Press Reviews

• Helen Marshall, World Fantasy Award-winning author of GIFTS FOR THE ONE WHO COMES AFTER and THE MIGRATION

  Prepare for an electrifying ride through Even Greater London in this delightfully twisted mash-up of Douglas Adams and Charles Dickens. High Vaultage positively crackles with invention and intrigue and I loved every page. Mark my words: Fleet and Clara are destined to join the waxwork hall of fame for all-time great literary detective duos

• Malcolm Devlin, BSFA-nominated author of YOU WILL GROW INTO THEM

  Wickedly funny, deliriously inventive, delightfully weird. The Sugdens' Even Greater London is one of the best-realised fantasy playgrounds since Great A'Tuin ambled across the stars with The Discworld on their back

• Front Row, BBC Radio 4

  If you put Sherlock Holmes in a blender with Dickens, and then filtered it through a Terry Pratchett filter - the result is a whole lot of fun

• Vulture

  If Douglas Adams . . . were still alive and wanted to get into podcasting, VICTORIOCITY might likely be something he'd have written

• The Financial Times

  The sheer inventiveness keeps you sleuthing on

• Adam Roberts, author of THE THING ITSELF and PURGATORY MOUNT

  It is everything I hoped it would be (everything the radio show led me to think it would be) and more: a masterly comic writing and a superb piece of worldbuilding, as perfect a piece of neo-Victoriania as I remember since ... well, since the actual Victorian epoch, which I remember well. You will laugh, you will cry (with laughter), and most of all you will frantically turn the pages. Unlike Queen Victoria, we are most assuredly amused

• Sarah Brooks, author of THE CAUTIOUS TRAVELLER'S GUIDE TO THE WASTELANDS

  I LOVED this book . . . I just loved spending time with Clara and Fleet and revelling in their delightful dialogue and marvelling at the wonders of Even Greater London (then having to go and have a lie-down, obviously), and of course trying to solve the Fiendish Mystery (all the while worrying about the safety of an annoying beagle). I already want to return to Mrs Pomligan's Coffee House (and Museum of Nearby Horrible Murder) and take another cab to the Thames Glacier, so I'm desperately hoping that there will be more adventures to come... Thank you so much for sending this to me! Also, for any reader who's already a Victoriocity podcast fan, it's so great to get to know our favourite characters even more, and their voices come through fantastically vividly. But for anyone new to the world, this is a wonderful introduction to the mysterious mechanical madness that is Even Greater London, and the many Highly Suspicious Goings-On therein. And they have a whole podcast to listen to after they've finished!

• Thomas D. Lee, bestselling author of PERILOUS TIMES

  Electrifying! Full of whimsical humour and unexpected twists, the weird and wonderful world of HIGH VAULTAGE has private detectives and bank heists galore, with a mostly mechanical Queen Victoria thrown in for good measure

• Alasdair Beckett-King

  Very funny . . . Extremely easy to recommend, especially to fans of Discworld, Dishonoured or Douglas Adams

• Caitlin Schneiderhan

  HIGH VAULTAGE is a joyous, delightful romp through the streets (and omnibuses and frozen, glacial rivers) of Even Greater London. There is no corner of this book that isn't richly imagined, beautifully rendered, and filled to the brim with clever jokes -- perfect for anyone looking for a Pratchett fix!

• BSFA

  For lovers of comedy / urban fantasy / alt-history sci-fi this is a winner of a read... A refreshingly happy experience and the start of something very special

• Financial Times

  Inspired and hilarious . . . Joyously Funny

• Miles Cameron

  This charming, funny, meticulously plotted book is unputdownable

• SFX

  More please

• Adam Simcox

  Best in class world-building with heart, soul, power and love

• Caitlin Schneiderhan

  A joyous, delightful romp...filled to the brim with clever jokes - perfect for anyone looking for a Pratchett fix

• Matt Young, co-creator of HELLO FROM THE MAGIC TAVERN

  Hilarious

• Interzone

  A twisty-turny - and often very funny - historical procedural

• Gabriel Urbina, creator of WOLF 359

  High Vaultage is endlessly entertaining - a classic mystery adventure with 10,000 volts of mad science put right through it. It's not just the type of story I wish I could read every day, it's the type of story I wish I could write. Reading it would make me furious with envy if it didn't keep me so busy grinning from ear to ear

• James Naughtie, broadcaster

  Comic fantasy, grounded and shot through with the sharpest wit, High Vaultage is an adventure in an imagined sci-fi Britain that's moulded into a recognisable place by a hilariously old-fashioned mystery, and two wannabe detectives that readers will cherish, and egg on their way. Chris and Jen Sugden have created their own wild world, and it echoes to laughter