I liked the sound of this one but reading it I just couldn't get in to it. I think it may be a case of right book, wrong person. I wasn't not enjoying it but I wasn't really taking anything in. I do know a lot of customers and friend who I'm absolutely certain would enjoy it though so will recommend they give it a go

Many thanks for the opportunity for early access.

Fantasy tale set in London in 1949 - engaging and elaborate.

Dennis Knuckleyard lives and works in Coffin Ada's bookshop. His humdrum live is suddenly changed when he comes into contact with an alternative London. His "journey" involves a couple of close friends and some unusual characters met along the way. Without revealing too much about the plot, there are many fantastical moments as he explores both Londons. The language here is probably the most important as it's florid, highly descriptive with vast use of adjectives and adverbs. For those who don't now London, the street directions might be a bit of a waste of time. The book is an engaging read and seemingly the first in a series.. For those who enjoy Alan Moore's writing , this is probably a feast for the eyes. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily..

I genuinely have no idea how one is meant to review this verbose, stylised monstrosity. Set in post World War 2, Dennis Knuckleyard, a know-nothing 18-year-old who works at a 2nd hand bookstore, discovers a book that shouldn't exist. What follows is a bizarre Carrollesque spiral into the Great When, an alternate London where anthropomorphic depictions of Crime and Riots exist, where every aspect of human experience is alien.

For the first 50 pages, I was riveted like someone witnessing a car accident. I was filled with unease mixed with morbid curiosity. Then the plot settles into Dennis's life and the people he meets and interacts with. I loved Dennis as a protagonist because it's so fun to follow a character who understands the real world so little and then descends them into a world that barely resembles our own. One thing to be warned about is this book's writing is obtusely verbose; it reminded me of Bradbury in using language and metaphors that makes me almost impenetrable to understand. Nevertheless, this exudes character, charm, humour, and pure unrestrained, bombastic imagination that it's hard not to fall in love.

I'm not generally a reader of the Fantasy genre in novels but have read the authors graphic novels as I do read a lot of comics so therefore decided I'd give this a bash. I took a while to get through this which is generally an indication that I'm not really gelling with the content. In was reluctant to allow this to be a DNF so plugged away with it.

The storyline was decent enough but it just didn't grab my attention the way that other stories would and without giving any spoilers I'm very indifferent regarding the ending of the book. Glad to have finished it and I'm sure it will appeal to fans of the genre but it wasn't really for me. I'll still give it 3/5 on the basis that there was definitely the foundation of a good story.
Thanks to the the author, publisher and NetGalley for my review copy.

The first thing that convinced me to read this book was the idea of a Mirror London , the second thing was the presence of the sorcerers. Did this book disappoint me ? Not at all! I admit that at the begging the writing style of the author wad a big challenge, but once I got accustomed with it ,it felt magical, particular and rich of humor and metaphorical! I simple loved this book and I Definitely recommend it!

The striking cover and description are what drew me in but sadly it's a dnf at 25%.

This is definitely for specific type of reader and unfortunately that's not me.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the digital copy.

The Great When immediately reminded me of classic Michael Moorcock novels. Surreal, humorous and with a great cast of characters, the world Moore has built here is certainly an intriguing one!

Moore’s writing style won’t be for everyone, but I found it to be beautifully descriptive, if overindulgent. The scenes in “regular” London were highly entertaining with the Great When adding a claustrophobic and jarring edge to the story.

Overall, The Great When won’t be for everyone but fans of dystopian fantasy should love this.

Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for my digital review copy.

DNF at 42%, 4/10 chapters read.

I may have forced myself to read as much of this as I did when it clearly wasn't for me.

I just couldn't gel with it.

It's bizarrely overwritten that it feels like a slog to get through and some of the overwritten humour is funny, but I find most of it to be a pain and an excess of words used to describe things I now know isn't for me.

I realised I couldn't mesh with the main character. I feel like he has no characterisation compared to the almost cartoony caricatures that some of the side characters.

The chapters in this are also incredibly long. My kindle had the anticipated reading time for them to be around 40 - 50 minutes, which isn't really what I'm used to seeing when reading a book (which probably also added to the fact that each chapter that I read felt like a mountain I had to tackle.)

The worldbuilding in this was very slow, with almost nothing of real substance given in the 40% that I read. I know this is the first book in a series, but I don't think this is for me (despite it being set in a post-war Britain and having strange parallel Londons, which are things I know I usually like.)

I also don't care for the plot enough to continue. I know it's setting up the parallel Londons and that this is the first one in a series, but it's just not engaging me. There were also quite a few lines that I read that took me by surprise by their jarring content (one example of this is a character has eyes described akin to urinal cakes...)

I may try to read this again one day in the future.

A young man in post war London finds a hidden version of the city by means of a fictional book from an Arthur Machen story which has somehow manifested itself in our reality,
Neil Gaiman used the concept of secret version of London in Neverwhere but where he gave us a fantasy version of the city Alan Moore gives us the full, terrifying platonic truth of the metropolis.
The parts set in “the other” are written in a flowing, surrealist prose that demands concentration from the reader. But in turn, we the readers are rewarded for our patience with a vison that is truly breathtaking at times.
The “normal” London is populated with a wonderful cast of characters. Moore fills the story with magicians, gangsters, artists and bohemians.
Time and again I was forced to pause my reading and dive in to the numerous rabbit holes a simple google search for a character opened up.
Moore uses real life figures in the book and they are a fascinating bunch. Like the self styled african prince Monolulu who makes a living selling racing tips or the surrealist painter and occultist Austin Spare who I’d never heard of before this book.
This is by far the best fantasy novel I’ve read this year and I wait for the next installment in what I hope will be a great series.

I received an ARC of this from Netgalley. After loving Alan Moore's Watchmen, Swamp Thing and From Hell graphic novels I was very excited to see that he was writing a fantasy book about my hometown of London and immediately knew that I wanted to read it.
However I didnt enjoy it like I hoped to and actually found it a real slog to get through and only persevered because it was an ARC.
The book is about the main character of Dennis who gets embroiled with the unknown, strange and hidden side of London when a book that doesn't exist comes into his possession. He is tasked with returning the book and a lot of weirdness follows.
I found the writing style to be overly descriptive, to the point that a page of descriptive tangents would have me losing the plot and the will to carry on reading. The scenes set in the alternative london may have been 5-6 pages without a single full stop. This made it very hard to follow and understand what was happening, which I think was the point, but I didnt enjoy it.
There was humour to the book, which I liked. It reminded me very much of the film Lock Stock in a lot of ways but even that didn't redeem the book.

Overall I guess I would describe this book as a more meandering, drug induced weird uncle to Simon R Greens Nightside Novels. I am very glad that I read it but will not carry on with the series.

A mirror London exists and when Dennis Knuckleyard discovers it, his world will turn upside down. It is 1948 and he works in a bookshop. When he is sent to pick up some books and comes back with a book that doesn't exists in this Lonson his problems begin. Surreal and visual as you would expect from Alan Moore this story moves a pace with great setting in post war era and brings a good cast of characters into play.

Thank you very much to the publishers for the ARC, I was very excited to read this book as I've enjoyed Alan Moore's comics and loved the story concept. I couldn't read it, though. I tried. I promise you, I tried. But the mixed metaphors within single sentences and the over the top trying way, way, way too hard made it unreadable for me. I want to sink into a story and be entertained. I don't mind doing some work and I love creative use of language, but this was too much. I couldn't figure out what was happening unless I read every paragraph two or three times and then, well, not much was happening. An overabundance of unnecessary description. It all felt self-congratulatory and pretentious and I wasn't having any fun and started to feel quite angry. Not for me. Two stars for imagination and professional polish, but arrrrrgh.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, the synopsis made it sound just like my sort of thing. The story and characters were all interesting but I did find the writing style strange and heavy going, quite jarring at times. I'm sure that lots of people will love this but really it was just not for me.

The Great When is an alternative version of post war London, bringing together a familiar historical setting with a fantastical set of circumstances. Dennis is sent on an errand by his landlady and employer at the bookstore, which sets off a chain of events that leads him to another version of the world he knows. Once discovered, there is no turning back and Dennis finds himself in an intense battle to return a treasured item and put an end to the danger he has stumbled upon.

Alan’s writing style can be a challenge to begin with as new characters are introduced in the midst of heavy hitting metaphors, but it’s worth sticking with it. When you have got to grips with the who’s who in Dennis’ world, you can begin to appreciate the depth this writing style brings to the story. From the post war trauma to Dennis’ own self confidence, the characters all have their own flaws. Even the most unlikeable characters become more relatable as their journeys come together as a result of this strange and exciting new world.

Nearly impossible for me to read, though I certainly note how many fans he has. The writing is constantly interrupted both in characteristics, and dialogue and narrative line with content, making it a stumbling read for me. Very particular taste I suppose, which is not mine! I could not make heads nor tails of what was going on, and where we were headed ..nor who was 'on stage".

Mea culpa, this is my first Alan Moore, but I will certainly be hitting the back catalogue after reading The Great When.
Although it is far from a perfect book - of faults anon - overall it is a riot of colour and action and surreal imagination, as I am given to believe is usual with Moore. And that tiny niggle of slightly grubby occurrences re bodily events or fluids only add to the versimiltude for me (something that seems to turn other readers off); there has to be something to offset the magnificence of the rest of his premise and prose.
I wasn't crazy about the prologue, as only one of the characters had much input into the rest of the book, but there are sequels to come, so I mustn't be impatient. And the prose took a bit of getting used too; possibly I'm not taking enough drugs, but it was quite psychedelic. Once one got used to it though, this was perfect for the Long London scenes; Moore uses a share of it in the Shory London scenes at the start of the book too, where it needed to be scaled back a bit to contrast properly, but by the second half of the book he remedies this and the going is easier on the brain.
I guess the characters aren't particularly rounded, possibly a bit stereotypical, but this is not the Great Novel of the Human Condition, so I wasn't bothered; the world-building was excellent and so coloured and textured that mere humans weren't so important.
The plot was resovled relatively quickly too, some might say hurriedly; I say, there are three more books to come, and though I'm a Moore newbie, it looks like his speciality is taking the reader to places they will never reach otherwise without hardcore mind-altering drugs, so - again- I would give a little leeway.
Overall, this has turned me into a fan, I'm impressed and grateful - thanks, Netgalley, for the ARC; and, Mr Moore, phew, what can I say? You scare and impress me in equal measures, there's not many who do that!

I was intrigued to know just what a novel by someone who is generally regarded as the best comic writer would be like.
As was almost inevitable the novel includes two themes interweaved, one set in immediate post-war London and one in The Great When (Hidden London).
As I am not a great fantasy fan, I was not as impressed by events that happened in the Great When.
The storyline in post-war London was well written, intriguing and at times exciting.
Fantasy fans will love this novel, as some of the typical mechanisms of travelling between worlds were utilised together with the expected amount of horror, tension and thrills.

The story was excellent, spell-binding and strange, but just about possibly true.
Many thanks to the author for introducing me to this genre.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a joyously delightful surreal historical fantasy, darkly imaginative in the vibrant alternate London it conjures up, by the talented Alan Moore. Is it perfect? Nope, it drips with over indulgent adjectives and prose. Let's just say it is on the verbose side, but it is simultaneously smart, witty, boasts a remarkably marvellous, diverse and wide ranging cast of well drawn characters, and provides at times a sharp and cutting social and political commentary. We are in the post-war years, with a bombed out shabby London, with most of its inhabitants barely surviving. 18 year old Dennis Knuckleyard resides in miserable conditions with his malicious and malevolent employer, Coffin Ada, not a woman to be trifled with.

Not the brightest, the hapless Dennis is described as a thing made out of string with lumpy knots to represent his knees and elbows, he finds himself mired in danger when on a mission to purchase rare books, he inadvertently returns with a book that seems destined to kill him unless it is returned to the Great When, a situation which has Ada banishing him from the store. It does not take long before it dawns on a homeless Dennis just how much trouble he is now in as he becomes hunted by the worst of villains and suffers a harrowingly horrifying period of time in the other London, the Great When. Shaken, trembling and drowning in a screaming fear, his mental health looks as if it is set to splinter into a million tiny pieces, Dennis has to pick himself up, as he encounters artists, sorcerers, magicians, other terrors and more, a condemned soul battling to survive.

Even when he imagines that he might be free of the other world, Dennis is to discover there are further challenges and horror coming from a direction that comes as a complete shock and surprise. This was a fabulously entertaining read that I adored, and which is likely to appeal to Moore's established fan base and to readers curious about a strangely weird different London and who enjoy well written fantasy adventures with superb offbeat characters, and beautifully intricate, expert, and complex world building from a genius storyteller. I am greatly looking forward to the next in the series. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC

This was an ambitious and well-written fantasy, I enjoyed it conceptually but I'm not sure the threads all came together.

I read this book in great anticipation. I loved the idea of a London inside a London but I am not sure it worked. I found it quite a slow burn which picked up towards the end. It didn’t really thrill me though. I can quite believe it is my problem rather than a problem with the book. A very unique read.