The Shadow Revolution

Crown & Key, Book 1

By: Clay Griffith, Susan Griffith

Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

A thrilling new Victorian-era urban fantasy for fans of Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles, the Showtime series Penny Dreadful, and the Sherlock Holmes movies featuring Robert Downey, Jr.

They are the realm's last, best defense against supernatural evil. But they're going to need a lot more silver.

As fog descends, obscuring the gas lamps of Victorian London, werewolves prowl the shadows of back alleys. But they have infiltrated the inner circles of upper-crust society as well. Only a handful of specially gifted practitioners are equipped to battle the beasts. Among them are the roguish Simon Archer, who conceals his powers as a spell-casting scribe behind the smooth veneer of a dashing playboy; his layabout mentor Nick Barker, who prefers a good pub to thrilling heroics; and the self-possessed alchemist Kate Anstruther, who is equally at home in a ballroom as she is on a battlefield.

After a lycanthrope targets Kate's vulnerable younger sister, the three join forces with fierce Scottish monster-hunter Malcolm MacFarlane - but quickly discover they're dealing with a threat far greater than anything they ever imagined.

©2015 Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith (P)2015 Random House Audio

louder and funnier

It SHOULD have been good... Victorian setting? check. Supernatural elements? check. Some attempts to add science? check. Interesting people? check. But there was no sense of FUN. No witty comments, no repartee, no tongue in cheek. No thank you.

Blah

What would have made The Shadow Revolution better?

A plot or what's called a "story line" would have made this book better.

Would you ever listen to anything by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith again?

Probably not, at least not for a while.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Nicholas Guy Smith?

Sure, the reader wan't bad.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

...lots of action. The book sort of jumps from action scene to action scene. If that's what your looking for this would work I guess. That said I like a lot of action but it needs a story..some kind of context.

Any additional comments?

Blah.

A Magical Steampunky Victorian era thrill ride!

I was a fan of these these authors after reading their Greyfriar books, and this book makes me an even bigger fan! Set at the beginning of the Victorian era, it takes place in a London that is subtly different from ours, where magic works, kept from sight of Vanilla mortals. Simon Archer is a roguish playboy, quite the charmer in upper crust circles. He is also a Scribe, a powerful type of magic user thought extinct, who uses runes for magical effect. In fact, a large part of his body is tattooed with runes, so he can create magic effects, such as super strength or force projection, without having to write down a rune. His partner and Mentor, Nick Barker, is a magician who uses several different magic types, such as pyromancy and necromancy. They try and solve small magical disturbances (Hauntings, monster incursions, etc.) When Simon gets a note asking him to meet from an old flame, he is drawn into a much larger conspiracy involving Werewolves and a mad scientist creating Homunculi out of people, all looking for an item that could change the balance of power forever. Helping Simon and Nick are Scottish Werewolf hunter Malcolm MacFarlane and Kate Anstruther, daughter of a noted Lord and adventurer, and Alchemist in her won right. They join forces to do battle with the evil forces arrayed against them, even though they are vastly outnumbered. No spoilers here, but it is a rollicking good tale that will have you guessing whats coming next.
It is a richly detailed book, giving the reader an in depth look into Upper crust Victorian life, while also showing the other side of that era too. The magic is original, and actually pretty believable. There are elements of steampunk in the story, and the characters are engaging and sympathetic. The villains are straight up villains, not just misunderstood souls. They are evil, and loathsome, and perfect for the story. The back story hinted at bigger mysteries, and you can't wait to hear more. All in all, an excellent start to a new series. Nicholas Guy Smith did an outstanding job narrating, easily on par with my 3 favorite British narrators, Simon Vance, Michael Page and Guildart Jackson. It is in the same vein as Gail Carriger's Alexa Tarrabotti books, just without the awkward sex scenes. if you liked her books, or are a fan of Simon Green or Jim Butcher, you should enjoy these books.

not rememberable..

I always try to give a book the benefit of the doubt, that it may just have a tough beginning to swallow but even after getting to chapter six I'm struggling to keep myself interested. The reader has a nice voice but the substance of the story fails to grab my attention.

plot is overrated anyway, who needs one?

Where to start with this book? First of all, it's a book that decided to be a Victorian steam punk set in Regency England as though the two eras are completely interchangeable. But that's a historian's criticism, if you don't immediately know the difference between those two eras, don't worry, there are plenty of other problems with the book for you!

The book doesn't so much have a plot as a series of fight scenes loosely connected by a series of improbable events. Pretty much the entire second half of the book is one big 48 hour long stretch of fights. Tons of action might be good enough to get some authors by, but it just doesn't work in this instance. There's tons of plot holes, big ones and small ones. Most of the descriptions of people and action are just strings of cliches. There's plenty of 'flashing' eyes and whatnot. Nothing overly original.

The summary likens this to the Iron Druid chronicles, and while that seems like an unlikely comparison, it actually has lots of similarities (unfortunately not Iron Druid's charming wit and moderately skilled although also flawed plot). Both are far more concerned with showing their hero's vast and overpowering magical skills against a variety of enemies than in a coherent let alone complicated plot. Both feature a tattooed hero whose supposedly limited power doesn't stop him from defeating enemies left right and center. Both have an Irish wolf hound with a stupid name.

Moral of the story, I suppose if you're looking for a really easy listen to give your brain a rest from something more strenuous, then go ahead. Otherwise, go elsewhere. If you're interested in decent steam punk try "The Affinity Bridge" by George Mann. If you're looking for hard core steam punk try "The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack" by Mark Hodder

Not what I was expecting.

Admittedly this book is a little different listen than I'm used to. My supernatural fiction tastes usually run more towards Richard Kadrey's "Sandman Slim" and Mike Carey's Felix Castor series. The action scenes in this listen are descriptive and fun, but too few and far between. In those long lulls between excitement the book is mired in pedantic Victorian gentile etiquette. It's mind numbing for a person listening more for the supernatural action aspects, rather than a tribute to the fastidious "gentlemanly arts" followed by the disciples of Beau Brummell. The performance was entertaining, with good variance for the different characters. Overall it was just not what I was hoping for.

Can't wait to see what happens next!

The story went so fast it was over before I knew it. Wish I had another to start today. Hope it's not one that takes over a year for the next one in the series to come out. But don't rush and make it flop compared to this one. I feel a little of Atticus in Simmon which is a awesome thing.

Very good

I enjoyed this book very much. Nicholas Guy Smith could read my grocery list and make it sound sexy and beguiling. If you like this type of genre, you must listen to the Cabal Brothers series.

Barely okay in both story and narration..

Thought this book was okay but sometimes I felt there wasn’t much of a story, just finding ways to kill the werewolves and dodging them all the time. That’s just about it. There really wasn’t much of a backstory on any of the characters: Simon was a “scribe,” Kate was a “alchemist” and MacFarlane was a werewolf hunter from Scotland. At 75% of the book I was still wondering just “who” they were. I’m all for excitement in a story but this needed a little more of something. And Imogen, Kate’s sister? Still no idea at the same 75% why she was even written in. As far as I can see she’s just a throw-away character. And she should have been let to die at the end. You’ll have to read the book to know why.

The magic part was good and the alchemy and I like the werewolf hunter BUT liking the characters is not enough. You have to like the story and there wasn’t enough of that, unfortunately. I will not move forward with series. This left a lot of unanswered questions. Not a cliffhanger but not complete either.

Don’t let anyone kid you about there being romance in this book because there is none, no thought, no touch, no kiss, no nothing, and no swearing.

As to the narration: Not good at all! Nicholas Guy Smith did very little to make the women sound like women and read with only one emotion; he yelled when it was called for. But when they had snuck into an asylum in the middle of the night and should have been whispering THEY WERE NOT! They either talked in a regular voice or they yelled, especially MacFarlane. It was terrible.

Was the audio worth a credit? Definitely not.

Enjoyable, I'm hooked

I thought the story started out a little slow but soon found it quite enjoyable. Loved the characters and am anxious the see where the next adventure leads. Books 2 and 3 are already queued up.

sibilant narrator

Certainly no James Marsters.
I had to turn it off after 10mins. Sibilant ssss sssssssssssssssssssssss.

Very enjoyable story

I enjoyed this story immensely..very graphic werewolf terror & magic to boot..love story thrown in..into book two