Strange Practice cover art

Strange Practice

Dr. Greta Helsing, Book 1

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Strange Practice

By: Vivian Shaw
Narrated by: Suzannah Hampton
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About this listen

 'This book is a joy to read, unlocking every bit of delicious promise in the premise' B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

Meet Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead.

After inheriting a highly specialised, and highly peculiar, medical practice, Dr Helsing spends her days treating London's undead for a host of ills: vocal strain in banshees, arthritis in barrow-wights and entropy in mummies. Although barely making ends meet, this is just the quiet, supernatural-adjacent life Greta's dreamed of since childhood.

But when a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human undead and alike, Greta must use all her unusual skills to keep her supernatural clients - and the rest of London - safe.

There are . . . few heroines as well-written and compelling as Greta Helsing'
BookPage

'Shaw balances an agile mystery with a pitch-perfect, droll narrative and cast of loveable misfit characters'
Shelf Awareness

'An imaginative, delightfully droll debut'
Kirkus©2017 Vivian Shaw (P)2017 Little Brown Book Group Action & Adventure Classics Dragons & Mythical Creatures Fantasy Fiction Paranormal Mythology Zombie
All stars
Most relevant  
Great story, loved it, the narrator had a lovely voice. Greta is an interesting character and her gang of supernatural friends are a good mix.

Fantastic

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Loved this book. The story is well written and keeps you entertained till the very end. I couldn't stop listening.

I loved the characters that they weren't 'vanilla' and the change of the predictable good versus evil.

Can't wait to listen to the next book.

Different Good

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I loved the the “doctor to the undead” concept. I liked Greta and her harem of otherworldly gentlemen. And I enjoyed the story enough to start cleaning the house as an excuse to keep listening.
I would’ve liked at least one other female character amount the main cast. And I really wish the editor had left a pause between sections of text. Jumping between character perspectives without a lead or pause was confusing and a disservice to the story.

Enjoyable

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I loved this book and the narrators voice is lovely. I've just purchased the next 2 books!

thoroughly enjoyable

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This book won’t rock your world, but is entertaining enough. An interesting premise with lots of promise.
I found the sameness of the character dialogue a bit confusing at times - couldn’t tell who was saying what and when.

Easy Listening

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a different narrative. I thought a little slow but the characters were fascinating and I look forward to see how further novels go.

enticing

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Excitement, drama and friendship. A great tale well told. A scientific and medical viewpoint of creatures and monsters, quite unique.

A really lovely story with great narration.

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Firstly the narration is lacklustre. She has a nice voice, but there is no effort to distinguish between dialogues at all, there is no actual voice acting, just... Reading. One character is specifically described as having an American accent but all his dialogue is the same as everyone else's.
Speaking of the characters, I'm not sure why half of them exist. There are only five main characters in the first place but even that could have been halved without much sacrifice
And everyone was so... Dull? Everyone's interactions are boring, the pace barely picks up in any way that makes me truly anticipate what comes next, and no one is memorable at all. I couldn't pick a favourite, they left no real impression.
I'm also not convinced by the apparent lack of any sort of community and self governance by a society of supernatural creatures dating back millenia and expected to live in utter secrecy. Surely there are community leaders? Established people who help combat any potential threats, which surely there have been plenty of over the years?
I was intrigued by the idea of a doctor for the supernatural, and I would have hoped any mystery solving Greta did would involve more of her doctoring skills and know how, but I was very disappointed. I wish they delved into that more. I would have found any further development of administering medicine to werewolves more interesting than the entire mystery this novel revolves around.
Not to mention the main antagonists are humans armed with daggers. Yes, poisoned daggers, but still daggers. How were several centuries old, powerful and magical creatures ever seriously threatened by that? poisoned crossbow bolts would make more sense, but daggers? Even I could fend off a dagger - weilding lunatic with a baseball bat or a broom.

I held on for a long time waiting for the ball to get rolling, and I was too far in by the time I realised there would be no such momentum.
A very lacklustre read.

Sadly underwhelming

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