(And on the Amazon page you can read the first page of the story for free.) Also included in the ebook is an excerpt of Angelmaker, so I suppose that works. Really I'd suggest reading it after the book, because letting the character of Edie slowly unfold in the book is such fun, but the short story gives you a taste of Harkaway's writing and could be used as an appetizer while you wait for the book's release. Harkaway also has available a short story about Edie Banister, Edie Investigates, currently available for Kindle for $1.99. It's the sort of book you want to let steep in your brain a bit before you take another taste. At nearly 500 pages, it's hefty and densely packed, so it took me a while to read - this is not the sort of book I zip through, despite wanting to know what happens next.

If you appreciate a well-constructed sentence and have a thing for fast-talking British muckety-mucks, then you should read Angelmaker for the writing alone.Īngelmaker will certainly make it on my short list of best adult fiction for the year (which, perhaps, would be more convincing if I read more adult fiction, but it is an impressive book regardless). My speech is plainer than my writing - and if you've been reading my posts for long you can tell my writing is pretty unsophisticated. I wondered several times, while reading Angelmaker, whether there are places in the world where people actually talk the way Harkaway writes, outside of movies and British novels. Harkaway plays the English language like a mad virtuoso: he hits all the right notes but isn't above throwing in a bit of ornamentation and jazzing things up. And precious few manage to do both.Īngelmaker, the second novel by British writer Nick Harkaway, falls into that last category. A lot of books are fun to read for the plot a smaller percentage display this artful mastery of the language. I re-read sentences, sometimes out loud, because they're so enjoyable. On occasion, though, I come across books which are simply filled with sentences that are so well-crafted that I want to savor them. That's not to say that kids' books aren't well-written: in fact, many of them can give much adult fiction a run for its money, and they're generally much more enjoyable to read aloud than things written for adults.

Because I read so many middle grade and young adult books, sometimes I forget how transfixing it can be to read really great writing.

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway