kill each other and I care… how?’“

*************************************

Because Goodreads' customer support are also a bunch of wankers who would delete my review if enough people complained, I post my full reviews at my site, Booklikes and Leafmarks.

http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2014/0...
and
http://carols.booklikes.com/post/8003...

[Fiona Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

We dreamt of the lights going out.
We dreamt of footsteps in the dark.
Of lilac eyes and fingers drooping down from white silk sleeves.
Of fire on our back and blood on our lips.
Of endless falling rain.

And woke to the sound of "Well, Mr Mayor, isn't this a mess?"

This series is just one of the best things out there - Kate Griffin plays with language like Matthew Swift plays with residual energy, and it's all run-on sentences and midflow pronoun changes. It's challenging and I love it.

The story itself is actually pretty similar to book two, so it's just as well I've been rationing these out; even with a bunch of books between them I still noticed, and read all in one go I think it would be too alike. Still a standalone, although some explanation is required in parts (and is given) - it would be a massive shame to miss out on the rest of this series, so standalone or not I'd recommend starting at the start.

I do think this is one of those writing styles that just isn't going to appeal to some, and even though I love it I do need to save it for when I have the energy to actively engage and do the work needed for this book - it's not a good one for those times when I just need something easy. But when I've got the time and energy to sit down and sink into this thing there's just nothing else like it around.

[Mimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title of this book should have been Blackout: the Reckoning of Matthew Swift.

* * * * *

Fantastic in every possible way and so relevant to everything happening right now that it's kind of... frightening.

This series gets better and better with each book, and I just love 'em all so much.

I don't know how Kate Griffin does it, but her commentary are always spot-on--so precise, with deadly accuracy. I imagine she just bangs them out the way other authors dance around or altogether skirt unsavory subject matter.

And she makes whole worlds come alive and turns underground London into a horrifying amusement park. The sensory details alone are grotesque and magnificent. I always cringe whenever Matthew Swift has to dive head first into the sewer or other equally disgusting places, but I never look away. Sometimes I even dive in with him.

It's not usual for fiction to give me new things to fear, but after reading this book, I now fear the sun not rising and an all-consuming darkness that's both sentient and expanding. So thanks for that, Kate.

Oh by the way, did you know there's a solar eclipse next week?

I used to live in the city where there was light 24/7 and felt like no one ever slept. Now I live in the (rural-ish) suburbs where it's lights out at 8 and the streets are eerily silent afterward. Not only is it dark, but it's a thick, impenetrable kind of dark, coupled with silence and occasionally rustling leaves. So it's not hard to imagine the kind of darkness as described in this book. Thanks again, Kate...

[Fyonfyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third in Kate Griffin's Matthew Swfit series was my favourite by far. Describing why might prove a bit tricky due to spoilers - especially for those unfamiliar with the series - but I'll do my best.

By now I was totally up to speed with this particular take on London and the urban magic that infuses it. As before, this concept continues to develop and expand with a level of creativity that at times touches the 'inspired' level. Anyone capable of harnessing the concept of the Night Bus so well is a genius (Potter may be in for an unpleasant surprise should he attempt a trip on this particular bastion of London transport). The nuances and details that feed through the action are what really make this series for me and the flair is undeniable.

By this time though, it's not just the quickfire dialogue and well-visualised action sequences that played the biggest role in how I felt about the book. The expansion of certain characters around Matthew (Penny is a great counterpoint to the sometimes brooding/melancholic turn he can take) gives this book a bit of heft that the others didn't have. I thought the way in which Oda's storyline developed was excellent - though as a niggle her backstory didn't seem to match up to the one given in Madness of Angels, but that could have been deliberate.

In terms of the enemy/big bad/thing most likely to kill the few remaining cast members I was familiar with, I didn't really see how the Death of Cities was going to be topped. In a way, despite the wider scope that Blackout took, the driving concept behind this threat was the best one yet. It drives a plot that - while perhaps not as frenetic as the second - slowly but steadily builds to a tense and devasting climax in Trafalgar Square that I don't think I've seen bettered recently. I could fling some terms such as pathos and hubris, but essentially what I mean it that once this once picks up (and you might not notice at first because this plot is a sneaky little bugger at times) this particular tale is all out, balls to wall, awesome. Can't wait for book four - I've even bloody pre-ordered it.

[Clouds · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first Matthew Swift novel to get 5-stars from me. It was like Griffin was listening to my gripes with the first two books and answered them comprehensively. Truly excellent - and even more impressive as I wasn't at all convinced it was going to happen! :-)

After this I read: Tigerman

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matthew Swift, partially deceased sorcerer, symbiotic host to the electric blue angels of the wires, Midnight Mayor and protector of the city, is not an entity to be summoned lightly. But when he disappears in a blink and awakens in a conjuring of blood, it looks like someone has taken the chance. One perilous rescue, one fight to the death, and one burning building later, Swift's troubles have only begun. Oda, his sometime-enemy, sometime-ally, has been stabbed through the heart, but she seems determined not to go gentle in that good night. Lady Neon, queen of the newly reinvented urban faeries, and the Tribe, self-mutilating individualists, are calling for one another's blood, a sinister darkness is waiting at the end of every alley, parts of the city are vanishing from reality, and everyone seems to be expecting Matthew to Do Something about the situation.

As always, Griffin's imagination is breathtaking. From the giant eagles that Matthew summons to rescue him from the fiery abysses of Sidcup, to the metal god of the underworld, to medical history reporting magical treatments from the NHS, Griffin's creativity is astounding. This is my fourth book in Griffin's London and I'm still floored by how many quirky, entertaining magics Griffin manages to introduce. One of the most marvelous aspects was the Neon Court:

Once upon a time, in that old time when life was still magic and life was lived in the trees and forests and rivers and hills, in the old time of wild, ivy-tangled, rain-dropped magic, before the lights burnt and the spells flickered with electric fury, there existed the Faerie Court...But alas, the Faerie Court did not move with the times, and did not predict how a steam train could carve the landscape, or how a factory could discolour the sky, and, as the times changed, so did the magic, migrating with the people to the cities and becoming rich with smoke and stone and the sound of metal. And so the Faerie Court declined, and those who sought its blessing dwindled, until there was nothing more than a dusty hollow in the carved-out heart of a wood, crumbling with the fall of autumn leaves..[until] an enterprising princess...declared the founding of a new court: the Neon Court, whose heart was in the heart of the cities...And in time Lady Neon herself became little more than a myth: a figure only ever seen by the shadow of a street light, moving between city after city, forever chasing the night and avoiding the sun, a reveller whose lips could seduce any creature they touched.

Those in the eternal quest for light and music and superficial beauty are contrasted with the Tribe, people who, seeing themselves as different from the rest of the world, seek to accentuate this divide via self-mutilation and self-augmentation until they are no longer recognisably human:

"Once-humans, or humans that had cut away every outward sign of humanity, skin and flesh, in the hope that when they no longer looked human, they'd no longer have to obey human rules."

Griffin explores the very human attempt to reshape the exterior in an attempt to redefine the self. As Matthew notes, both "thought the key to being perfect was to cut away the bad things." As both the Tribe and the Fey demonstrate, ripping away facets of one's exterior, whether in a quest for beauty or uniqueness, can mutilate and warp the interior as well until all humanity is gone.

The plot follows the pattern of the other books in the series: Swift, aided by an (unfortunately all too disposable) snarky female sidekick, is pursued by an implacable supernatural foe. With the clock ticking and the city at risk if Swift cannot destroy the foe stalking him, he is forced into an alliance with distrustful, threatening, and morally ambiguous supernatural groups. The standard witty banter is still present, as Dees, Swift's Alderman ally, and Penny, his apprentice, are practically slot-in replacements for Oda and Vera. Several characters make their usual cameo appearances, including Sinclair, Charlie, and the inimitable and ever-entertaining Dr Seah. Griffin again tends to interject third-person interludes into the story, but despite the potentially dramatic content, I found these to be exposition-heavy and emotion-lite. The plot itself is quite twisty and satisfying, and the malevolent magic is genuinely shivery.

Three books in, I'm still fascinated with Swift's character and the conflict between electric angel and dead sorcerer. In Neon Court, Griffin delves even deeper into the darker aspects of this peculiar fusion of personalities. While the brooding, sarcastic, depressive Matthew is reasonably typical for the genre, the electric angels are something else altogether, a heady mixture of wonder and delight and blazing passion and pride and fury. The electric angels are inherently amoral; they would destroy a city just to watch the dance of flames amongst the ashes. Griffin does a fantastic job in creating these dual aspects; the moments in which the angels take control are palpable, and not only because of the pronoun switch. When Matthew is overcome by strong emotions--pain, weakness, or bewilderment--the angels tend to step in with a ruthless simplicity. As he explains,

I've got two kinds of magics. I've got the nice, sitting-at-home-not-troubling-anyone kinda magics...and we have the magics of fire and death, of destruction with no chance of return, of blood aflame and flesh turns to dust...which of us do you want to meet?
...
When you're a sorcerer, and Midnight Mayor, and burning fire runs through your veins, you've only really got two modes. You've got diplomatically passive, and you've got apocalyptically destructive. Finding that middle ground--you know, breaking someone's kneecaps without actually causing them to spontaneously combust--can be a delicate business.

There is only one aspect that the two personalities truly share: a tangible affection for the life within the city.

Although dark throughout, the book is sprinkled with Griffin's trademark creativity and wit. Dees, Swift's new assistant, is particularly entertaining, as she manages a riposte in all of her verbal duels with Swift. Take her response to his attempt to angle for a complement:

'Mr Swift, if it's any comfort to you, I can promise you that were I not a happily married woman with a husband I love well,' sighed Dees,'you would definitely be in my top two genders of choice.'

Of course, not all the snark and quixotic imagination in the world can lighten the tone when the blood starts flowing. Almost every named character dies, and by now, this shouldn't be a spoiler. In my opinion, Griffin's bloodbaths have hit saturation point: the deaths have become predictable, an aspect to be expected and endured. In every book, at least one of Matthew's female allies will be spectacularly murdered, conveniently driving Swift over the edge and allowing the angels to take control. As he notes in reference to the death of his friend Madness, "[Her death]..made complex things simple." This trick to send the villains over the Moral Event Horizon does indeed make things simple, at the cost of all the complexity and depth that might otherwise be explored. It takes more courage to keep your characters alive, to let their personalities and relationships develop and grow, to maintain the suspense without resorting to cheap tricks. Yet no matter how inured I was to my favourite characters' deaths, no matter how accurately I predicted their demises, events still left me with an aching throat.

One unexpected delight of the book was the way in which it re-examined the events of A Madness of Angels. I've had Swift pegged as an antihero for a while, but it was interesting to see him try to reconcile his own motivations for pursuing Bakker.

One of the other subplots of the book, the exploration of the "chosen one" trope, fits neatly into this theme. I have always been fascinated by the struggle between what is right and what is necessary, the extents and limitations of responsibility, and the role of choice and guilt in maintaining humanity. As one character remarks bleakly, "One has to prioritise when it comes to big feelings. One can only feel big feelings for so many people, otherwise one has to feel lots and lots of little feelings for lots of little people, and then frankly you'd stop being the hero." Perhaps this is the ultimate theme of the book: the struggle to define the line between hero and monster when both do what they think must be done.

Overall, I cannot recommend this series too highly. Although I'm not thrilled with Griffin's decision to repeatedly re-isolate her hero and increase character turnover, there are too many wonderful aspects to these books to resist, from Griffin's incredible imagination to her laugh-inducing humour to her vibrant depiction of London. I've seen Griffin's writing aptly described as a "Marmite style", but if you happen to be a fan of her rather quirky, dialectic and dialogue-heavy stream-of-consciousness, please give these books a try.

Excerpted from my (long, quote-filled) review on Booklikes , which contains additional commentary, spoilers, and quotes.

CAUTION: READING PROGRESS UPDATES CONTAIN SPOILERS!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may sound odd, given that I haven't been reading much recently and consequently it took me over a month to finish this, but my impression after finishing is that this was faster paced than earlier installments in the series. That may be somewhat down to a more streamlined plot, but I also feel that there was less time wasted in overly verbose description than prior installments, though perhaps I'm just becoming inured to Griffin's style.

There was also less internal focus on Matthew and the angels, which normally I'd say was a lack, but those days that I did pick it up, the book never failed to entertain. It definitely has a high body count, with a few of those deaths being ones I wasn't really expecting.

While the "Neon Court" thing was cheesy and a bit of an eye roller, overall I quite enjoyed it.

[Chris King Elfland's 2nd Cousin · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOTE: This review was originally published at The King of Elfland's 2nd Cousin on March 29, 2011. If you like it, check out some of my other reviews there!

Like many of my favorite fantasy finds, I first came across Kate Griffin’s Matthew Swift novels while on a business trip to London. This is kind of appropriate, considering how central London is to Griffin’s impressive urban fantasies. In her third Matthew Swift novel, The Neon Court, Griffin continues to impress with her unique take on contemporary magic and successfully strengthens her already-impressive characterization.

I first noticed Griffin’s writing with A Madness of Angels. In that book, she created a fascinating new spin on magic by inverting traditional eldritch trappings and fundamentally modernizing them. Her underlying conceit is that sorcery is a by-product of life, and because we lead ever more urban lives today, magic, too, must grow more urban. As a result, the magic of Griffin’s London is not that of moonlit rituals and twining ivy, but instead of subway cars and swirling fast food wrappers. What makes this conceit work in A Madness of Angels, and what continues to make it work through The Neon Court, is how solidly Griffin grounds her system in the real London, and how consistently she applies her new spin on magic.

Griffin’s images of contemporary London seep through into her characters and the urban magic of her world. The incidental characters we meet along the way are appropriate to their locales. Whether we’re talking about the professional Westminster-ish Aldermen (a bunch of bureaucrats…and more), the Tribe in the deepest parts of the East End, or an Irish seer living in Mile End, the characters are all believable because every one of their aspects is rooted in place: speech patterns, clothing, behavior, values, they all ring true to their environment.

This sense of place is also inextricably woven into the magic of her world. Every metropolitan idiosyncrasy becomes grist for Griffin’s magical mill. One gets the sense that there is sorcery lurking just beneath every insignificant fragment of Griffin’s London. Consider the Oyster travel card, or London’s many tourist traps. In the hands of a lesser author, the former would just be an incidental prop used to get on or off public transit, and the latter would just be settings. But Griffin makes them all potent magical talismans. This was impressive when first developed in A Madness of Angels, but even more impressive is how Griffin continues to expand and develop her magic system as the series progresses. In each of the Matthew Swift books, she introduces us to significant new facets of London’s magical underbelly, and nearly half of the fun in reading these books is seeing what new urban wizardry Griffin’s imagination will come up with. In The Neon Court, she asks how would the traditionally rural Faerie Court evolve in the modern urban world? Other authors – notably Emma Bull in her seminal War for the Oaks – have asked this question as well, and Griffin’s spin on it (the titular “Neon Court”) is innovative, unique, and fundamentally believable.

Her characterization – and especially that of her hero/narrator, Matthew Swift – is the next most impressive aspect of this series. Swift is a fractured hero, his mind merged with that of the blue electric angels (god-like personifications of the ghosts-in-the-wire who inhabit telephone and electric wires). Depending on which aspect of his personality is in ascendance, his narration veers from the perpendicular pronoun to first person plural, and at times shifts into a disjointed stream-of-consciousness. In the earlier books, this was a daring gamble on Griffin’s part. It made Swift’s struggle to re-assemble his mind and personality vivid, but risked disorienting an inattentive reader. Griffin walked a fine line in the earlier books, but she managed to pull it off. Swift’s fractured nature is so intrinsic to the first book’s plot, that the disjointed narrative added to the storytelling overall.

By the time we get to the third book, Griffin, Swift, and the electric blue angels are all more comfortable in Swift’s head. As a result, the narrative flow of The Neon Court is smoother, with fewer sudden shifts, and where those sudden shifts do occur, they are handled more subtly than in the earlier books. In general, I find the characters in The Neon Court to be more carefully constructed than in the earlier books. As Swift’s focus shifts from internal (putting his mind back together) to external (saving London and his friends), Griffin’s characterization of secondary players strengthens as well. I felt that the third book does a much better job characterizing supporting characters like Penny (Swift’s apprentice), Dees (Swift’s Alderman lieutenant), and even Theydon (a thrall in the Neon Court) than the earlier books did.

If there is a weakness in the Matthew Swift novels, it is that it would be hard to start with the second or third installment. In The Neon Court, Matthew Swift struggles to save London and his friends from a terrifying magical threat amidst a burgeoning factional war amongst London’s magicians. The stakes, the characters, the plot, and the world are all adequately communicated. But a reader coming fresh to this world is likely to be confused by everything that came before. Swift’s history with R.J. Bakker (established in book 1), and his role as the Midnight Mayor (which was established in The Midnight Mayor), for example, are all central to The Neon Court’s plot. While there are passing explanations offered in the text, the book assumes the reader is already familiar with these events. However, their ramifications would be unclear to someone coming into the series with the third book.

Despite this fact, I recommend Griffin’s Matthew Swift novels, and especially The Neon Court. Readers who enjoy contemporary fantasy with innovative, vivid world-building will find a lot to enjoy in these novels. They are excellent examples of urban fantasy, particularly of the non-paranormal romance variety. If you enjoy the fantasies of Neil Gaiman, Emma Bull, Jim Butcher, or Harry Connolly, I suspect you will also enjoy Kate Griffin’s books. The entire series is good, and I found that it strengthens significantly in all of the right ways as it continues.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matthew Swift is the epitome of the urban sorcerer. Proof: he takes the bus. But there are ways he's not your usual sorcerer, the least of which being that he serves as the Midnight Mayor of London. You see, he also shares a body with the blue electric angels. And he's got a conscience.

Being the Midnight Mayor is not all roses and bon bons. Sure he's got a fleet of aldermen to do his bidding...assuming they'd listen to him (it's hard to take a guy seriously when he wears t-shirts and grubby jeans). And sure he's powerful enough to have defeated the destroyer of cities in THE MIDNIGHT MAYOR. But now in THE NEON COURT, the underground Tribe and the fae Neon Court have declared war over a murder—with London as the battleground—unless Swift delivers the chosen one.

THE NEON COURT starts off chaotic, like the others, jumping right into the action. We're swiftly caught up in Swift's dilemma: Oda, the psycho from the previous novels has somehow summoned Swift into a burning building, with her blood all over the floor and a hole in her heart.

But what does Oda's rather fatal condition and the war have to do with each other? Well, it takes the entire novel to figure it out.

If you enjoyed A MADNESS OF ANGELS and THE MIDNIGHT MAYOR, then THE NEON COURT is more of the same awesomeness. Kate Griffin has kept a consistent momentum and voice across the series, even if the plots are somewhat similar: everyone in London is gonna die unless Swift saves them. And he's the only one who can do it.

Swift is a rather complicated character. He's easy enough to like, and his first-person PoV is entertaining to follow. Well, except for the fact that he also uses 'we', when referring to himself and the angels that inhabit his body—and therein stems the complications of personality. The electric blue angels are pure energy, magical beings without thought of the future, who take action when they see the need. But they're forever bound to a mortal body that must deal with the consequences of those actions. It makes for an interesting dynamic. Fortunately, Swift isn't a wimp or else the angels would have killed him long ago from sheer negligence. He's clever and creative, as he moves around London, trying to help Oda, and stop the war between the Neon Court and the Tribe. Poor guy wants to do the right thing, but sometimes it's just impossible to do.

As a result of the events at the end of THE MIDNIGHT MAYOR, Swift now finds himself with an apprentice: Penny. One can't let a powerful sorceress loose on the city without proper training first. Like Swift, she's no wimp, but then again she's new to this whole magic business, and sees things for the first time that are mighty troubling. Their interactions are entertaining; the dialogue gets silly at times, but on the whole it's clever and snappy. Oda, whom we knew little about in previous novels other than she's a psycho, magic-hating, gun-toting, religious zealot, gets more back story. It's presentend in clunky way, but is still important to the story.

Griffin must have decided to have a little fun with this story, so she took the 'chosen one' trope and turned it on its head. What does it mean to be 'chosen'? Who does the choosing? She also explores themes of relationships—but not the romantic kind, her books don't have the sexuality found in the majority of urban fantasy. Here, it's the relationships between siblings, co-workers, the people you hardly know but who seem to affect you, nevertheless, and how these relationships shape events.

One of the best things about this series is the urban magic, how it's called up by the routines of life and environment that is the city. Griffin's prose brings out the details: the smells, the sights, the sounds that makes the city hum with the magic energy that people like Swift can tap. The prose will catch some readers off guard, especially those who like reading urban fantasy, because it's less straightforward. The pace is consistent and quick, but is still slowed down by the more descriptive prose.

By the time I got to the climax, I was all wrung out. Swift seems like he's going to fall apart at any moment. I have no idea how he's going to possibly survive. Every horribly imaginable thing has happened. And it all leads up to a...climax that falls a tad short. It does all make sense, and if I'm being honest it did make me tear up a little, but it didn't quite match the rest of the story. It works. Mostly. But in THE NEON COURT it's the journey more than the destination.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Penny the wise-cracking apprentice has a serious potty mouth.
Violence: Yep. Poor Swift gets beat up a lot. There's quite a few fights and graphic imagery. The body count gets uncomfortably high.
Sex: Not even the least whiff of romance.

[Scruffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mathew Swift is a dead sourceror who has been inhabited by the supernatural force of the Blue Electric Angels. So in concept he is similar to other urban fantasy characters like Felix Castor and Preacher's Jessie Custer. However the way Kate Griffin has handled the character is quite different. Mathew Swift and the Angels are not two separate personalities they have merged to form one new personality. Some one who is not quite sure if he is one or many, I or we. It's quite a unique piece of characterisation that helps to set this series aside from other urban fantasy novels.

Another unique element of this series is it's approach to magic. Mathew does not have a single set of magical abilities. Instead different parts of the city have various magics that Mathew is able to access. It really embraces the urban part of urban fantasy and makes the story much more unpredictable.

The story of this novel involves two factions of supernatuals going to war over a "chosen one". Mathew Swift is the Midnight Mayor the magical protector of the city of London and it is his job to stop the war to protect the city.

This is the third book in the series but I think it reads well enough as a standalone novel. The back story is told in a way that won't make you feel like you have missed something. The supporting characters have been developed very well over the three books and are integrated very well in to this story.

The Neon Court is exactly what urban fantasy should be. It exist's in a unique fantasy world and it's biggest strength is it's characterisation. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

[Jyanx · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series just gets better and better. The plot of this story is nicely complicated, and I loved seeing Matthew trying to figure out exactly what is happening and why. I really love his interactions with his apprentice Penny, and I love what she has brought to the series. I appreciate that there isn't a hint of romance to the series. Matthew and Penny care for each other, but she wasn't brought in as love interest, and I love the family feel to their banter. The plot was fast paced, and the resolution felt nicely messy and hard won. This remains one of my favorite urban fantasy series of all time. Beautifully written, and so different from so many other books in the genre.


Flight by Plastic Bag Bird by dawnsio-ar-y-dibyn

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing addition to the series. Griffin brings delightful new concepts and characters as well as cleverly working in old ones in each book. Though it would be very hard for her to top herself with the previous two books in the series, The Neon Court certainly remains on par. These books are by far my favorites. Their inventiveness, emotion, setting and description, characters and amazing new ideas are only a few of the reasons why I love them. I would recommend the Matthew Swift series to anyone. They are fantasy without being juvenile, yet adult without barring a wider audience. The writing is beautiful and unique, it's unconventionality as much a part of the story as anything. These books, while thrilling, are not just cheap thrills, but actually take the effort to say something. Though Matthew Swift's world is one of magic and impossibility, it is not far removed from our own, and is really a reflection or magnification of normal life, with very similar problems and motivations. These are the perfect books to lose yourself in, like the maze of a strange city's streets.

[Allie Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, Griffin has done it again. Another adroitly plotted, exciting whirlwind adventure in Matthew Swift's magic imbued London. The Tribe and Neon Court are at each other's throats, a Chosen One needs to be found, Oda seems to be possessed and the sun won't rise. As ever, it all comes together neatly at the end and makes total sense. Fabulous stuff.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This set of books is a bit like Marmite. You either love them or you hate them.

Fans of the previous two books in this series will be well satisfied. I personally was somewhat worried that 'The Neon Court' wouldn't meet expectations. However, my worries were shortlived. As soon as I'd read the first page it was like putting on a favourite pair of comfy shoes!

As always, Griffin's imagery is brilliant and paints a great picture in the minds eye. 'The Neon Court' certainly doesn't lack imagination. There are amazing new creatures (for lack of a better word) in this book, good and bad.

The addition of new supporting characters both freshen up the story and bring out even more of Matthew's winning personality. He is still the ordinary, reluctant hero we know and love.


I do have one note:

This isn't a book that can be read in isolation. The story, characterisation and Matthew's unique take on London would be lost. These books must be read in order to make any sense!

Overall, fantastic...can't possibly wait for more.

[Phrynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay here I am again saying that this series is FANTASTIC! I love Matthew and the Blue Electric Angels. This was a really fast paced, exciting story and the way the author depicts London is just superb. It makes me want to be there every time. I cannot wait to read the next book and then I am going to seek out Kate Griffin's other books to see if they are as good.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another exceptional instalment in Kate Griffin’s Matthew Swift series. But is it too good for its own good?

The Neon Court is a fantastic book, almost as good as A Madness of Angels, book one in the series. It’s jam-packed with fantastic imagination, new characters, a slowly unfolding plot, a twist on the imaginary friend the likes you’ve never seen, pace and tension from the first to last page. In reality, this story is medium-paced, but it rips along misleadingly fast thanks to the breathless nature of the prose. Even when there’s little happening, which isn’t very often, this thing feels like it’s travelling at light-speed thanks to Griffin’s immensely capable writing style.

Even though this is very much a Matthew Swift book, The Neon Court offers a variation to make it feel like something quite new and different. In this story, Swift, the main character, suffers deep vulnerability. He’s in over his head as always, but the usual sense of ‘oh, he’ll get out of it ok’ isn’t there.

In my opinion, this book is brilliant, but I can see why many urban fantasy readers will fail to connect with it. It’s too good! Let’s face it, most urban fantasy books are pretty superficial, and that’s the way we like them. Fast, frantic and action-packed with few depths below the surface. But the Neon Court, and the Swift series in general, has beautiful and masterfully controlled prose, characters with history, depth and grey morals. They also present an intricate world of depth and delightful confusion that continually has you wondering what is around the next corner, and do you really want to see it? In short, these books ask you to work for your enjoyment, and I’m not sure fans of this genre expect or want that.

I, for one, adore this series, and if you’re happy to make the old grey matter grind a little, I’m sure you will too.

[Mitticus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Matthew Swift books are magical and maniacal London-trips.

Canary Wharf grew and grew in front of us until the tops of the towers were no longer visible from inside the bus. I leant back against my seat and remembered to breathe, forced myself to take it one steady gasp at a time as the magic of the place, silver, glass, light, razored edges, a buzz at the back of the eyes, an ice that ran to the end of the fingertips and turned them blue, washed over me. Every part of the city had its own magic, and the magic of Canary Wharf, of endless towers and shops and steel and clear running water, though still young, was bursting to make itself felt. We pressed our fingers into the glass of the bus and felt frost form beneath our fingertips, the power bursting out of us whether we liked it or not.

Inicia usualmente en medio de la acción, esta vez con el hechicero convocado por una 'frenemie', Oda, en medio de una torre en llamas. Desde alli todo es persecución, muertes horrendas, aporreos varios recibidos por el protagonista; quien define que tiene sólo dos modos: diplomático -según él- que lo hace un sujeto irritante casi sin respeto por nada, y modo 'destructor de ciudades'.

“Hi,” we said. “Let us make our position clear. We are the Midnight Mayor, protector of this city, carrier of its secrets and bearer of its shadows. The shadows watch us as we pass, the pigeons turn away at our passage, the rats scurry beneath our feet and shudder at the sound of our footsteps on the stones. We are the blue electric angels, the telephones sing at the passage of our voice, our blood is blue fire, our soul carries a pair of angel wings. We are the killer of Robert Bakker, sorcerer, master of the Tower; we destroyed the death of cities; we came back from the dead, Swift and the angels, two minds become one, two souls in one flesh, in one form, in one voice. We are me and I am we. And we’re frustrated.”

Dos sectores mágicos de la ciudad buscan la misma cosa, y Matthew en su papel de Alcalde de Medianoche, quien vela por Londres, debe tratar de evitar una guerra entre la Corte de Neón, y La Tribu.

Muy interesante es la historia de la Corte de Neón, antiguos fae que decidieron hacer uso de la magia urbana es vez de simplemente desvanecerse. Y también la de La Tribu que buscando ser diferente a todo el mundo deciden dejar de ser humanos y no seguir sus reglas. Ambos enemigos jurados, de esos que hasta han olvidado la ofensa inicial.

Where the Neon Court viewed Lady Neon with an almost divine adoration, the Tribe paid quiet tribute to the gods of the underworld, to Fat Rat, and the One-Armed Angel who tended the graves of the unknown buried in the public cemeteries.

Claro, que no podia ser tan sencillo, porque con la puesta inicial se ha conjurado un peligro aun mayor. Uno que quiere devorar a todo el mundo de Matthew.

ESte es otro de esos libros en que los acompañantes femeninas del prota tienen mal fin, con todo lo supercombatientes que son, y duras de pelar y todo lo demás. Hasta ahora le esta quedando Penny, su aprendiz, jaja.

A sorceress who nearly destroyed the city and you took one look at her and thought ‘she’s a train wreck on legs, a liability and a danger to all around her, let’s take her in because she’ll make excellent company’

Lo que me molesta de Penny, por otra parte, es que parece creer que ser una mujer fuerte pasa por soltar garabatos cada dos por tres, y sólo porque sí (¿qué onda con eso?)

La esquizofrenia rampante en este libro fue demasiado manifiesta :P Sobre todo con lo del regreso de la memoria/fantasma, de Bakker, que en muchas ocasiones me pareció que queria hacer que mataran a Matthew. Y se vio una vez más, hasta de forma harto fastidiosa que el poder puede llegar a corromper hasta las mejores intenciones Bakker, Oda, el idiota fanático que provocó lo de la 'elegida'

Me costó mucho concentrarme a veces en la historia, pero eso pudo ser problema puntual mio esta vez, por eso lo dejo en 3 estrellas.

La imaginación de esta escritora es increible, cada pequeña cosa, un boleto, una bolsa plástica, todo puede ser magia.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars

Neon Court by Kate Griffin is book number three of the Mathew Swift series. Even though this is the third adventure of our urban sorcerer, Griffin uses poetic writing to keep things feeling fresh and new. God damn I love this series. I love Kate Griffin (Catherine Webb). I love Matthew Swift and the Blue Electric Angels.

First and foremost it is the writing style and word play of Kate Griffin that fleshes out this series into a truly high Def world. She has created an Urban Fantasy world that really showcases how amazing the genre can be. Yes it shares similarities with many of the genre greats but does so in an adult oriented fashion with a truly literary style.

Neon Court turns out to be a book that finds Swift at the center of an unstoppable war. He is the only one that might be able to stop things from ending the world. This however is not the real story to this book. You see, this is Oda's story. The religious "psycho-bitch" is back and things have not gone well for her. Without spoilers Matthew must come to grips with Oda and her situation. We get a great deal of backstory on Oda, her childhood, and her family. It added great depth to the series as a whole.

I absolutely love this series. I will reread them all again. Poetic, imaginative, and a freaking lot of fun. The series is filled with great characters, cool monsters, and awesome places. The streets of London, the center of the story are almost a character in itself. But after all these amazing things, it is the writing that shines for me. It is unlike anything else out there..



Some cool quotes...


““Hi,” we said. “Let us make our position clear. We are the Midnight Mayor, protector of this city, carrier of its secrets and bearer of its shadows. The shadows watch us as we pass, the pigeons turn away at our passage, the rats scurry beneath our feet and shudder at the sound of our footsteps on the stones. We are the blue electric angels, the telephones sing at the passage of our voice, our blood is blue fire, our soul carries a pair of angel wings. We are the killer of Robert Bakker, sorcerer, master of the Tower; we destroyed the death of cities; we came back from the dead, Swift and the angels, two minds become one, two souls in one flesh, in one form, in one voice. We are me and I am we. And we’re frustrated.””


““Oh. That shit. Thing is …” I went to rub at the tenderness in my face and changed it at the last moment to an uneasy scratch of my nose. “When you’re a sorcerer, and Midnight Mayor, and burning fire runs through your veins, you’ve only really got two modes. You’ve got diplomatically passive, and you’ve got apocalyptically destructive. Finding that middle ground – you know, breaking someone’s kneecaps without actually causing them to spontaneously combust – can be a delicate business.”

““We … we are … more than you,” we hissed. “We are … we are the sum of everything you are, we are the creatures you made, all that everything you poured into the telephone lines, all that knowledge, all that feeling, all those secrets, all that everything you are, digitised and sent into the wire, we are all of that. Yes. We are faster, brighter, better. We are glorious. You are tiny. But we are me.””


One of my favorite reads of 2015. An absolute favorite series of mine.

[Shdnx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. Kate Griffin (the author) keeps rocking. This form of writing is really like art - although unfortunately you wouldn't be able to tell from the instant-mindless-entertainment books (like urban fantasy and paranormal romance today).

The Matthew Swift series is exactly what an urban fantasy series should be like, but only a very few - so very few, like The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher - manages to provide: thoughtful, mind-expanding entertainment.

I only very recently discovered how deeply this series affected me: one day, after a night's fun, I choose to walk home, halfway across the city, in the middle of the night. I was thinking of this series, the concept of "life is magic" and the magic in the cities - and so I found that this all has truth in it. Because it really is a wonder, this city, ALL cities, the human civilization, this world. And we just spend our days ignoring it, paying attention to petty little ridiculous things instead, because that is the human nature.

Anyway, an excellent book of an outstanding series. I'll be reading the 4th (final?) installment - The Minority Council soon.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THESE BOOKS! They're so good you don't want to put them down and, yet, so good you want to put them down. Because you know if you keep reading you're going to finish and if you finish you'll have to go back to the monotony that is OTHER books.

I love the ideas born from this authors imagination! Kate Griffin obviously has a deep love for, and knowledge of London; a unique way of seeing the city and, literally, bringing it to life in the pages of these books.

This book, the third in the series, was no exception. I loved the new characters (Penny) and enjoyed the return of some old ones (Beggar King and, yes, even Bakker).
I love Matthew Swift, how could you not? He's humble, an unlikely hero, and his sarcastic sense of humor always has me laughing out loud! I especially loved these lines:

"U talk tough."
"I'm fluffy inside."

"A few hours ago you were wanting to diagnose me with post-traumatic stress! You really think getting me to share my brain with the dead echo of the guy that killed me is going to chill me out?"

Seriously, if you love urban fantasy, even if you don't, read these books! If you just don't get them, I shake my head sadly in your direction.

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know I keep saying this in all my reviews of this series but there really is no better way of reading this book than while living in London.

Also, this line killed me:
'Mr Swift, if it's any comfort to you, I can promise you that if I were not a happily married woman with a husband I love well, you'd definitely be in my top two genders of choice.'
The sheer savagery of that takedown is off the charts! I was howling.

As usually, this book was choke full of urban magic, of London being London and people being people. And, most importantly, of a lot of people making Matthew Swift's life so much harder than he'd like it to be.

[Tom Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another cracking book in the series - there's little more to say really. Some wonderful writing and a brilliantly endearing shambles of a human being that I in no way feel increasingly like (minus the whole magic/possessed by angels side).

[Mikael · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books are stunning and they deserve equal recognition in the urban fantasy pantheon along Jim Butcher, Ben Aaronovitch and the likes. The language and timing are fenomenal, the characters are funny and you deeply care for them, the plotting is solid.

If you've ever liked an urban fantasy buy the whole series!

[Alytha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's the description from her website:

When the city was founded, he was the mad native spirit that waited in the dark, on the edge of the torchlight. When the streets were cobbled over, he became the footsteps heard on stone that you cannot see. When the Victorians introduced street lighting, he was the shadow who always shied away from the light, and when the gas went out, there he was. The shadow at the end of the alley, the footsteps half-heard in the night.

A daimyo of the Neon Court is dead. So are two warriors of the Tribe. And a freshly-prophesied ‘chosen one’ is missing. Each side blames the other and Matthew Swift is right in the middle of it, trying to keep the peace. Because when magicians go to war, everyone loses. But Swift has even bigger problems. A dead woman is trying to kill him and the city itself is under attack from a force of unimaginable power. As if trying to stay one step ahead of an assassin and juggling magical politics weren’t challenging enough, Swift must also find a way to defeat a primal threat from humanity’s darkest nightmares. Or there may not be a London left to fight over …
-
I quite like this series, mainly because London is one of my favourite cities, and I find it easy to imagine that all the life, love, work, hatred and other emotions of the people who have been living in that place for thousands of years can create a life and magic of its own for the city. I also know central London well enough that I can mostly picture the location in my mind. :)

The books are well-written with good pacing, and a sometimes almost Gaimanesque style (the first book, A Madness of Angels, was dubbed "Neverwhere for the digital age" by some reviewer. Although I don't think she's quite there yet, the direction is set)

They also borrow a bit from other urban magic series like the Dresden Files or the Felix Castor book, with a smart-ass magician protagonist who doesn't show other, generally older magical entities the respect they think they deserve, and gets beaten up a lot.
There's also a bit of a negative element to this, as, like Harry, Matthew seems to go for an entire book at a time without food or sleep, and doesn't even seem to have a place to stay, carrying all his belongings with him in his satchel. As there is supposed to be a year between each novel, I'm kinda asking myself what he does in between, and where he stays. You'd think that the office of Midnight Mayor would come with a flat and an income.
In general, I liked it though, the plotlines are well written, and for the Darkness one, reasonably creepy. Especially if you're a bit sensitive about eyes...
If you like urban fantasy and/or London, I recommend having a look at this series :)

[Wealhtheow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matthew Swift was a sorcerer's apprentice, but he died.

Then he came back.

Now Matthew Swift is the Midnight Mayor, with responsibility for all of London. So when a mystical war threatens between the Neon Court (the fairy court, transformed by the modern age, who prize beauty over truth and style over freedom) and the Tribe (self-mutilating transhumanists whose magic derives only from themselves), he has to deal with it. And when a "chosen one" is prophecied, he has to find her, no matter how silly he thinks the concept. And when the sun goes out, and London is cut off from the rest of the world, it's up to Matthew Swift to find out why.

The magic system is breathtakingly inventive. Swift is a city sorcerer, meaning he draws his magics from the rules and legends of London. He draws acid from rain and coalesces it into an attack; he transforms a discarded plastic bag into a flying eagle; he traps monsters on street corners with the rules of the crosswalk. The magic surprises me every time. But there's logic to it, a certain internal consistency that holds it back from just doing whatever would be most convenient for the story.

The characters are pretty fab, too. Matthew, whose idea of diplomacy is to let someone beat him up for a while. Oda, a modern-day palidan. Penny, a sorceress so powerful that she nearly accidentally destroyed the city, who is nevertheless too scared of her aunt to let anyone bleed on her aunt's car. Dees, a financial planner who wears uncomfortable heels and transforms into a metal dragon if threatened.

But truthfully, this just isn't quite as incredibly excellent as the first two books in the series. Most of my disappointment is because Oda dies in the first chapter and spends the rest of the book as a vengeful revenant. Until she was gone, I hadn't realized how much I love the interplay between Oda and Matthew: him trying to get her to smile with increasingly witty quips, her monosyllabic put-downs...I missed it in this book! As unique as their characters are, Penny and Dees just can't fill the void. My other problem is that, after all the desperate last stands and clever magic fueled by fairy-tale logic (all of which is stone-cold awesome), the last chapter is Matthew explaining the whole plot to someone. A disappointing end!

I think my standards were just too high for this book. Still, this remains the most entrancing, enthralling urban fantasy series I've ever read. It's both funny and grim, unpretentious but with a lot to say.

[Rob Trans · Rating 3 out of 5]

The marketing description of the book is pretty good. It mentions many of the challenges without giving too much away. Swift must resolve an impending war between magical groups, The Neon Court and the Tribe, while preventing the destruction of all London possibly at the hands of Oda. He must navigate the politics of the non-mundane powers of the City. He faces an unexpected character from his past and loses an ally.

I wasn't as impressed with the Neon Court as I was with the last book, the Midnight Mayor. I'm growing tired of Swift's and his apprentice's coarseness of language and behavior. It is set in London and one of the reasons I find so many British books entertaining is because their characters act civilized. While Swift tries to do the right thing he is unnecessarily abusive to his allies and others he has to work with. He gets beat up and almost killed all the time. After a while, that gets tiresome also.

I think the author overuses a descriptive technique that amounts to listing a bunch of observations of the area of London where Swift is walking (he walks pretty much everywhere, but occasionally rides the train or a bus). Some of the descriptive phrases are reused. This gives the story atmosphere and was effective in Mayor, but this book seemed padded with it.

Even though there was a complicated plot with several overlying schemes going on, I felt that the story was too dragged out. It was never boring, but it wasn't the page turner of the Mayor.

I'll take a little break and see how the next one goes.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book immensely. It grabbed my attention from chapter one and held it captive right up until the end.



Book three was definitely settling into a established pattern though; our reluctant hero, Matthew Swift, finds he has Mega Problems on his hands (again), gets beat up trying to reason with parties who don't want to be reasoned with (again), is saved by a friend, situation deteriorates badly (again), and he saves the day. Literally in this instance. Plot design is same as first two in the series and this has the potential for pulling the writing down.

What I did like about Neon Court was the character development of several minor characters such as Matthew's apprentice Penny. Flamboyant, outspoken, loudly defiant to everyone else's somber-hued approach, she was a refreshing drink of water in what could have been a standard story. The inclusion of the Alderman, particularly Leslie Dees, gave some interesting insight into the City itself. The contrast between Toxik and Lady Neon was a nicely balanced study between light/dark black/white, especially how Griffin used text-speak to emphasize how Toxik was different. Neon Court gave some back story to how things came to be that I appreciated.

With the reappearance of a man thought dead, a somewhat unpredictable ending, and Penny's character, this was a very fun and engaging read. Recommended.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read the first three of the Matthew Swift series and enjoyed them: The Madness of Angels, The Midnight Mayor and The Neon Court. Swift was a human sorcerer who was killed and brought back to life infused somehow with the Blue Electric Angels of the telephone wires. The magic Griffin gives us is Urban Magic, born of the pulsing life and power of the cities.

Griffin’s style will have a lot to do with whether or not you like these books. It is dark, chaotic, almost stream-of-consciousness. Her descriptions are deep: The rain doesn’t just fall - it drips down our necks, squishes in our shoes, causes our jeans to chafe our legs, and every other sort of wet misery you can think of. When I read this paragraph again, I think I wouldn’t like these books, but I did. She is very creative and her characterization is good.

The city of London influences this story as much as Urban Magic does. I wish I knew it better; I think I could appreciate her descriptions more if I did. Griffin’s somewhat dark outlook shows us a sinister view of the city. We never see the charm; we see the litter, shiver in the cold, peer through the haze.

Try them, you may like them.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite (so far) of the Matthew Swift books.

a. For once he is being assisted by a couple people who are not hoping that he and the big bad will take each other out. (The "we'll use you until you die" mentality of the other two books made me sad. Characters keep saying the angels are crazy dangerous, but have they noticed how Matthew spends his time? He eats cheap street food, lives out of a bag, and seems to mostly occupy himself by wandering the city as rhythm dictates and occasionally causing property damage battling things that would, if left alone, kill people.)

b. Blackout was not intended, but the events which allowed it to manifest so potently were. I that's my favorite kind of set-up: some bad guy has a stupid, petty plan to cause mayhem. It's put into action and runs out of control, becoming something gigantic and dire. This way the Petty Bad Guy need not be grandiose or baroque, yet there is a level of intention to events. Some coincidence,yes, but not too much.