Top Five Book Series - #5

I thought I'd do a new, occasional feature here at PRN looking at my top five things in certain categories that just come to mind. For the first list, I'm going to look at my favourite series of novels (single books would make it too difficult to limit to just 5, or even 15). I should point out that the order is somewhat fluid depending on my feelings at the time.

Anyway, let's start with...

5. Felix Castor series by Mike Carey

I almost went with Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books as my fifth choice. Both those and Mike Carey's Felix Castor books are similar, in that they both concern investigators of the supernatural, are written in the first person and feel like pulpy detective novels. And, of course, both are highly entertaining and most definitely recommended.

However, the first Felix Castor novel - The Devil You Know - was my introduction into the modern urban fantasy genre of books, is set in England (specifically London) and is by a writer of X-Men comics. Hence, it makes the list ahead of the Dresden Files! Admittedly, I only read Carey's book first because Storm Front (the first Dresden book) wasn't available at the library but hey, it's my list.

In a way, these books blend bits of the horror genre - ghosts, zombies, werewolves and demons feature - with a little bit of magic regarding exorcists abilities to control and banish these creatures and sets them in the modern day world. What I like about the Felix Castor books is that the existence of the supernatural are known by everyone. They're not common, and most people tend to want to ignore the existence of ghosts and the like, but they're not hidden, secretive phenomena known only to a very small number of people. There's even mention of the government bringing about laws concerning the returned souls.

Overall, the Felix Castor books are a fantastic read, as I stated in my review of the first book. They certainly rank up there at the top of the urban fantasy books.

The Devil You Know (by Mike Carey)

Firstly, I thought I'd point out that this Devil You Know is the starting volume of the Felix Castor series of books by Mike Carey and should not be confused with other Devil You Know books - there's a lot with that title!

Anyway, sometime ago, I was looking through my local library for Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books, couldn't find any, and so had a look at this. I know Mike Carey's name from the Vertigo and X-Men comic books and the write-up on the back sounded interesting. And after the first few pages, I was hooked.

This is a great book and is easily in my top ten. In a similar vein to Dresden, the main character of this book - Felix Castor - is a freelance exorcist who is hired to remove a ghost from a London archive. Felix is like a modern day, English Marlowe; he's more of a wisecracking, tough psychic private detective than a priestly exorcist. The best bit about the book though is the way Carey mixes ghosts, zombies and were-creatures into modern-day Britain. These creatures definitely exist in this world, many people have seen them or know about them, and they are even recognized by the government - which, of course, causes a shed-load of legal issues.

This mystery/whodunnit/thriller/horror/urban fantasy novel seems to zip along and is very easy to read. Perhaps it helps that Carey is British (born in the Northwest but now in London) and writes with an English voice? The only slight criticism I'd have is that near the end there's a bit too much of an info dump as a lot of what's gone on before gets explained - a bit like the end of every Scooby Doo show. But that's a minor quibble; I'd certainly recommend this book, as it's one of the best I've read in a long time.

His second book in the series - Vicious Circle - is just as good as well and an excellent continuation of this Felix Castor series. I also just ordered the third book - Dead Men's Boots - from my library, so expect a review of that in the near future. There's also a fourth book (Thicker than Water) out and a fifth (The Naming of the Beasts) is on its way.

If you like urban fantasy books like the aforementioned "Harry Dresden" novels or Simon R Green's "Nightshade" series, then you'll definitely like this. Grade: Near Mint.