Based on the synopsis The Great Big Demon Detective Agency by Peter Oxley looked like it had the potential to be an interesting read, unfortunately it ended up being a fun quick read and that was one of the few positives things I have to say about it. Normally I would have stopped reading a book like this, however, despite the warning signs the storyline seemed as though it was going somewhere promising. Instead of building up to something interesting, the conclusion was poorly executed and very unsatisfying.

The biggest issue I had with The Great Big Demon Detective Agency was the poor quality of characters. Other than one side character they were all badly written. The two main characters are written as stereotypes, although it’s evident that Oxley has done this on purpose and the satirical nature of them is one of the few redeemable qualities of this book. The villain’s identities were obvious from their first introduction, and I wasn’t impressed that Oxley used the particularly harmful stereotype of villains being identified by canes.

Then there’s the issue of the main female character, Tessie, who essentially is the stereotypical damsel in distress dressed up to be an intellectual woman of science. You know the type; the very clever woman who still needs saving by the big strong men because, well, all women need saving right? Tessie is also stuck in an emotionally and financially abusive relationship which of course, our two unconventional heroes have to save her from. As an abuse survivor the way the storyline was handled felt like a complete mockery as it was simply a plot hook to make the male characters look good. Getting an abuse victim out of a horrible situation was only a secondary consideration.

Other than the poor storyline and world-building, there are the mistakes and sloppy errors throughout the book. It’s off-putting to read a Victorian novel where the language is all over the place. Characters were using slang like “totally” and “really” as though they’ve just stepped out of the 1980s and 1990s not the 1860s. There’s also a whole chapter dedicated to Tessie sitting doing needlepoint with other noble women, which seems to have no point other than to introduce one character. I’m not quite sure why an entire chapter needed to be dedicated to that. Oxley’s writing style also grated on my nerves. He has an awful habit of trying to use overly descriptive analogies, such as describing houses as people.

If you’re bored and looking for something quick and fun to read, then The Great Big Demon Detective Agency will keep you busy for a bit. But if you’re looking for something with a bit of depth then I would give this one a pass. Personally for me, an entertaining and humorous read shouldn’t mean cutting the corners when it comes to good writing, and in that regard The Great Big Demon Detective Agency just didn’t work for me.

Wasn't sure what to expect, but I loved all of it! It was exactly what I wanted when I didn't know what I needed.

Spencer and Bart are two guys just trying to make it in a world that seems against them. Trying to walk the straight and narrow they start their own business as a Demon Hunting Agency - a great big one!

It's not easy being the good guys as they face demons and magicians and some just bad people - cannot wait for the next installment of this fun and entertaining read!

3.5*

I enjoyed this read. It was quick and easy, a comfortable novel. It's simplistic, but not to its detriment. The characters were well developed, though I feel like there are more depths to be uncovered when it comes to Tessie.

I wish there had been some more action and humour, as this was the impression I'd gotten from the blurb and build up. And I also wish that there had been more diversity in character names (Tessie and Bessie) to help keep the characters straight.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

I adore fantasy and historical fiction- and this was a lovely blend of both genres! I picked this book based on the cover- despite the fact I know you should never judge a book by it's cover. I'm so glad I picked it up based on the cover because it was such a fun, quick read. It's got a lovely gothic feeling to it and I found the plot to be original. I am super excited to see where this series goes from here.

This book was one of the coolest, darkest, most fun books i've read in awhile. While I really enjoyed the plot, the characters are what sold it for me. They were fun, gripping and i loved them all. Their arcs were believeable and I really loved the world that felt like it was created for them just to give them chaos.

Picture London in the late 1800's, the peak of the industrial revolution poisoning everything, a queen who has used her grief to shine a light on the occult. Crime runs rampant, from petty thieves to scary men like Jack the Ripper, roam the streets.
Not a fun scene, but thrown in some slapstick comic relief and little lesson in slight of hand carny-tricks and you have the life of Spencer and Bart.
You will laugh and even have sympathy for Spencer and Bart as they try to fly straight in a city that is anything but.
I was very surprised by this novel. I was thinking it would make light of gory details we know from historical London crimes but instead it was flat out fun, original, and very entertaining.

3,5 stars rounded up to 4 thanks to the last half of the book.

This story takes place in London after a demon invasion several years earlier and one thing that I missed was more explaination about that. However, we do get a juxapostion of it when Tessie (from high society) talks about demons being rumours and Spencer and Bart (from the slums) were there when it happened. I liked the way this diffence was shown.

This story takes a while to get into, I would say that once you've gotten to the 35% mark the story has picked up enough steam that you just keep going. I don't really know what else to write in this review, the worldbuilding and plot points (read ending) clearly lead towards a sequel. A sequel that I will try.

*Got this as an eARC from Netgalley

A fun wild tide through Victorian London, with ghouls, demons and heists.
Spencer and Bart have always been a team, working from the bottom for one of the big bosses around London. Having suddenly fallen afoul of the life they knew so well - little did they know that going straight would be such a dangerous life choice.
Despite this being a fun mystery I really could not get past how the women were written in this book, Throughout the book theres barely a handful of female characters and a good few of them are whores. The main-ish female character that appears is supposedly ' clever ' but theres absolutely no sign of her intellect. Basically all woman are plot devices with little to no personality.
So yeah the book is okay if you can get past that

London, 1868. The streets are haunted by thieves, murderers… and demons from beyond the Aether.

Spencer and Bart are the city’s most incompetent crooks, and they are in deep trouble. Hunted by both police and their fellow criminals, they are forced to consider the unthinkable —going straight.

Forming The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency, they thought their troubles were behind them, but they soon find themselves caught up in a web far more dangerous than they could ever imagine, pitched against demons, criminals and evil magicians.

Why are there so many demons roaming the London streets, and can Spencer and Bart stop them before it’s too late?

Who are the mysterious Tappers, and what are they doing with the women they abduct from the streets?

Can Spencer and Bart change the habits of a lifetime and not only stay on the right side of the law, but also save the day?

I really enjoyed this one. As a fan of gothic and historical fiction I thought this was a unique take on this genre as at times they can be repetitive and predictable but I throughly enjoyed Oxley’s fresh interpretation from the ‘lackey’s’ perspective.

Filled with mystery, suspense and humour this was a great read that I would definitely recommend and I just hope that Oxley has more cases lined up for Spencer and Bart in the future.

I liked this better than I thought I would. Kept me engaged, ready to hear what happens next. Unique story

Unfortunately, I really cannot get into this. The style of the prose is great, the characters are fun and the setting is interesting, but even at a third of the way into the book, I can't tell where the plot is going or what direction the story is headed in. I feel like that's far too long for the narrative to still be establishing itself. Because of that, I can't get invested.

I hate to DNF an ARC, but I've already given this book several hours of my time, which I think is more than fair. At some point I do think I might like to try this one again because so many people have enjoyed it and I do feel it has promise. If I do I will update this review accordingly.

Thank you to Peter Oxley and Burning Chair Publishing for the eARC, which I received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have had almost ridiculously good luck lately with my book picks. Since the beginning of the year, there have only been four that I was just kind of "eh" about ... and only three that ended up firmly on the DNFWNEFYCMMF* pile.

The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency is most definitely not going on that pile. It feels almost like Gail Carriger, Christopher Moore, and Derek Landy had a great big lovefest with the spirit of Terry Pratchett and the end result was somehow Peter Oxley. [Hey. It's Alternate Universe Land. It could happen.]

It has humor, snark, magic, mystery, snark, demons, snark, and monsters (not necessarily the same as demons, after all)... oh, and a bit of snark.

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There was not a soul in London not in fear of these new monsters. Even the demons feared them, went out in pairs for their own protection.

This new menace. Even their name sent a shiver down the spine.

The Tappers.
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And it all takes place in an alternate Victorian London.

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London was never quiet. It was the noisiest hell-pit on Earth; a wonderful, chaotic, messy, beautiful sea of humanity.
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I think by now you probably know how very much I adore snark and Victorian London -- alternative or otherwise. I still wasn't expecting to adore this book as much as I have and I am so hoping that there will be many more installments to come. I know that it's related to Oxley's Infernal Aether series, which I have yet to read, but I really just want more Spencer and Bart and I'm not sure how prominently they may be in those ... if at all. [I would, of course, be more than willing to find out if someone wants to gift me the box set or something.]

From the first time we meet our dynamic fearless fearsome main duo in The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency, I knew they were my type of guys and that this was going to be one for the potential future re-read pile.

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“Mornin’, Dicky,” grinned Spencer, a short, scrawny man with a face like a weasel and a voice to match. “Been a while. Mind if we have a chat? Didn’t think so. Bart, help Dicky to his feet.”

Dicky tried to back away as Bart’s lumbering bulk lent down over him. His vision was filled with the man’s excessively hairy body and completely smooth head as two hands the size of shovels grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him—surprisingly gently—to his feet.
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I know.

I cheat.

I throw in more blips and blurbs than necessary but sometimes it's just needed and it's not like there's some sort of blog police out there. If there was, I would just hide behind Bart. Besides, all those blips and blurbs happen in the first two chapters so it's just a realllllly extended Tuesday Intro .... or something. I'm sure Spencer would be able to come up with the right words to convince you. If not, I'm sure Bart would find a way.



* DNFWNEFYCMMF = did not finish - will not ever finish - you can't make me finish

Bloody good fun!

Sometimes you just need a fun book. Something to entertain you without having to try to look for deeper meanings. This book is that type of read.
Spencer and Bart are such likeable characters. You know deep down they aren't as callused as they appear to be. I could picture them as I read along. Hopefully, there will be more adventures to look forward to.

I kept imagining this as a book that my oldest(10) grandson would enjoy. It started with two idiot criminals, that these two ended up being the heroes, seemed unlikely at best. The biggest problem is the inconsistency of the tone. Is this book supposed to be a lighthearted enterprise or an actual horror story? The villains are much more definitely horrible, than the heroes are good. My verdict is that the violence is too prevalent for a 10-year-old, but that he might still like it in a couple years.

This was super inconsistent and I just lost interest early on. I wished that more care would have been taken for the story as a whole.

Oxley's newest work follows Bart and Spencer as they shift from being petty criminals to demon hunters. The story picks up pace when they are hired by Tessie to investigate her husband. Mystery and danger ensue. This is an entertaining work that had me laughing, wondering what would happen next, and rooting for the protagonists. I look forward to reading more about their adventures in future books.
Fans of mystery, humor, and delightful and entertaining storytelling will enjoy this work.

Thank you NetGalley and Burning Chair Publishing for the dARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

in an alternate Victorian London where demons exist, two petty criminals. Spencer and Bart decide to go straight by starting The great Big Demon Hunting Agency. Turns out they’re pretty good at it, much better than they were at crime, which leads to a bounty on their heads by other demons as well as bringing them to the attention of a crime boss who wants his share of any earnings they might make...or else and that or else includes some very nasty possibilities including, but not limited to, death.

Tessie’s husband, never a nice guy, has lately been even worse since he started hanging out with a man who seems wrong somehow although Tessie isn’t sure how. She suspects something bad is happening. Since she can’t trust anybody she knows, she turns to Bart and Spencer to find out what her husband is up to. Eventually this brings the duo to the Thaumaturgical and Paranormal Research Centre and suddenly facing vengeful demons and murderous crime bosses seem like much better safer options

When I saw The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency by Peter Oxley on Netgalley, it looked like it would be a whole lot of fun and, happily, it lived up to my expectations. Bart and Spencer made for very likeable characters and the bad guys, both human and nonhuman, are uncompromisingly and compellingly evil. The story moves at a brisk pace and kept me engaged throughout. Overall, a wickedly entertaining read, one I hope is the beginning of a series because I’d love to read more of the adventures of Bart and Spencer.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Burning Chair - pub date 3/2/2023.

What a delightful read, this was! Fast paced and energetic with characters that I found charming in spite of themselves (or horrible BECAUSE of themselves as appropriate), a simple and effective plot, a world built around our own Victorian England's glitter and squalor but tweaked with the supernatural. Even better, while this was clearly part of a larger set of books (but the first in this sub-set), the author threaded the needle very well and you were not left confused. He referenced past books only in a general way, repeated some information you were to have known without talking down, and let the action and characters take it away from there.

Bart and Spencer are the quintessential hard-luck cases that Dickens would have loved to write about. Of course, aside from the poverty, filth, and their newly unprotected-by-a-gang status, the two BFFs have to deal with a world that was invaded a number of years ago by demons who make Jack the Ripper seem like just another day at the office. Left unable to earn their dishonest living due to gang politics, they search for something else and come up with something that lands somewhere between a grift and a public work. For a price, they will take care of your Demon Problem. Oh, bless this Cockney-fied Lenny and George-esque duo because something is bound to go wrong.

It does and spectacularly. The first few chapters are a bit uneven due to setting up the premise and getting all of the characters into view. Tessie, in particular, suffers a bit from this because her personality isn't as clear as the Two Lads; the basics I got were - intelligent more or less, mousey, no control of her life, and DAMN her husband is a weird mofo. Luckily, as the story goes on, the threads all come together and Tessie - their Damsel in Distress - develops while Bart and Spencer learn more than they ever wanted about magic, the paranormal, and demons. They also learn a a bit more about themselves and each uncovers something they never realized they had.

There is also a moment of delightful metaphor for the pursuit of knowledge is great but you should always consider the cost. Or, as Dr Malcom said, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

There is a fair bit of gore and violence, especially as you approach the climax, but it is treated with the proper horror of someone who has humanity viewing it - not as titilation. Still, if you get squeamish, this book might not be for you.

All in all, a fun read and a quick one and it makes me want to pick up the others to see what is going on in that world. Exactly what a series author ought to inspire in readers!

I had such high hopes for this book! The cover was interesting and who doesn't love victorian demons? The start was interesting and there were parts that were packed with action and at times, thrilling. The pace, dialog and characters is where it lost me. The multiple POV was confusing and perhaps they should have been lengthened to allow development. The characters were basic characters. There really wasn't anything super special about them or details that made you love or hate them. The dialog between the characters also felt disconnected and inconsistent.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ebook before the official release date in exchange for my honest review.

This is much different than what I would normally go for, but I was pleasantly surprised by this quick read! At first it was a bit difficult for me to get into since, like I mentioned before, it’s not my usual genre, but once I got into the story I couldn’t put it down. I would recommend this to others.