Cursed Under London is the first book in a brand new series from comedy script writer Gabby Hutchinson Crouch. It’s a rom-com set in Elizabethan London packed full of magical creatures and a couple of familiar faces – zombified Christopher Marlowe, anyone?

The story follows Fang, on the run from a mysterious past in the Ming Empire, opening on his death in an alleyway from a beating… only he fails to die. Enter into the story Lazare; a Frenchman, tutor, and wannabe actor – who also died after a beating but failed to stay dead, and instead managed to grow himself a pair of vampire wings. Despite, confusingly for those around him, not actually becoming a vampire.

Circumstances (aka Amber, a small dragon prone to waddling) bring these two together, and with the help of Welsh witch apothecary Nell (my favourite, obviously), they attempt to discover why they have been cursed and how they can break it. Along the way, they manage to become embroiled in a plot regarding two London gangs and fae weapons, and they run afoul (you’ll get this when you read it) of the Queen’s Royal Guard. All whilst trying not to shag each other, or get themselves or their friends eaten.

As lauded as Crouch is for her humour, and this is a funny book, the aspect I loved most about this story was the magic and worldbuilding. Crouch’s London is comprised of Upper London, where the mortals live, and Deep London, where… everything else lives. There are strict laws that govern things like where you can and can’t eat people, or turn people, after a peace was settled between the English crown and the dragon Queen of Britain’s magical community. And Wales is its own separate country after the dragons helped their resistance of the English invasion; bonus points for the two Welsh place names dropped being the two towns I live in-between. There’s a very Pratchettian feel to the way this world works, the union for vampires that Lazare is invited to join, for example, the workers, the dockers, the embassies… casting someone with actual wings for Mephistopheles… it’s a very well-realised version of an alternative London. The historical setting never feels over-done; Crouch writes with her tongue firmly in cheek, balancing more modern phrasings for humour with an obvious understanding of her time period with the use of subtly-deployed historically-accurate references.

This is a very fun read, a very easy read, that will sweep you along the way all good stories will. If you love “I’m too hurt to ever love again”, “omg who hurt you” dynamics, then you are going to fall head over heels for Fang and Lazare. They are messy and complicated in all the best ways. I think the thing I appreciated the most about this book, is that Crouch didn’t think “I have werewolves and vampires and dragons, but I must make homosexuality wrong so that it’s historically accurate”. Instead, this is a queer-normative world, and it was so refreshing just to be able to enjoy the romances in this story without that hanging over it. The story wraps up nicely by the end, whilst still leaving a clear path to the next one in the series, so at least you’re left satisfied (unlike certain characters I could mention).

All in all, Cursed Under London is a wonderful new edition to that Alternative Magical Britain clique; if you liked A Marvellous Light (this is a lot less spicy), Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, and A Market of Dreams and Destiny, then this one will be perfect for you. Hilarious, a heart-warming found-family dynamic, and horny zombies. You can’t go wrong.

Cursed Under London is available now, you can pre-order your copy HERE