Much, much love and 4,5* for this one! 2016 really has mostly great books in stock for me.
It takes quite a while to really take off, but I was submerged right from the start anyway. So I won't take a star for it. If you are looking for a "thrown right in the action" start, you might mind it more than me though. It also has slower parts in the middle, where we just live day to day live in the desert town of Fell Falls with the main character - not much action in there either, but I found it quite interesting anyway.
I really like the main character, even though he quite often acts out of character for a 13 year old. Don't believe this is a YA book, due to the young protagonist - it most certainly is not. It has some quite grim, bloody and gory parts. It also has a lot of dark humor, that I absolutely adore! This book had me snorting and grinning all the way through. Bloodthirsty swearing, murderous fairies, an aunt who is working as an undertaker, an often drunken vagabond for a friend and monsters containing of railroad parts make for an amazing read! The balance between humor, blood, action, plot, character development, worldbuilding and magic was just perfect for me.
The prose was really good, and kept me engaged all the way through.
The book sometimes directly addresses the reader, something I usually hate, as it throws me out of the story - but somehow with this one it didn't bother me - maybe because the rest kept me so well grounded in the story.
1/4 star missing for some typos and errors along the way, and another 1/4 for the "magick", that could have played a way bigger part in the story - some other magical creatures made up for part of it though.
This might not be for everyone - but it was right up my alley, and I already bought the whole trilogy!