I normally steer clear of books that have magic as their central theme as they are not really my cup of tea, but I am really glad that I gave this one a go, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. While it's central story is about a demon that needs to be banished by magical means, it's actually a character based story that is much more about the people and the journey that they take to get to their goal.

The book starts with a bang and a bunch of characters who you know very little about. As they embark on a journey through wilderness Russia, you start to learn their back stories, motivations and much more of the version of the world that they inhabit. All of the characters go on a journey, and none feel short changed, you feel real empathy for them all by the end of the story even if some of them seem eminently unlikeable at the start.

The author also pulls no punches, this is a brutal plot that reveals it's nasty side as the book goes on, things are hinted at early on but then it gets revealed that the reality of events that have been alluded to are far more horrific than you expect. The last third of the book is an absolute page turner, it's impossible to put it down as the revelations and the action move towards a brilliant conclusion. And the ending is impossible to predict. The way the author has dealt with the characters and situations up to that point leaves no certainties that this is going to be a 'happy' ending, and the ending and aftermath is well written and believable.

In short, a white knuckle read that I would recommend to anyone who likes their novels a little on the darker side.

I'm sorry to say that this book just wasn't for me. It's not a genre I particularly like so that might be why I didn't enjoy it. I was expecting something quite different so a little disappointed to discover it was a mixture of fantasy and magic.

Initially, I thought it was going to be a thriller judging by the cover, but I was very shocked to find out it was actually fantasy.
It was an interesting read for me, even though I think it lacks something. It was intriguing, but it was kind of messy.

One star is a little unfair because I didn't read enough of the book to give it a proper rating. I read mostly physiological thrillers, but they are usually based in reality. I'm afraid the magic and fantasy just didn't work for me. The last magical fantasy books I read as an adult were the Harry Potter books which I loved, but they flowed with ease. I tried to read this on many an occasion, and had to re-read a couple of times since time had passed enough to forget. The characters did not grip me for a moment. I couldn't connect and therefore did not care enough to go on. I felt the scene was never sufficiently set to launch into this journey across Russia with dark magical forces to make any sense at all. I have finally admitted defeat. This is most definitely not my genre. If it's any consolation, I also could never get my head around the Game Of Thrones novels, which I suppose to some are vaguely similar in that they are full of fantasy and dragons and prophesies and magic. I suspect if this genre of books is to your liking, it may well be an entertaining novel.

An intriguing concept but the constant flashbacks to different time periods made it very difficult to follow. The characters were well matched but didn't feel fully fleshed out - the lack of depth made it hard to relate to or connect with any of them, which in turn made me less invested in the outcome.
There was so much potential in this book, I'd be very interested to see what the author gives us next.

To say I struggled with this was an understatement. From the first page I was confused, has this been translated from another language??

The synopsis was misleading, to say it was based in London was completely wrong unless you count the 10 minutes in the book it was!

The characters weren't developed enough as you only having flashbacks of their past and the Demon wasnt strong enough in character.

The writing was 'ok' but just not in depth enough for me.

Thanks to netgalley and Canelo for the ARC.

Ugh, I made it. I marked it as DNF for a few days but it broke my heart to not be able to push through it. So I read some stuff I liked and then came back to just put up with it and marathon read it tonight to get it off my list.

It took me 10 minutes reading the first page and I was thoroughly lost. This story uses the technique of starting in the present day and then giving you flashbacks to fill in the history as to how we ended up here. It also tells the story from multiple perspectives but that's also easily followable. These techniques were not a problem in and of themselves, but the execution was horrendous. So much history was missing at the start that you instantaneously hated every single character and I couldn't recover from that. Every character is a selfish criminal with very foul language. It's hard to want anything positive for any of them involved.

The plot synopsis is also grossly misleading - this is set in London for about 10 minutes of reading and in fact the overwhelming majority of the time we're confined to a cargo carriage on a train rolling through Siberia to an Abra version of Stonehenge. The story blurb lures you in with the idea of magic in the back alleys of London but it just isn't that at all. I love stories of magic mixed in with reality and the ability for writers to almost convince you magic is real. This was not one of those stories.

The idea was there - the book that should have been written based on the synopsis would be amazing. What this turned out to be was not it. You need at least one positive character - one person you want to root for to make it worth devoting your time to read about their struggle. There wasn't a single one for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this - I'm so sorry this just didn't measure up to what I had hoped for it.

This one was really interesting to me. As a big fantasy reader, I was quite shocked that this book was fantasy, considering the 'thriller-esque' cover design. Simply looking at the cover, I'd think that this was a serial killer thriller set in some snowy wilderness. Having now read the book, I think it would portray the story a lot better with some sort of demon figure/face included in the image. But anyway, back to the book review.

I found this book very intriguing. It throws you in this chaotic, dark and desperate suspense almost immediately, and you sort of have to take a moment and be like 'okay, this is where I'm at'. I like the chronology, the way we flit between different protagonists and different times. It could have easily been quite confusing but I think it was done really well. I do think the intense suspense of the whole story is so heightened from the very beginning, that it doesn't allow for much of a climax. It keeps the same tense level throughout the entire book, so the ending just doesn't feel as impactful as it should.

I do think this is written and edited very well, however I need some moments of calm to juxtapose the moments of suspense. I did feel scared through some of it, which I enjoyed, but it sort of feels like the middle of a story. It's almost as if there's no beginning, no introduction for the reader; this does produce the interesting idea of throwing you straight into the mayhem, but it's almost too much too soon, and not something that I would want to read often.

Overall I'd give this 3/5 stars.

I found the premise of this book intriguing but in actuality I found it difficult to get on with. The characters were interesting but not as well developed as I would have liked them to be, due to the necessity of only getting to know them through flashback. I also found the demon character lacked menace for me. There were a couple of interesting twists but I wouldn't go out of my way to read another book.

The End of the Line by Gray Williams is a fantasy thriller, with a small group of people trapped by doing a job, transporting a demon to Siberia in the hopes of sending it back to where it came from.

The story jumps between present day and the past, telling the story of how they got into this situation, and some background for the characters.

This was one of those books where I found I didn't actually like some of the characters, and you're not meant to, but I was still rooting for them.

To me, The End of the Line is an original spin on thriller concept. I haven't read a book that looks at the same topics, and to have the countdown happening at the top of every chapter in the present does give it that edge of the seat feeling.

If you enjoy thrillers, then give this a go!

The End of the Line was published on 8th July 2019, and is available to buy on Amazon and on Waterstones (audio CD only for Waterstones!). I've found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Gray Williams on Twitter, or through his website.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Canelo (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

As a fan of the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch, I was eagerly looking forward to reading another magical fantasy based in London. The book was very different to my expectations as it was a much darker, demonic story, with no redeeming characters and much of the story took place in Russia, not London, as anticipated from reading the description of the book.

Maybe I found the book disappointing because of my aforementioned expectations, but it was too dark and depressing for me. I feel if the description had been more accurate, it would find a fanbase amongst those who enjoy demonic thrillers rather than the magical book it was made out to be.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was an interesting book, different to the genre that I normally read. Unfortunately I was a little disappointed, although it was fascinating throughout, it didn't live up to all it's promises but I enjoyed delving into the world of magic.

Though not normally a reader of ‘Magic’ books I found this one gripping. The time lapse style of writing makes it sometimes difficult to endure at times but it is worth it, honestly. The ending with its twist and believable finish is worth all the wait, though the book doesn’t flag at all. Maybe I would read another ‘Magic’ book if it was as good as this one

This book didn't deliver what I expected - the description led me to think we were dealing with a Ben Aaronovitch or Paul Cornell style tale in modern london with an underpinning magical world - albeit at the darker end of the fantasy spectrum. The novel, which arguably never intended to be read as this, is a very different beast, and not one that I particularly bought into. The world building is solid, but i think a more agreeable character (just one!) might have helped it come alive for me. I’m all up for reading about flawed anti-heroes but this was just a bit grim!
In all honesty i don’t think the marketing did this any favours - there’s an audience for this book if it is guided in the right direction.

The End of the Line by Gray WIlliams.

I read the description and thought it would be a fantastic book. Loved the idea and the themes of magic and demons with the heist thrown in too.

Sadly I didnt enjoy this book. I didnt gel with any of the characters and found it very difficult to even like the main protagonists in it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Canelo for the ARc. (Review is my own opinion)

An unlikely team is working together to rid the world of a dangerous demon, each with their own hidden motives for being there. Will they succeed, and if so, at what cost? This book is fairly dark and violent for something marketed as a YA. The story is told through multiple viewpoints and skips from past to present and back again. Amanda, our main protagonist, is a broken character in many ways, and her connection to the demon unravels slowly over the course of the novel. I see how this book will appeal to a certain audience but the violence was a bit much for me, even if some of the underlying moral questions are interesting ones. How far will you go to save a loved one before you become a monster yourself? If forced to choose between one loved one vs the other what will you decide? 2.5 stars from me.

This was an interesting book and I am torn over which rating I should give – it was really fast paced from the very beginning and unlike anything I have read before and I loved the premise of the novel but the execution left a lot to be desired. Most of the action takes place on a train where a group of criminals are trying to dispose of a demon which they inadvertently raised to help them with a heist!

The bones of a good story are here and I liked the mix of fantasy and gritty thriller, however I didn’t really connect with any of the characters perhaps because they were criminals and I didn’t really feel any empathy for them. I also felt that some aspects of the plot were confusing or not explained and there was a lot of info dumping and too many characters as well to keep track of. The writing was just OK but as this is the author’s first book it will hopefully improve and they have some amazing ideas.

Undercover magic, with a depth of horror. This thrilling tale opens as fast as the crash happens. Exciting demonic thriller.

This is certainly a unique setting; a present-day London where magic is outlawed, crime is violent and magicians are useful for criminal gangs. One gang tries to raise a demon, thinking that they can control and bind it, only to quickly find that no one has that ability and that they now need to destroy what they've made. Enter Amanda Coleman, Abra (magic-user) murderer, magic hater and damaged woman, alongside her band of mis-fit criminals.

The whole novel is dark, gritty and blood-thirsty. It opens with a grisly death and more evidence of how focused and determined Amanda is to reach her goal, no matter the cost.

The majority of the story is told on a long (and very traumatic) train journey to Siberia (not the present and magic London, as promised) as, just because the demon is in chains, doesn't mean that it can't exert a terrifying and psychological control. And, trapped in a carriage, a confined space, with an unspeakable terror watching your every move - that's a strongly chilling setting.

The narrative is told through different characters' POVs, when it suits the story, and through a series of disjointed flashbacks that, although they add to the thriller component, do make it harder to follow the main story (which is both psychological and slow).

The horror was strong in this one, (and there are more trigger warnings than I can list) but so was the repetition. It almost felt as though some of the flashbacks had been included for the sake of completionism, rather than because they added anything new to the story or the characters. And I know that every character is hurting, in so many different, bloody and cringing ways, but I didn't need reminding of that every sentence.

The story, however was clever, and I genuinely didn't know which way this one was going to fall - and I really did appreciate that.

3.5 stars rounded down to 3.

This was a good book, well written with a great plot

But this wasn't my cup of tea, and so I would suggest it to people who enjoy this genre of book.

But it wasn't for me