An enjoyable entry into The Stranger Times series, this new book is a perfect start to the year. Building upon the events of its predecessor, the team investigate a blend of magical reactions among students to nightclub drugs, grave robbers, and the ever-entertaining editor, Banecroft who as I mentioned in a review for one of the previous books, always gets the best lines, facing threats of eternal damnation. Adding brilliant one-liners and Brian (please read the book just to see how quickly this character evolves), and you have a fantastic addition to this series.

C.K. McDonnell's skill as a writer shines as he not only expands the existing world but also introduces new characters who bring depth and excitement to the series. He can also draw multiple strands of the story into one defining conclusion as well as revisiting past characters and storylines helps to enhance the overall series. This latest addition to the series not only stands strong on its own but leaves the reader wanting more - especially after the little teasing excerpt at the end.
Just brilliant as always.
Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to review this early.

Another fun outing, investigating the latest mystery with the staff at The Stranger Times. I am not sure why this wasn't my favourite installment in the series, this was still an enjoyable read.

Its hard not to love this series, its so weird and wonderful with characters that jump out from the page. This is the fourth book and the series is showing no signs of waning.

I don't know which series I enjoy more this or the Bunny Mgarry one.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

Relight My Fire is the fourth book in CK (Caimh) McDonnell's Stranger Times series and, once again, I thoroughly enjoyed the read. I've read nearly everything the man's written and every book is a guaranteed winner for me.

In this book, something weird is happening to the students of Manchester and a tall thin man has been spotted acting strangely in the cemeteries of the city. Then there's madcap action all the way to the end as the gang investigate and try to avoid being squashed, hit by a disembodied head or dragged to hell.

Highly recommended, but read the series in order to get the character arcs and in-jokes!

This 4th instalment in the Stranger Times universe doesn’t disappoint fans of the series.

When a hapless student falls at Stella’s feet, it could have been a romantic gesture. Unfortunately, not when the drop he’s fallen from is the sky and the noise he makes when he hits the pavement is essentially ’splat’.

Welcome to the darkly humorous world of the team from The Stranger Times, an eclectic group of ‘people’ (I use the term loosely here) who publish a newspaper that makes the X-Files look like Newsnight.

I love the humour, I love the characters - the addition of Brian is proof of genius - and this perfectly fills the Pratchett-shaped hole in my universe (although the humour is different.)

If haven’t read the preceding 3 books, buy them first. Fabulous!

With thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House and C K McDonnell for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was so engrossed in the story I forgot to make notes. But I enjoyed this book as much as the others. I love them. The characters are people you want to keep reading about and I always wonder what mess the staff of The Stranger Times will get into next.
Another funny riveting book. I didn't know these funny fantasy books were missing from my life. Definitely made me look for more humorous books in especially in this gene. I'd like more Stranger Times books please :)

Relight My Fire is the fourth book in the Stranger Time Series. The team is back together to solve another strange mystery. The story starts with a falling body that nearly squashes Stella on what she thinks is a normal day at university. But things turn out to get even stranger. I'm not going to go into detail, but trust me, this is another book worth going in knowing very little.

This is another well-written addition to the series. It has a great mix of humour and fantasy, and we get more of the world-building that I have grown to follow since book one.

There are a lot more characters to remember in this one, but they were well done, and I had so much fun with them. It was nice to see familiar characters as well as new ones.

Relight My Fire could probably be read as a standalone, but I would highly recommend you read the books in order so you get to know the characters and the world from the beginning.

I've enjoyed the whole series but think this is the best so far. A great read!!

I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House UK for my digital review copy (eARC). These are my honest and unbiased thoughts, and I am sharing them voluntarily.

My Rating: 4.5 stars

In Stranger Times Book 4, C K McDonnell picks up more or less where we left off, and sends us on a fast and furious adventure with our favourite characters. If you couldn’t remember them when you first renew your acquaintance, you remember everything about them, which is often far too much for your health or sanity, within about ten seconds.

What I really love about this series is the combination of great characters, ridiculous scenarios, a bonkers Manchester, and brilliant story-telling. Relight My Fire is definitely the best of the sequels so far. I think C K McDonnell has a difficult line to tread in how many sequels to attempt before it becomes ordinary. This is exceptional. And great fun.

Ok, this is absolutely becoming one of my favourite series, it's so odd and funny!

Banecroft is one of my favourite characters ever written and Brian has just become a new favourite.

Caimh is King of writing utterly bizarre but entirely enthralling fiction and his wit is right up my street!

A massive thank you to the publishers who gave me access to this book knowing I'd loved his previous books, fantastic end to my reading year!

The fourth entry in the Stranger Times series starts with someone floating above Manchester. Until they stop floating and land very messily at the feet of one of our main characters...

Once again the staff of supernatural happenings magazine 'The Stranger Times' become embroiled in a mysterious plot - this time about disappearing corpses, a ghost who makes hellish demands, and some dodgy drugs on the club scene.

This far into the series, I really enjoy the banter and relationships between the large cast of characters, though it sometimes means the plot can get lost for a page or two between humourous dialogue. But the plot's pretty good too as all the different strands begin to cross or come together and we learn even more about this world the author has created, and how different magical groups and entities work.

I did miss the actual difficulties involved in getting the magazine to press, but I'm sure I can enjoy more of that in the next outing!

Fantastic! These books should be prescribed on the NHS as mood lifters. Great fun from beginning to end.

It's got zombies, grave robbers, rain, the Stranger Times crew, zombies, magic, humour, thrills, and err, some zombies!

Yet another success from McDonnell. Sometimes you wish authors would stop at one book and not continue with certain characters but that definitely isn't the case here. I've read everyone of the books in this series and they just seem to get better and better. Loved every minute of this. Fingers crossed there will be another as I'll be first in the queue to get it.

Well how lucky am I …Relight my Fire ( The Stranger Times series 4)is a real treat. So not unexpectedly unearthly things are happening to the staff of The Stranger Times…starting with a student realising that perhaps he can’t actually float off a tower block landing rather forcefully in front of Stella which brings her to the attention of the Founders once more. A cast of old teenage heart throbs, The Pilgrim. and not least the wonderful Brian whose personal hygiene habits ( or lack of them) had me once again laughing out loud at the twists and turns in this story. C.K. McDonnell has done it again..they just get better and better. If you haven’t read these books before you really need to start at the beginning of the series to get the most out of them so do yourself a favour and just get all four. Guess I’ll now have to wait for the next instalment and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Brian puts in a cheeky reappearance. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review

My review for this book is simply - read it. Wait, have you read the first three books in the series? If not, then stop, go read them first, then come and read Relight My Fire. You won’t regret it. End of review.

If you need more, well, The Stranger Times staff are busy at work as usual. Everything seems settled since their last escapade. Stella is enjoying life as a ‘kind of’ student in Multimedia Journalism, which she won’t actually get a degree for. The team are all taking turns in expertly tailing her to make sure her unexplained powers don’t make an appearance. She is doing a good job of pretending she doesn’t notice them following her, not wanting to hurt any feelings. She is starting to get the hang of life, despite having no memories, and getting used to being a student and learning how to make friends. Until a man who suddenly discovers he can fly, just as suddenly discovers he can’t fly, and lands right in front of her. From quite high up. It is a mess.

Hannah, back as assistant editor, is on Stella stalking duty, and witnesses the unfortunate flying/crashing to the ground man and realises this is a case for The Stranger Times. After she looks after Stella of course. While the team gears up to investigate this mystery, and what possible connection a plethora of disturbed graves may have to the case, the indomitable editor and leader of The Stranger Times, Vincent Banecroft has had a visitor of a tall, dark but not handsome man. This man has come with a warning that if Banecroft doesn’t fix a wrong, that the tall, dark and creepy man will be back for Banecroft, to take him off to a much hotter place than Manchester. As they work to solve the mystery, the team picks up a new team member, with some handy skills, but questionable personal hygiene.

This series is like a fine wine, it just gets better with age. As the team ploughs through escapade after escapade I feel like Terry Pratchett's Discworld met urban fantasy and crime drama head on, smashed it around, and created this wonderfully weird, bizarre and humorous world. This series keeps on getting better, with CK McDonnell writing with perfect wit and humour. He has created characters we care about, writes a story we can connect with, yet one we can laugh out loud at, while being gripped by the plot and the good vs evil struggle unfolding. I love this series, and am sad every time I finish a new book, as it means I have to wait for the next. So to go back to the start of my review - read it!!

*I received this book from Penguin Random House and NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.

This series keeps going from strength to strength and I think this may be my favourite so far. I love the recurring characters, and this is what makes the books work for me. I always enjoy being back in their company and at the Stranger Things, a publication which, shall we say, concentrates on the bizarre and unusual. Talking of which…

Stella, who has no idea of her past and who has had a rather terrifying glimpse of her powers, has been accepted as a ‘non-assessed,’ student. She is not quite like the other students – not only in that her work is not going to gain her a full degree in Multimedia Journalism but in that she attends all her lecturers and seminars. Oh, and as she is being followed by the members of the Stranger Times, who worry about her. Hannah, who is back as assistant editor is on duty one day when she witnesses a student who is floating in the sky and – having realised the impossibility of this - comes to a rather abrupt splat, right in front of an unsuspecting Stella.

This leads the members of the Stranger Times back into another adventure, involving Hannah meeting her former heartthrob, Cillian Blake, from Herschels Garden, who is now a lecturer, Vincent Banecroft being arrested for public indecency, The Pilgrim (a Guardian of the Dead), Ox and Reggie staking out a graveyard and the undead. Fabulous stuff. These are best read in order, but if you come across this first, enjoy it and then go back to the beginning. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

More comic fantasy/supernatural stuff in this series - very entertaining.

In this fourth novel taking place in Manchester, the Stranger Times team become involved in more supernatural / magical goings-on as they investigate people with strange abilities and end up (yet again) fighting for their lives. A few new characters are added in , both nefarious and unexpected. It's all good fun and the author has a nice comedic touch, a bit similar to Terry Pratchett. I imagine that there will be more stories to come. This one was certainly entertaining and we see the characters develop as well as their relationships. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

As always I look forward to the next installment of the Stranger Times newspaper team's escapades and this fourth installment did not disappoint. Suddenly a man flies above Manchester and literally lands in the path of the newspapers' staff which would normally make a great article but leads the team on a time sensitive investigation. Banecroft is hilariously Banecroft, possibly my favourite character, and this time he has a personal diabolical deadline to meet. The staff begrudgingly take on a new team member that has questionable personal hygiene however Grace takes them under her wing. Hannah meets her teenage crush and makes a memorable first impression that later on she won't regret. Overall a great romp and can't wait for the next installment.

My ARC copy didn't have the newspaper titles between chapters so I look forward to seeing the final book as they are always a highlight of the books.

C. K. McDonnell's books are such a joy. They are laugh out loud funny, full of wacky (but very believable characters) but never verge into being silly. I have read every one of the books in this series and they just get better and better. All the gang are there but Stella comes into her own a bit more in this new book. A real delight !

Such a fun read. I love the series. Can’t wait for more. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

Relight My Fire is the fourth instalment in the darkly hilarious Stranger Times urban fantasy series, about the staff of a unique Manchester newspaper which reports on anything too weird for the Mainstream press. Don’t even think about starting this if you haven’t read the previous books - there’s minimal recap and you’d miss out on too much backstory. This one - which has our team facing a sinister new villain who has been performing dastardly experiments on unwilling subjects, living and dead - is the best yet.

Junior trainee reporter Stella is minding her own business when a young man suddenly falls from the sky - sending her affectionately over-protective colleagues into a tizzy wondering what’s going on. Their obnoxious boss has problems of his own - a menacing apparition is threatening to send him to hell if he doesn’t solve a problem - but he doesn’t know what it is. And detective Sturgess, resigned to his relegation to the investigation of “weirdy bollocks”, must put aside his feelings for Hannah if he’s to discover just what it is she and her team are hiding…

I love this series - the humour, the parodies, the recurring characters and their complicated and sometimes shifting loyalties. There are all sorts of interconnections with factions from previous books as well as a new plot arc featuring a disturbing plot - and some unexpected cameo appearances!
If you like slightly anarchic horror-fantasy, go buy The Stranger Times and dive in, you won’t regret it. 4.5 stars rounded up for making me laugh out loud!
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for the ARC. Relight My Fire is published on January 24th.