A man from Callum’s past shows up claiming he lost the last herd of unicorns — and his sister.
Should be a hard pass, but Callum can’t resist a damsel in distress.
Now G&C London, Private Investigators, are diving into Leeds’ magical underbelly, dodging criminal dynasties, cross-dressing trolls, attack lizards, and philosophical donkeys.
Find the sister. Get out before the Watch gets involved.
Why? They’ve killed me three times already.
Yeah. I preferred extinct unicorns

IN A NUTSHELL
The best in the series so far. The tone of the book was darker, and the plot was more complicated than that of the previous books. Having Gobbelino at the heart of the action increased the intensity of the story. Having Callum’s personal history so central to the plot and setting the action in a village in a magic pocket outside the human world widened the scope. As usual, the humour leavened the story, and the action scenes were a joy.

I think ‘Gobbelino London and a Complication of Unicorns’, the third book in the series, was the best so far. In the two previous books, we’ve risked global destruction with an intrusion from another dimension harbouring Lovecraftian gods and the destruction of mankind via a zombie apocalypse but while they were both fun, neither of them felt as threatening as this book. Perhaps it’s just that I found the evil at the heart of this book easier to believe in. In the present climate, I have no difficulty imagining evil being done by greedy people with a totalitarian mindset. 

This book was a supernatural thriller rather than an End Of The World As We Know It story. The plot was solid, the pacing added to the tension and the action scenes held a genuine sense of danger. What made it darker still was that, behind the action, there was an undercurrent of deception, betrayal and moral surrender. 

I liked that Gobbelino was at the centre of the action. It made for a tightly focused story, and it helped me get to know him better. It showed me that, despite his “I’m a cat. Feed me already.” demeanour, he is brave, loyal and when necessary, fierce.

I enjoyed learning more about Callum’s backstory. It explained a lot about his ability to the Folk and how he chooses to treat them. The story takes place in the village that Callum grew up in and which he left as soon as he was able. The village exists in a pocket reality that most humans can’t find their way into and is inhabited by Folk and humans. This widened the scope of the story, both in discovering Callum’s history and in providing an environment in which magic could be abused. 

Despite its darkness and tension, this was a book that made me smile. What’s not to like about anarchist rats bringing the fight to the authoritarian overlords? Or bicycle-riding, vegetarian, animal-loving Trolls founding a community to live a better, more hopeful life?

I’m definitely a fan of this series now. I’ve already bought ‘Gobbelino London & a Melee of Mages’, so I can see what Gobbelino and Callum get up to next.