666 Charing Cross Road , by Paul Magrs

Paperback, 390 pages

Published October 27th 2011 by Headline Review (first published January 1st 2011)

ISBN

0755359488 (ISBN13: 9780755359486)

edition language

English

 

 

In a Manhattan gallery, a strange, undead woman who’s been lost for centuries, is found in a basement and becomes the centrepiece of Shelley’s new museum show. Nicknamed Bessie, the Scottish Bride, she is an overnight celebrity as Christmas approaches.

From the dusty vaults beneath the famed bookshops in Charing Cross Road, Shelley’s bibliophile aunt Liza receives crumbling volumes by post, while her friend Jack prefers brand-new books and his brand-new lover. When a small leather-bound book of spells arrives, Liza finds it repellent. But its arcane magic brings Bessie to life, and enthrals Shelley’s posh boyfriend Daniel – literally. It contains the quintessence of evil in the form of a dark bloodstain marking several pages: vampire blood.

As Daniel’s power grows, everyone’s lives are infected. Soon the vicious vampire infestation rife in NYC threatens to spread to London – and only the Scottish Bride and her new friends can stop it…

 

 

 My Review

Im not really sure what to make of this book in general. It seemed to have something of high interest about it in that it was clearly a fantasy based novel. But to me it came across as a mediocre sort of book, one that was meant to take the mickey out of all the fantasy novels and show how stupid they were in some respects. There were however lots of bits within this novel that really made me chuckle and caught my attention in so many ways and made me think about all the concepts of fantasy novels and how vampires are. I do like the way that the chracters were define but in general the book was not the best well written novel that I had ever read. it was lacking in so much and it failed to have that tendancy to hold me captive within its page. It was boring and dull in the sense that it was rushed in so many places. for me I found the book dull in that it was clearly something that I could put to the side and perhaps not read again.

However the way in which the book was written was different and I enjoyed the authors style. I do feel that perhaps he has a lot of successful novels and though this was not something that actually striked me in such a huge way that meant I had to read over and over, it was something that I could see both positives and negatives about, something that had things that needed to be improved and things that worked perfectly. I think is why I am not really sure what to make of the novel because it was up and down and just oh so very round. it was something that I hated and enjoyed and I am now confused about in many ways. perhaps this is the sort of novel that others will enjoy but who knows. its just odd in its own right.

My rating