Matt McAvoy Book Review

Not usually a great fan of fantasy, but this book was a neat little surprise.  Four decent, entertaining and pretty unique tales, each individually penned by a different contributor, set one Halloween in the moody, fictional melting pot of Argent City, a town populated by supernatural beings and mythical shapeshifters living unnoticed alongside us.  Though generally pretty easy reading, brooding but not dark, these are more pure stories than snippets of tales, yet still there is an air of pulp about them – think Sin City for young adults.  There is more than a little metaphorical allegory about this book in general, as Fae, vampires, dragon-descendants and shapeshifters live side by side with humans in a very contemporary world.  The tales are modern urban ones – a high school kid who dreams of being a deejay; a crime scene cleaner desperate to get her teeth into a real-life murder mystery; a comic book fan who finds herself literally becoming her favourite heroine.  This is great fun for both adults and older kids, though perhaps more suited at times to the former.  I always enjoy anthologies, and this little collection was a real treat, I have to say; I would defy anyone not to enjoy it.

There were a couple of things about the book which perhaps weren’t my cup of tea.  I won’t lie, the second story lost me a little (and my apologies to that particular author); I also nitpicked a few issues with the proof at times.  Its contemporary aspect definitely leant toward the unrelenting inclusive culture discourse so characteristic of our times, which of course I don’t have any particular issue with – other than the fact, perhaps, that the continuous pronoun reference to “they/them” every time the gender-fluid satyr was mentioned became a little distracting; I simply could not stop finding it problematic from an orthodox English language point of view.  I certainly won’t hold that against this cracking collection, though, which is so much more than mere social commentary. 

Well written and presented with genuine quality and professionalism, sure, but most of all this book is good fun, without going too far in any direction.  These are mysterious tales of the unexpected, with a real old-school feel; a traditional storytime format for our modern times.  I know there is much more to come from this publishing house and its talented group of authors, and I for one look forward to it with a great deal of anticipation.  And I’m sure, if you like pure fiction, that you’ll enjoy these as much as I did.