I really wanted to like this novel, but it just wasn't for me

I was quite excited to read this book because it's set in Elizabethan London, but I just couldn't connect with the characters and the world-building felt very confusing.

Thank you to Farrago Books for the e-ARC!

This is a very intriguing book, and I can see myself liking it some other time. But I wasn't interested in it that much at the moment.

So much fun! Wasn’t expecting the opening at all and it just kept getting better from there. I had such a good time with the prose, the underground setting, the old London and the personalities of the dragons. Recommending it to everyone!

Really cool cover, just couldn’t get into the story at all, took me so long to finish and by the point I did finish I couldn’t remember much about the story

I really enjoyed this book, the story, characters, immersive queerness. Only suggestion would be a definition guide. We’re introduced to several types of beings but left without full explanations of what they are. Definitely recommend this book.

In an alternative Elizabethan London, supernatural creatures like vampires, zombies, and werewolves are abundant. Fang and Lazare are both killed, but manage to come back to life immediately. Somehow, they’ve gained the power of immortality. Additional, Fang has grown wings and Lazare can create illusions. They team up, along with a dragon, to figure out what happened to them and find themselves catching feelings for one another along the way.

I thought this was a cozy and lighthearted read. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Amber the dragon, and thought the premise was interesting. The romance was cute, but very much insta-love. It definitely would have benefited from a bit more tension and build up. I didn't really get Elizabethan London vibes from the setting which was a little bit disappointing. The characters used pretty modern language and there really wasn’t much to indicate that the setting was from that time period. While I did enjoy the overall story, the stakes were pretty low and I was never really invested in it.

Many thanks to Farrago Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Sadly ,I've had to do a soft dnf for now and come back to the book in the future. I think the writing was very good. Based on what I've read so far I would still recommend this to people I know would love this type of story.

Interesting mystery plot. I liked how the characters were written and I was invested in their story. They had great banter but this was a case of insta lost and there wasn't much build up of their relationship.

Ghost jokes and romps around the shadowy underworld of Elizabethan London, Cursed Under London is an historical romantasy that follows Fang and Lazare who are trying to undo some strange magic which has bound them together (but is that necessarily a bad thing). However, in doing this they also find themselves in the middle of a dangerous plot. It’s all a bit tongue in cheek, perhaps not exactly my kind of humour but it’s fast paced, light hearted and an easy read. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

Laugh out loud, cosy adjacent fantasy.

Liked:
Fast paced, witty characters, comedic action and an all round good time. The banter and found family was brilliantly done. The humour did read more on the YA side than adult but in either case was entirely British which I loved.

Dislike:
Set in an alternate Elizabethan London, I would have liked less modern language or at least a little more of a nod to the time period it was set in.

Thank you to NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for review.

Fantastic read, loved the plot and the characters. Found the writing ok to get my head around and felt the book had a good pace.

I got the ebook ARC from Netgalley ages ago, and fell horribly behind on reading it until now. But this is a really excellent piece of alternate Elizabethan fantasy, with a very diverse and personable cast of characters of various degrees of magic about them. You have little dragons, half-fae children, alchemists and undead actors. I'm so impressed with the world-building with actual historical details and characters, albeit with magical twists. And mostly, it's just straight up funny and thrilling and so sweet in balanced measures. The romance is almost secondary to the main quest journey, but a source of hilarious and horny character interactions. Also the author is also the narrator and does an incredible job of distinguishing character voices, even in the texture of voices when the POV shifts.

Cursed Under London by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch was fun, but not mind-blowing. The premise was super cool—think underground adventures, curses, and all kinds of weirdness—but the execution didn’t quite hit the mark for me. The humor and wit were on point, but sometimes the pacing felt a little all over the place, and I wasn’t super invested in the characters.

That said, it definitely had its moments. If you’re into quirky, lighthearted urban fantasy with some dark magic sprinkled in, it’s worth a read, just don’t expect to be totally wowed.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I didn’t get to finish this book, I got a new Amazon prime account and my kindle deleted everything associated with my previous account including all of my downloads and I only just figured out why it wasn’t appearing whenI tried re-sending to my kindle multiple times. Now I’ve finally found the source of my problem and changed/updated the kindle email and can now download books again. It really messed up my reviews for all of the books I’d requested over the past few months, I apologize. I liked what I was able to read so that’s what I’m rating.

Cursed Under London was an interesting read, but it didn't make me want to read it. I finished it because I refuse to DNF a book but found myself skimming some parts. It's got a great setting and good writing, it was just slow and I struggled to finish it.

Fun! I had a tinyyy bit of an issue with the tone, some parts escalated way too quickly, but i loved the characters, the world felt very lived in and the worldbuilding was very fun and , VERY Discworld at times!!!!!!! The parts with horror were more scary and violent than i would think and it gave me a bit of whiplash, but it was still fun.

3*

Right, I'll give that a go for you. Here's the review rewritten in British English:

Cursed Under London serves up a delightful romp through an alternate Elizabethan London, blending magic, humour, and adventure.

Following Fang and Lazare, two recently deceased, who find themselves navigating a supernatural underworld chock-full of eccentric creatures and dastardly forces.

Crouch's imaginative world-building crafts a vivid setting where the ordinary and magical coexist. The well-drawn characters lend both emotional heft and comic relief to the narrative.

That said, the plot can be a tad overwhelming at times, given the sheer number of characters and subplots, which might leave some readers in a bit of a muddle.

While the humour is generally spot-on, it occasionally overshadows the more serious bits, creating a somewhat uneven tone.

Not my favorite book, but still pretty cute. I could see myself recommending this to someone. Not for me, but not bad by any means.

A cosy fantasy that kept hooked and turning pages. Gabby Hutchinson Crouch delivers another excellent novel, a historical cosy fantasy set in an alternative London.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine