A fun summer read that I think readers of all ages would thoroughly enjoy. I highly recommend this book, especially if you want something to keep you full wondering what will happen next

Nick Paris is a man of logic. So staring down at a dead fairy has the detective at a loss and it's only the beginning.
Suddenly the inspector is offering political asylum to dwarves, consulting with witches, getting tactical advice from elves and taking orders from a chain-smoking talking crow who outranks him. The inspector will have to put logic aside and accept all this to save his city.
The narration was really good. The pace was kept me invested.
It was a great mash up of fantasy and crime fighting.

This one was not for me.

I really struggled with the story and characters.

Might be for you but unfortunately not for me.

I really wanted to like this book but the narrator was just not my cup of tea. I think if I actually read through it myself I could enjoy it more because murder and a mystery what's not to love?

Thank you Netgalley and Saga Egmont Audio for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

I couldn't finish this book. I wanted to like it, but I thought it fell flat. I gave it a really good shot but it ended up being a DNF at about 65%. I really wanted to like this book because the premise sounded good, but it just wasn't for me. I didn't like the "comical quips" as they all felt like dad jokes. The writing just wasn't good.

I will not be reviewing this on Goodreads as I didn't finish it.

A fun and different take on the usual police drama. Enjoyable and amusing in parts, but very much more is more and could have definitely had a little less than the kitchen sink thrown in!

Thanks to NetGalley, Andy Redsmith and Saga Egmont Audio for an eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I realize I cannot enjoy everything I read and I had requested this one solely on the line Douglas Adams meets Neil Gaiman. The characters felt a little flat in this one and I just couldn't find myself excited to pick it up to read. I just wasn't vibing with the way the two genres were meshing, which could totally be based on my attitude at the time and not the book itself. I will still keep this in mind for patrons who are looking for a pairing of the two genres.

Unfortunately, the topic of police procedures dealing with mystical creatures was not as funny as I thought it would be. It was hard to get invested in the story because the characters were very flat, and I felt no connection to them, which is important even in a silly story like this.

Still, it’s a fun easy read for anyone looking to pick up something light.

I rarely listen to audiobooks so I wasn't so sure that I would like it but I really enjoyed the whole story. If like me you enjoy police investigations and urban fantasy, you'll be thrilled! A real game-changer was the narrator, John Last, who did an excellent job at acting all the jokes, intonations, voices, and accents. I also felt back in Manchester for a while which was truly pleasing (fairies deaths aside). A very good discovery all in all! Thank you, NetGalley and An Inspector Paris Mystery for this audio!

I received the audio book Breaking the Lore by Andy Redsmith from NetGalley for review. It was original and creative. This urban fantasy that combined a detective story with the supernatural was light hearted and funny. As a detective, how would you investigate the murder of a tiny fairy? And how would you handle the elves and dwarves that show up for protection? I enjoyed this easy listen.

Breaking The Lore by Andy Redsmith is an extremely clever fantastical urban mystery. Inspector Nick Paris is the British version of Humphrey Bogart from the Maltese Falcon. He is a man's man who enjoys his whiskey and has no time for nonsense; that is until the murder of a fairy. Yep, a Tinkerbell size fairy.

Then as dwarves, elves and witches are looking to Nick for a safe haven from the demons attacking their realm we meet my favorite character, Malbus the talking chain smoking crow.

As outlandish as this creative story may sound I have to applaud narrator John Last for giving a hard drinking skeptic tone to Nick and then a harsh gravelly voice to the snarky Malbus. Alice in Wonderland meets Game of Thrones with a lot of comedic relief in Book One of this fun new series.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Saga Egmont Audio via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

The urban fantasy novel, Breaking the Lore, is the first book of The Inspector Paris Mystery series, and likely to appeal to fans of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series. It follows the adventures of Inspector Nick Paris, who unexpectedly finds himself immersed in a case that involves a dead fairy, dwarves, elves and a talking crow. It's a fun romp, even if the humor is a bit crude and one has to be very good at suspending disbelief to swallow parts of it.

Breaking the Lore is exactly the type of urban fantasy I would expect to read in an American setting and I cannot express how refreshing it was to read one set in Manchester. John Last's narration added to the Britishness of the narrative, particularly when it came to giving Nick Paris a voice.

The inclusion of so many different characters made the story engaging and incredibly fast paced as there were so many things to introduce and new directions to take the plot in.

While the writing did seem clunky at time, the narration made up for it and Nick Paris became an almost stereotypical policeman, thrown into the magical world.

Thank you to Saga Egmont Audio and NetGalley for providing a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Saga Egmont Audio for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘Breaking the Lore’ by Andy Redsmith in exchange for an honest review. It is narrated by John Last.

I had originally read both this and its sequel in 2019 and enjoyed them both very much. So I was very happy that both novels have now been issued as audiobooks.

With respect to the audiobook, British actor John Last reads the novel in a very straightforward manner; as if murdered fairies, talking crows, dwarves, demons, and the like are quite normal everyday occurrences in Manchester. Thus, I felt that the comedy flowed quite naturally. He also managed various characters’ accents with ease.

My review for the 2019 Canelo edition: Manchester Police Inspector Nick Paris is a man of logic and certainly doesn’t believe in magic. So when he is called to a murder scene with a victim who is fifteen centimetres tall and has wings his perception of reality is challenged. Before long he is dealing with a host of magical creatures, consulting a local witch, and an army of demons intent on invading Manchester.

This was a great deal of fun and had me in stitches more than once. Redsmith clearly had fun with various police procedural/crime tropes such as the jaded, hard-drinking detective. Some of the jokes were cheesy but overall a thumbs up.

There are plenty of great characters with special shout-outs to Cassandra, the aforementioned local witch, and Malbus, a talking, chain-smoking crow, who to Nick’s annoyance is a Chief Inspector in the Magic Police and so technically outranks him.

This is Redsmith’s debut novel and the first in a planned series featuring Inspector Paris and friends. I look forward to reading more in due course.

I'm really sorry but try as I might, I just couldn't get in to this audiobook., even after several attempts. I really love police procedurals and I love the fantasy genre as well so this should have really whet my appetite. However, the fusion of the two genres just didn't work for me, and I couldn't take the plot seriously. For me, the narrator did a great job, with a variety of voices but the plot was a problem.

Thank you for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Andy Redsmith is hilarious. I love Inspector Paris and this whole crew and this story is absolutely binge-worthy. It's both gritty and funny, with a bit of inappropriate humor mixed in with the action. My only complaint is the narration; while it wasn't terrible it also didn't grab me and pull me into the story very well. I honestly gave up on the Audiobook version and downloaded the e-book because I wanted the rest of the story, but dreaded having to endure listening to it.

5 Star story, 1 star Narration

I was given a free copy of this Audiobook by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received an audiobook copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

This book was hilarious. And interesting, and mysterious! A nice combination, to be sure. I enjoyed the characters quite a bit. Lots of assumptions about mystical creatures are turned around and used against the reader, which I quite enjoyed. The protagonists were clever, well thought out, and funny as heck. I liked seeing the humans and magic folk working together- more believable than stuffy high brow fantasy.

The narrator was excellent. No trouble listening at all- well spoken, fun voices, and a good pace. Definitely added to the atmosphere of the story. I highly recommend the audiobook version!

Malbus the chain smoking crow absolutely takes the staring role in this book, as he really made me laugh. He was the best and worst teacher about the magical world, far more focused on how many cigerattes he could persuade Paris to share with him than anything else.

I was interested originally in this book as it was suggested for fans of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series, but I don't feel it quite hit the mark to be compared to that. I will follow the series as it was an easy read and good fun however.

Breaking the Lore is a different take on the crime mystery with fantasy beings.

I enjoyed how Andy Resmith introduced the magical beings to the overly logical Inspector Nick Paris. It was also nice that the book is based in Manchester. Especially as I was listening to the book it was fun hearing different northern accents. As it's something that I don't get to hear enough in other books.

Breaking the Lore isn't the normal murder mystery, as you know quickly who the murder is. But it's the reason behind the murder that is the real mystery.

One of my favourite aspects is how the Manchester police accept the magical being. That once they realise magic was real they just accepted it and even cheered for them.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the drinking aspect of Nick Paris character, but it will be interesting to see how this changes in future books.

Shout out to the different t way that they battle the big bad.

Overall I enjoyed the book and its changes to Manchester and its police force.

My Rating for Breaking the Lore is 3.5 out of 5.

Thanks Saga Egmont Audio and Netgalley for the ALC of Before The Lore.
This was a urban fantasy mystery. While investigating on a murder, inspector Nick Paris came across the shocking truth of existence of magical creatures and Vanethria.
The mystery part was intriguing but the fantasy part was not as fantastic as I expected. The characters didn't amaze me. John Last's narration was delightful. Overall, it was an okay book.