There’s something about that English countryside that seems to attract flying saucers 🛸, tardises, Hogwarths, and now an inter dimensional bridge between the magical world and ours. It’s perhaps something about the prim and proper British that perhaps juxtaposes well with magical worlds. Through that bridge are bounding by the bushel fairies, taking crows, elves, dwarves,trolls, centaurs, and demons. And to do battle with the fell hordes of demonic evil beings is Inspector Paris and a handful of enlightened creatures. And, Paris scarcely believed in magic. But, he’s got no choice but to save his world from certain destruction.

Don’t take this one for high fantasy or epic fantasy and you’ll do okay. It’s half farcical and half fantasy adventure. Look, the princess is a giant smelly rock troll. Hiding a giant demon from a curious public can be downright nasty. And centaurs and demons doing battle can waste to half of Birmingham. It’s filled with quips and asides and stuff like that.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

I enjoyed the concept of this one more than the execution, I'm afraid... The "For Fans of" listed one of my favorite authors (Ben Aaronovitch), but also one that I could never quite get into despite, again, loving the ideas just not the way they played out (Douglas Adams) - I should have taken that dichotomy to heart while reading... (NB: I think the two authors are worlds apart in style and approach, so they were an odd pairing of comparables to me anyway.)

The world-within-the-world construct is one I generally enjoy, and the way it is set up here was novel and interesting to me. But the story itself seemed a little banal and slow-paced for what it was. Redsmith's characters - both magical and non - were all so blase about everything, despite the wildness that was unfolding around them. The red herrings and misdirections were rolled out with little fanfare and explained away with even less. It felt like a carefully constructed book, rather than one that told itself - there were opportunities for drama and conflict that felt a little overly managed and explained away; a little rampant tomfoolery or wild emotive action would have gone a long way toward making this one roll downhill in a pleasant vertigo-inducing way...

It wasn't an unenjoyable book so much as one that felt like it never quite hit its stride. Still, the concept was intriguing enough that I'd give another book a chance - there's great fun potential here, and it's possible that now that the stage is set Redsmith can dive in with both feet rather than gingerly test the waters, as it often felt like he did here...

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Canelo for the ARC.

This book is truly entertaining; mix together some Ghostbusters, Men in Black, a touch of StarGate, and use of a Jedi's power of persuasion, pour in streams of one-liners, puns and a pinch of sarcasm, and be prepared to smile, chuckle and laugh.
When I began reading this book I started off thinking 'this is just so silly' - but really, it isn't - it is well written and cleverly constructed FUN! This would make a great film. Hats off to Andy Redsmith for his fantastic imagination.

Inspector Nick Paris relies on whisky and contemplation to solve baffling cases in Manchester. His partner, Bonetti is, well, a bonehead, who misinterprets anything said to him.
Called out to a murder scene, at the bottom of someone's garden, they find the cruciform body of a 15cm tall fairy. A cover-up operation quickly ensues to convince the householder and media that in fact it was a doll which had been placed there.
Back home with his whisky and cigarettes, Nick tries to puzzle the case. Now, the reader, as with myself, could be forgiven for concluding that the subsequent events were all part and parcel of Nick's enormous alcohol consumption - but no, oh no! Enter Malbus the talking crow - who also smokes - who has something important to tell Nick about the significance of the dead fairy.

Subsequently Nick finds himself in the company of elves, dwarves, fairies, centaurs and rock trolls.
A secret gateway between the human and magical worlds has been accessed by the magical creatures for centuries, only now an army of demons in the magical world has discovered it and intend to invade - Manchester in the first instance.
It's up to Nick Paris, partner Bonetti, his magical helpers and Cassandra - an enigmatic witch expert - to prevent it.

I loved it - thoroughly recommended, even if, like me, this is a major departure from the more 'usual' mystery/thriller read. Go On - Have A Laugh.

I am a big fan of Aaronovitch, so was intrigued as to how another book about policemen and magic could be different. Delighted to say it is. It shares with Aaronovitch great characters, excellent sidekicks and plausible magical creatures. However it approaches the magic in a different way, from the viewpoint of sceptic rather than practitioner and is set in Manchester rather than London. It is great fun and well worth a read. Thankyou to Canelo and Netgalley for providing me with a free ARC.

Is it the best, most powerful and moving book ever? Absolutely not. Is it entertaining, full of funny parts and endearing characters? I think so!

I only gave it three stars because I laughed out loud so many times, plus the basis of the story is unique.

The ending was a letdown, but I think there will be more books so it’s bound to get better

Imagine you live in a world without magic, like ours. Imagine you are an inspector living in Manchester, the UK. Imagine that everything you thought to be true is wrong. There is magic, there are magical creatures and you are in the middle. Nick Paris thinks he is going to have another murder investigation. But what he finds instead is a dead fairy. And that is just the beginning. He meets elves, dwarves, witches, demons and more fairies, live ones though.

I loved this story soooooo much. Andy Redsmith did a very good job of blending logic with magic. And fun!! I laughed out loud even while taking the bus to get to work. Imagine the stares I got.

I can’t wait for the next one in the series.

I received a copy from Canelo through NetGalley, thank you very much. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of Breaking the Lore.

Nick Paris is a detective who believes in solving crimes with logic and rational deductions.

But when a strange case involving a crucified fairy ends up on his docket, he realizes that there is more to the world than what he sees.

As he tries to prevent a war instigated by demons against the human species, Paris must relinquish all his prejudices and biases about what he knows and open his mind to the possibilities that we don't know everything...and that's not a bad thing.

I like Nick Paris; he's a standard, cop cliche; he drinks too much, he smokes too much, he's single, he's in rotten shape but, he's a decent guy. You can't argue with that.

As members of the supernatural world enter the human world, Nick teams up with an elf, a dwarf, a demon (the nice kind), a witch, and a Queen-singing crow with a cockney accent.

Seriously. These original and kind characters lend Breaking the Lore a whimsical, often hilarious tone that becomes almost too jokey at times. There were moments I would not have minded some serious darkness but that's just me.

Toward the end, the story felt a bit...long. I mean, there's only so much fairies and talking centaurs you can take before you get bored with it all.

I did like Paris and his motley crew, and the way he saves the world; it was amusing and in keeping with the whole tone of the book.

I'd be interested to see what the author has in store for Paris in the second book.

I really enjoyed this read. For me, it offered a lot: faeries, elves, rock trolls, romance and mystery. The pace was good, and each chapter an enjoyable story of its own. My only regret, if you can call it that, is that the romance between Nick and Cassandra could have been a little more jazzy. It was a very much male view? Hard to say, but I’m thinking more to come in book #2? Either way, highly recommend this read for an enjoyable, easy, page turner that is fantasy, meets detective mystery.

Nick Paris is a tough-as-nails, bitter detective, who probably drinks more than he should. Basically, he’s your typical main character in a crime thriller. However, the mystery he’s been thrown into is far from typical: he’s investigating the murder of a tiny fairy. The problem is, he doesn’t believe in magic and is in way over his head.

This book was funny and incredibly clever. I had no idea how the book was going to end, but I didn’t spend much time trying to solve things because I was so busy thoroughly enjoying myself. Nick Paris had a fantastic internal dialogue throughout. Add a loyal but dumb-as-they-come partner, a purple-haired witch, and a gigantic orphaned troll- this book was zany fun!

Things tended to be rather convoluted and confusing at times, but that only added to the fun. I felt bad for poor Nick for a good chunk of the book because he was so far out of his depth and it was an unusual situation for him. While he was a great character, my favorite was either Cassandra, the “magical expert” who took everything in stride and added a wonderful brand of sarcasm to the mix, or the chain-smoking crow. He just cracked me up.

This book was a joy to read, and I look forward to the next book in the series. I hope there will be many more.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was fun, had a great cast of characters,and some brilliant one liners. It was good to read as long as you enjoy light reads you should love this..It made a nice change for me in between the dark thrillers I like to read, it was a refreshing change to enjoy this book.I liked the main character, I also like writers who think outside the box and have a great imagination and this author had both ,and then some.It was great and I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for an ARC.

This turned out to be a whole lot of fun. Plenty of laughs and some interesting ideas too.
It starts with a murdered fairy and a copper who doesn't believe in the mystical and supernatural. With the evidence in front of his eyes though things have to change and soon there is a full supporting cast of elves, dwarves, trolls, demons etc. And a potential invasion of Earth (or at least the posh area of Manchester).

The jokes come thick and fast and, being honest, too thick and fast at times but I got many a funny look from people as I was reading it on the bus and chuckling along.

As the first book in a series it ties up nicely but left me looking forward to visiting these characters again

Thank you NetGalley and Canelo for this arc.

Some of the Manchester police go on a Magical Mystery Tour! This was fun. I loved the dead-pan, completely dry sense of humor and bad puns through out. There was plenty of action broken up with Paris's ruminations and reactions as well as his trying to deal with the office politics of the Police Department. The characters were great, especially Bonetti and Malbus. I found the most charming aspect of the book to be other characters' complete unquestioning acceptance of the world they found themselves in while Paris was befuddled and bemused at all of them/it.

"What? said Paris, his flabber now well and truly gasted.

A book that starts with a crucified fairy and ends with a trial by combat with the weapon of choice being whisky! And in between a whole lot of Terry Pratchett style craziness, I liked this book, it kept me amused and smiling and I hope to see more books with Paris in the future