A lighter-hearted magical sequel

Stray Souls is Kate Griffin’s latest book, the first in the Magicals Anonymous series, and is set in the same magical version of London as her Matthew Swift series (the first of which will be reviewed in next week’s edition of Felix). The urban fantasy sub-genre is becoming increasingly popular but Griffin shows here, as in her previous work, that she is still someone to watch, even in such a crowded field. You don’t have to have read that series to still enjoy Stray Souls, but there is some crossover and reading the earlier books first wouldn’t hurt.

One major difference between the series is that, while the Matthew Swift books do have an undercurrent of humour, the laughs in Stray Souls are a lot more prominent, which is a large part of the reason why I found it so entertaining.

The book centres on Sharon Li, a barista who’s just discovered she’s a shaman, able to become one with the city. Problem is, the city’s soul appears to be missing, someone needs to save it and that someone seems to be her. And what would any of us do if we found ourselves in such a situation? Use Facebook and Twitter to set up a self-help group for fellow magical beings, of course!

Sharon is an interesting counterpoint to the more wacky secondary characters like Kevin the hypochondriac vampire or Sally the art-loving banshee, both of whom are part of the self-help group. She could have easily been lost amidst all of them, and she does spend a lot of the book dithering, but in a way this just makes her easier to relate to.

Some people might struggle to get on with the book’s short chapters, but I found the structure kept the story going at a decent pace, plus the chapters from the point of view of all the different characters really suited the self-help motif in addition to providing more opportunities for comedy. I also particularly enjoyed the naturalistic dialogue and how it added to the mundane side of things, as contrasted with the magical, which was itself a great source ofhumour. This book also achieves the not inconsiderable feat of working social media into a narrative in a way that’s actually meaningful and enjoyable.

My principal feeling about the book is that it’s just really fun. Obviously your mileage may vary, but if you like your fantasy to not take itself too seriously (without sacrificing plot or action), with description that’s vivid without being florid and plenty of memorable characters – or even if you just get a kick out of reading stories set in places with which you’re familiar – then Stray Souls is definitely one to seek out.

Kate Griffin is a pen name used by the twice Carnegie-nominated fantasy author Catherine Webb for her adult fiction. She will be at Imperial College for Picocon 30 on the weekend of February 16-17. As one of the Guests of Honour he will give an individual talk and participate in the main panel with Steph Swainston, Richard Morgan, Peter F. Hamilton and Jaine Fenn. For more information, and to register your attendance, visit icsf.org.uk/picocon