Many thanks to Orbit Books, Vivian Shaw, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased opinion.

What an original beginning to what I'm sure will be an amazing fantasy book series! We meet Dr. Greta Helsing (family dropped the Van generations ago) in the middle of the night making a house call...at a vampire's house...to treat a vampyre...so obviously she's not the typical GP. Oh, sure may carry a black bag and dole out antibiotics, but her patients lean more toward the supernatural side of things. Of course, when events take a turn for the worse, they too have more of a paranormal attitude.

It's quite obvious Shaw has delved into some deep research; either that or she has some far-reaching interests. Her author story states that she enjoys reading up on various topics, and I think that has certainly come in handy here. Just the creation of a formulation of an herbal toxic concoction alone is impressive. She has two Tolkien references, one extremely important to the storyline. I found myself bookmarking literary allusions to follow up on. Some I've read years ago; some I've heard of.

Of the characters Varney seems quite human. He's "melancholic", he has a crush, he feels like he doesn't belong. He wants to be liked and loved. Cranshaw, on the other hand, I found rather annoying. He's supposed to be a researcher and perhaps curator of a museum, but his speech is abhorrent. He's like a little brother poking the other characters on the shoulder all of the time for attention. I think I understand why he was written this way, as he is pivotal to the denouement and needs to be a bit weak-minded. Greta's partners in her practice, Dezda and Anna, I also found worth knowing. I'm hoping they become more prominent as the books are published.

What I'm taking away from this read, apart from the enjoyment factor and the need to read ANOTHER fantasy series, is the ubiquitous good vs. evil plot-this time the good being not always who one thinks it will be and the evil easily feeding off fear or hatred that can be found inside people because of the differences they don't understand. Those differences are evident when speaking of werewolves or mummies, but they aren't so different when we are speaking of Jews or gypsies, the handicapped or mentally ill, the homeless or unemployed. Think on it.

Strange Practice is a delightful story of an overworked doctor who treats the supernatural denizens of London. Humour, horror, romance, action and religion are deftly woven together to create a thoroughly engaging novel.

A fun dark fantasy novel about healing all sorts of supernatural creatures. A lot of fun!

That was quite a bit different as I expected, but in the end I quite loved it. It's a different sort of urban fantasy - well to be honest it was what I expected a different book to be like (SHAMBLING GUIDE).

Greta is at first a bit too clinical for my tastes, but those around her warm her up quite a bit. Fass, Ruthven, Varney and Cranswell, to name the important people for this book. There's also Anna and Dez, who I hope we see more of going forward and the Ghouls were surprisingly interesting for all that the image freaked me out a bit.

Greta is of age with me, which was a nice change of pace for an urban fantasy heroine (who seem to all favor the mid-20s range) and I appreciated that her duty to her calling is what grounded her. It stressed her out, forced into odd hours and weird situations that she wasn't always fully prepared for, but in the end its what she needed in her life to feel as if she had meaning.

At times Varney got on my nerves with his "I AM SO PITIFUL AND HOW CAN YOU STAND TO BE NEAR ME" - he envies Ruthven for the ease to which he moves in the world, but also seems repulsed by the fact Ruthven isn't as despairing as he. His inner monologue at times almost seemed spiteful as he listed all the ways Ruthven was both a better man and worst monster than he.

The monks were very chilling; viscerally so as our nominal heroes could not really grasp the why of them. Religious fanatics are evermore, you'll find them throughout history in every civilization and religious sect. Sometimes its as innocent as someone who desperately wants to believe and is taken advantage of (as one such monk finds here) and other times someone sees it as their ticket to power (as another monk seems to be). Shaw blends both ways and throws in the supernatural for fun (though truthfully, even without the preternatural side, I could very well see a group of fanatical extreme religious sorts behave this way).

There's a lot of humor here, some of it dark and some of it dry. I found Fass' friend Sam to be truly delightful and surprisingly the Ghouls were quite interesting. While some of the creatures here are well known (Vampires namely, though werewolves and mummies get name-dropped and discussed), there are some who don't often appear in fiction as anything other then personality-less monsters. Through Shaw's eyes, as the book is predominantly centered on what goes on around her with occasional digressions to the others, we see these creatures as just another kind of species. The Ghouls have a complex social system as we learn, Mummies have an interesting hierarchy to themselves and the battle between good and evil is basically a bureaucratic juggling act with neither side particularly wanting to win because who wants that kind of paperwork?

Overall I really enjoyed this jaunt on the weird side of London and the teaser at the end for the next book has me eager for more!