A cosy fantasy set in Elizabethan London with such a twist!

Upper London is the home of the humans with a strict rule for the undead & under London humans can get caught up and eaten. I loved that the traditional history was mixed with some fantasy also loved the dragons & LGBT representation too!
Also amazed to find out the author was the one of horrible histories too how bloody nostalgic!!

It kind of fell slightly flat for me as I wasn’t that heavily invested in the characters or emotionally contended to any of them but the story in general was brilliant.

This wasn’t a bad book at all just wasn’t - surprisingly- for me!

1.5

Thank you to Negalley and the publisher for giving me a free e-ARC of Cursed Under London in exchange of an honest review.

Honestly, I don't think this book is for me. It felt like it was... too boring? I don't know, but I felt like it was just full of rambles instead of an actual plot.

Cursed Under London is a truly hilarious and fun read! An absolute must if you enjoy low-stakes fantasy settings or dark comedies!

In a world where dragons, vampires, werewolves, and zombies mingle with humans, you can find Upper London, home of humankind, and Deep London, home of the supernatural. Two human men, Fang and Lazare, find themselves between worlds when they wake from their untimely deaths no longer fully human, but immortal with mysterious powers that aren’t of any known supernatural origin. Fang reluctantly teams up with Lazare to try to learn more about their curse in the hopes of reversing it. Together, along with Fang’s apothecary friend Nell and a tiny dragon named Amber, they embark on a journey that puts them at the center of a dangerous plot that draws them further into the world of Deep London.

Fang is a self-sacrificing idiot (as his friends would say) that tries to give off an asshole persona but deep down is a sweetheart who lives to protect the underdog. (He absolutely had my heart the moment we found out he died stopping gang members from abusing a street cat!) Lazare, on the other hand, is a flamboyant, aspiring actor who craves the spotlight and wants everyone to like him. Lazare and Fang have great banter and definitely have an opposites-attract situation going on with plenty of sexual tension to boot. Overall, I enjoyed their dynamic, but it felt like Lazare developed feelings too quickly given how reluctant Fang was about the situation for most of the book. Additionally, I really enjoyed the diverse cast and there were several wonderful supporting characters in the story that I loved too.

Overall, I enjoyed the humorous dialogue, the fast-paced, dynamic plot, and the mingling of supernatural London with 16th-century London. I hadn’t read any of Gabby Hutchinson Crouch’s books before, but after reading Cursed Under London, I’m excited to check out more of her stories. I especially can’t wait to see what our undead/immortal protagonists get up to next!

Thank you NetGalley and Duckworth Books for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this cozy historical fantasy that was sent in an alternate version of Elizabethan London. We follow Lazare and Fang two people that have recently died...but not quite. They have to figure out what has caused their new immortal life and are drawn into the dark side of London. The characters are great. There are a ton of different magical beings in this world. The stand out being Amber, the small but mighty dragon. I'm excited to see where this series goes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrago Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“I just wasn’t expecting that angle right in my eyeline.”

There was not a single thing I didn’t enjoy about this book. The writing is very tongue-in-cheek and it was right up my alley (preferably not dripping with excrement thank you very much). The three main characters along with their small cat-like dragon are witty, funny, and very very likeable.

I would dive in front of a wooden stake for Amber in a heartbeat. 10/10 would pet and feed dried newts. She may be small but her personality more than makes up for the lack of height in those stumpy little legs. And little Tem has my whole heart in the palm of her hand and obviously “little-Amber” clutched tight in the other.

The pacing is adventurous and it’s wonderful. There never seems to be a dull moment or a lull in action for too long and the world building interwoven with history from Elizabethan London along with a touch of magic and the occult is a recipe for an unputdownable book.

I haven’t laughed this much reading a book in a long time, one of my favourites of 2024.

A cosy fantasy set in Elizabethan London with a twist.

What to expect

Found Family vibes
Mystery
Historical fantasy with a twist
Dragons
Supernatural creatures
LGBT representation

Upper London is the home of the humans with strict rules for the undead. Compared to Under London where humans are fair game for eating fresh. The worldbuilding was great in this book, I loved the mix of traditional history mixed with modernish references, like the tube to access Under London.
Despite the story line of this book it remained light hearted throughout, with many funny moments. I didn't expect anything less from the author of a Horrible Histories.

However it did fall slightly flat for me and I wasn't super heavily invested in any of the characters - there was alot going on. The romance also felt very secondary with no real chemistry.

But if you're looking for a something a little different with a mix of history and fantasy that gives off cosy vibes, this one is for you!

I want to preface this review by saying I don’t think this is a bad book, it just -surprisingly- wasn’t for me. I say “surprisingly” because it had every chance to be a new favourite: an innovative setting, whimsical and magical characters, and a queer romance at its centre.

However, the plot didn’t manage to pull me enough to make me care about the fates of any of the characters. Since this book was marketed as a rom-com in a historical fantasy setting, I wasn’t expecting as many side-quests-turned-main-quest as there were. Similarly, the tone felt a bit off: some of the characters were remarkably infantile (which would’ve been alright in a middle grade novel), while others were often bringing up adult topics.

Once again, even though I didn’t enjoy Cursed Under London, I am certain it will be up someone’s alley.

I enjoyed this story. It was a comfy fantasy, but it also contained a mystery. I'm not a fan of how it ended(mostly due to the fact that it was a cliff hanger), but I will absolutely be buying the next book. I do think it was very much a modern take on Elizabethan England, but it was done well. Will recommend to others.

A little Dragon walks into an alley...

That's basically what happens in the first few pages and what followed just had me laughing constantly.
This book is a funny fantasy story with exciting plot twists, a queer edge to it and a found family that just
keeps on growing.
It does play in an alternative London

The writing is well done and the world building is really easy to understand.
Sometimes it can be really overwhelming if a book has different supernatural species and POV's but that is not the case here.

So if you are a fan of the following tropes this book is definetely for you:
- Queer romance
- Found family
- Urban Fantasy
- Supernatural vibes
- The cutest smallest dragon ever!

This was a cute and cozy little fantasy with a cool cast of characters and an interesting mystery plotline! In "Cursed Under London", we follow two men in a version of 16th century Elizabethan England that includes fantastical creatures such as dragons, vampires, zombies or ghouls. These two men have one big thing in common: Both died during a vicious attack by gangsters, and both somehow managed to un-die immediately. This convenient coming-back-to-life incident also gives them new powers - Lazare, a French actor living in London, gets some big vampire wings, while Fang, as mysterious and grumpy as one can be, can suddenly create rather disgusting illusions. This strangeness is also what brings them together in order to find out what happened to them, and on their journey to that goal they are accompanied by a tiny dragon and an apothecary.

The characters were all well-written enough to care for them and want them to succeed. Their dynamic is a lot of fun, and the romance between Lazare and Fang is enjoyable as well. The pacing here is a little off (it's a big case of instalust that very quickly turns into love, which didn't feel earned) but the banter is worthwhile.

What dampened my enjoyment heavily was the world building.
Most notably, there is just no reason whatsoever to make Elizabethan era London the setting of your novel if it's not recognizeable at all. Throwing in some known names, like Elizabeth herself or a really weird version of Christopher Marlowe is just not enough to establish a setting. At no time did it feel like I was actually in 16th century England. The characters speak in a way too modern language, there are anachronisms all about, everyone is openly queer with no repercussions, and this would be fine if Hutchinson Crouch had decided to just built her own fantasy world. Even a fantasized alternate universe 16th century England has to be reminiscent of real life 16th century England or it just doesn't make sense as a setting.
The plot was also a bit meandering with really low stakes, and the big villain wasn't built up well enough to make the final revelations and the big fight interesting. It was alright, all in all.

I'd give this 2,5 stars, rounding up because I enjoyed the general feel and vibe of the story and the characters were mostly fun to hang out with. I probably would have enjoyed it more had it been set in a fantasy world.

Cursed Under London is a first book of a rom-com series. The book follows Fang, Lazare and Nell through Elizabeth London. They are struck with a curse of immortality. Throughout their attempts to reverse the curse they meet some friends along the way meanwhile failing in love.

The description of the book alongside the title and cover really drew me to this book. The idea of Upper and Deep London had me intrigued and wanting to read as soon as I got my hands on it.

The book starts off with some cringe (for lack of better word) humor. The book felt quite young from the start to me which I pushed through because I had high hopes. I got to about 70% and unfortunately had thoughts to DNF the book. I found stakes too low for my enjoyment and in the end wasn’t overly enthusiastic about finding out how to reverse the curse.

I did enjoy the found family aspects. Amber is my favourite! The writing of the book was also easy to follow. That being said I found that I was left with quite a lot of unanswered questions which I can only hope will be answered in the next book/books within the series.

Overall if you enjoy a witty rom-com this may be the book for you.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy.

This was a fun romantasy adventure story. Fun storyline and characters you can't help but love.

In this story, we follow a group of misfits in Upper London. Lazare (the Frenchman actor), Fang (the sexy grumpy Easterner), Nell (the Welshwoman apothecary), Amber (the lil dragon), and Tem (the fae child).
This group of unlikely characters are trying to figure out the strange happenings in Upper London, minus the normal happenings of living amongst Vampires, Werewolves, dragons, etc. Lazare and Fang have been inflicted with an almost "undead" curse that they go on an adventure to solve. This leads them to Deep London where the laws are different and the undead rule.

I had a fun time with this novel and would definitely recommend for feel good silly fantasy readers :)

'Cursed Under London' was delightful. I honestly could not keep my book away. It was my first book from this author and let me tell you, I am curious to read her other series. It was well written and the characters were well developed and endearing. I can't wait to read more about their adventure.

Light and playful tone with a good amount of whimsy. I loved the assortment of supernatural creatures, and I really adored the dragon, Amber.

Outside of that, I had a number of issues with this book. Despite an interesting premise, this book rambles...a lot. Some parts were so haphazard and unfocused that I completely zoned out. There were also areas that felt overly abrupt—like an idea was dropped on the page and then abandoned before being fully realized.

Generally, there was a lot going on—lots of action, adventure and intrigue—which normally would be great. But, in the case of this book, it was too much. The almost continual onslaught of action felt shallow and the characters lacked development. It's hard to care about the plight of a character that you don't care about.

Lastly, the writing felt subpar. It was clunky and unpolished. There were numerous grammatical errors. Lack of sufficient punctuation. Overly long and conflated sentences. Just generally hard to read.

Good ideas, but I wasn't a fan of the execution.

i liked this book!
the story was very interesting, the main characters were well written and really likeable.
unfortunately i didn't really like the ending, i was hoping for a big plottwist, but it was foreseeable and cliche.

I was excited to read Cursed Under London when I realised the author Gabby Hutchinson Crouch was a writer for the series Horrible Histories - a tv show adapted from the much-beloved books of Terry Dreary that I grew up with.

Cursed is billed as a historical romantasy in lots of its press, but I must say the historical setting fell flat for me. I note at the end of the book it’s actually described by the author as a fantasy rom-com and I feel that’s much nearer the mark.

I didn’t mind the modern language or even the anachronisms within the story (business cards? Passports? Boiling water to sterilise it?) but what disappointed me was the lack of world building and scene setting which could have immersed the book in a parallel Elizabethan London. There was so little detail it could have been in any time period.

That said - I did enjoy the book once I got over that. I loved the idea of an upper London inhabited by humans and a lower London full of magical creatures, and the storyline of the two protagonists who had to unravel the mystery of why they kept failing to die properly was great.

Hutchinson Crouch’s humour runs through the book which made it an easy, entertaining read, and I loved the supporting characters of Nell the Welsh almost-witch and Amber the far too small dragon. Appearances by Bill Shakespeare and an annoying, randy zombie Christopher Marlowe made me chuckle.

In a similar vein I liked how the author poked fun at romance tropes like ‘only one bed’ and the romance between the two protagonists was complicated and sensitive. Underneath the humour, the message of inclusivity and the importance of found family was sweet and really satisfying to read.

I will post my review across my social platforms on the 4th July and on retail sites the day after publication. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this title.

I enjoyed this book. On the positive side, I found the story interesting. The protagonists were well-developed and I liked their relationships. There was also some humour. I generally don’t like romance stories, but I thought that the romance was written well and not overdone. On the negative side, I found the villain was cliched and the ending was predictable. I also wasn’t a big fan of the reveal. But overall, I did enjoy the book and I was glad that I read it, hence the 4-star rating. Thank you to Netgalley and Farrago Books for the digital review copy. .

2.75/5 rounded up. Thank you Netgalley and Farrago books for allowing me to read this book early. From the get go the reader is thrown into the depths of Elizabethan England, specifically London, as we see one of our main characters dice with ‘death’ and meet a dragon. We soon switch narrator and find ourselves with another man who is afflicted with the same ‘death’ as our first character which unfolds into an alliance. Unfortunately for me the comedic writing was a downfall to the book for me, and came across as childish rather than comedic.

The blurb for this book sounded intriguing, and hinted at the book being somewhat comedic, but sadly it failed to deliver.

This book is meant to be set in Elizabethan times, yet the author mentions passports, business cards, coffee, hypnotism, and even fatty acids. It gave the book an overall feeling of deceit and falseness. The supposed setting of the Elizabethan period seemed to be an afterthought.

The characters were rather uninspiring, and there were a number of grammatical issues that would benefit from further editing. There were also a number of shifts in POV mid-way through chapters which I found irritating.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in return for my honest review.

I thought this was pretty different, and showed great imagination.it was light hearted and a fun read, not to be taken too seriously. Overall not a bad read.