History Literature / MatthewSwift

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: In ''The Minority Council'', Matthew never said the dead fairy dust junkie was female. One of the people responsible tips his hand by referring to her as "she". It seems minor, but he explains that people, when they don't know the gender of someone they're speaking of, will use "they" or "he or she", or, if they're old-fashioned, default to "he".

* ItRunsInTheFamily: Magic. Matthew's mother and grandmother have it too, though different and they're both untrained.

* UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground

* MayDecemberRomance: Implied between Matthew and Elizabeth Bakker, by Vera.

* ManlyGay: San Khay

* AnyoneCanDie: Unless [[ContractualImmortality their name is on the cover]], they can die. At one point the Beggar King [[spoiler: points out to Matthew that he mostly manages to survive by letting everyone else die instead]].

The ''Matthew Swift'' novels are a UrbanFantasy series by Kate Griffin (alias Creator/CatherineWebb, who also writes under the pseudonym Claire North). The series begins with urban sorcerer Matthew Swift waking up mysteriously in a house he used to own, two years after his violent death, with different-colored eyes and an internal narrative that thinks of himself as "we" about half the time.

[[OnceAnEpisode Every book]] features Matthew facing off against some seemingly-unbeatable enemy, usually a modern EldritchAbomination. The series relies heavily on PostModernMagik. In this world, life is magic, and magical beings are what happen to all the "leftover life" in a city. This leads to such entities as [[OurFairiesAreDifferent fairies with tinfoil wings and a faerie court relying on makeup and Hollywood-style beauty]] and [[OurAngelsAreDifferent the blue electric angels, who are the voice in the telephone come to life from humans pouring so much of our emotions into it]].

There is also a [[Literature/MagicalsAnonymous sequel series]] taking place after ''The Minority Council'' which ollows a different protagonist.

* AGodAmI: The angels, but [[spoiler: only while high on fairy dust]].
* AGodIAmNot: Matthew, post resurrection. Fortunately for all involved, considering [[CosmicEntity what the angels could do]].

* {{Golem}}: The Litterbug sent after Matthew in the first book is a golem made of garbage and refuse.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler:Dana Mikeda. Matthew even says that Hunger/Bakker killed her to hurt him]].

* TheReliableOne: By the end of ''The Minority Council'', Kelly is somewhere between HypercompetentSidekick and CrazyAwesome.

* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:Vera, who while dissolving into paint smiles and smashes an Alderman over the head with a teakettle.]]

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The Neon Court. When people get too old and ugly, they tend to die horribly.

* FiveBadBand: The Tower.
** TheBigBad: Robert James Bakker
** TheDragon: Dana Mikeda
** TheEvilGenius: San Khay
** TheBrute: Guy Lee
** TheDarkChick: Harris Simmons
** The SixthRangerTraitor: Hunger

* AffablyEvil: Robert Bakker, who continues playing SubstituteDad while killing people. Oscar Kramb, the so-called Fairy Godmother, also qualifies.

* BadassGrandpa: Robert Bakker, to the point he's still a very powerful (and dangerous) sorcerer even after [[spoiler: [[HandicappedBadass a stroke]]]].

* CreepyBlueEyes: Hunger.

* XMeetsY: In universe, Matthew is described with these words: "The Swift-angel creature, while appearing almost entirely human, is at its core a combination of a traumatised dead sorcerer and infantile fire.". Then there's Matthew's definition of dragon: "Dinosaur meets flamethrower with wings".

The '''Matthew Swift''' novels are a UrbanFantasy series by Kate Griffin (alias Creator/CatherineWebb, who also writes under the pseudonym Claire North). The series begins with urban sorcerer Matthew Swift waking up mysteriously in a house he used to own, two years after his violent death, with different-colored eyes and an internal narrative that thinks of himself as "we" about half the time.

The '''Matthew Swift''' novels are a UrbanFantasy series by Kate Griffin (alias CatherineWebb, who also writes under the pseudonym Claire North). The series begins with urban sorcerer Matthew Swift waking up mysteriously in a house he used to own, two years after his violent death, with different-colored eyes and an internal narrative that thinks of himself as "we" about half the time.

The '''Matthew Swift''' novels are a UrbanFantasy series by Kate Griffin, a pen name for CatherineWebb. They begin with urban sorcerer Matthew Swift waking up mysteriously in a house he used to own, two years after his violent death, with different-colored eyes and an internal narrative that thinks of himself as "we" about half the time.

The Matthew Swift saga is a series of UrbanFantasy novels written by Kate Griffin (a pen name for CatherineWebb).

They begin with urban sorcerer Matthew Swift waking up mysteriously in a house he used to own, two years after his violent death, with different-colored eyes and an internal narrative that thinks of himself as "we" about half the time.

There is also a [[Literature/MagicalsAnonymous sequel series]] taking place after ''The Minority Council'' that follows a different protagonist.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Templeman. In the end, he wanted the Alderman to evolve and Matthew to uderstan what means to be Midnight Mayor]]

* XMarksTheHero: [[spoiler: The Midnight Mayor always has two cross carved in the palm of his hand]].
* XMeetsY: In universe Matthew is described with these words: "The Swift-angel creature, while appearing almost entirely human, is at its core a combination of a traumatised dead sorcerer and infantile fire.". Then there's Matthew definition of dragon: "Dinosaur meets flamethrower with wings".

* AllWomenLoveShoes: Inverted, as women ''buy'' more shoes but men emotionally invest on them.
* AmbitionIsEvil: [[spoiler:Kayle, Oda's brother: he wanted power, and managed to get the attention of the ''Midnight Mayor''. To the point he sent Aldermen after him, out of London.]]. Bakker, who [[spoiler:tried to enslave the blue electric angels to achieve immortality]], is a somewhat more subtle example.

** "You can't save everyone" in ''The Minority Counciil''

--> [[spoiler: "My name is Matthew Swift. I"m a sorcerer, the only one in the city who survived Robert Bakker's purge. I was killed by my teacher's shadow and my body dissolved into telephone static and all they had left to bury was a bit to blood. Then we came back, and I am we and we are me, and we are the blue electric angels, creatures of the phones and the wires, the gods made from surplus life you miserable excuse for mortals pour into all things electric. I am the Midnight Mayor,the protector of the city, the guardian of the night, the keeper of the gates, the watcher on the walls. We turned back the death of cities, we were there when Lady Neon died, we drove the creature called Blackout into the shadows at the end of the alleys, we are light, we are life, we are fire and, would you believe it, the word that best describes our condition right now is cranky. Would you like to see what happens when you make us mad?"]]

* BreakTheHaughty: ''Oda'': [[spoiler: her backstory is a BreakTheCutie reaching DespairEventHorizon, with her older brother killing their little sister. She becomes part of the Order and [[KnightTemplar devotes her life to it]]. She uses magic ''once'', to save her (and Matthew's) life and basically has an HeroicBSOD. She finds out her little sister was alive all along but the Order had lied to her to make her their weapon, and that her sister is TheChosenOne. When she refuses to kill the kid the Orders kills ''her'', forcing Oda over her DespairEventHorizon ''again'' and ultimately resulting in her being possessed by by [[EldritchAbomination Blackout]]. Then Matthew doesn't [[MercyKill kill her]], which indirectly causes her sister to be KilledOffForReal. In the end she is utterly broken and just wants to die.]]

* BullyingADragon: Played straight with Chaigneau, who had the brilliant idea of kidnapping Matthew, beat the crap out of him and blackmailing him (yes, the guy who happens to be a sorcerer and to channel beings of pure energy. It's not like he can curse him). Averted with Matthew: people consider his plans to destroy the Tower BullyingADragon, while Matthew knows he can do it.

* CloudCuckooLander: The Angels in the first book are drunk on life. When Mathew decides to take a day off from slowly but surely destroying the Tower, he lets the Angels go to a movie theater, play on a kids playground, and eat ice cream, all to their amazement and extreme pleasure. The (very) few times Mathew and them do (very subtly) disagree on something, it's usually a throwaway line along the lines of "We wanted to -insert doing something not particularly appropriate to the situation at hand- but I didn't think it was the time."
** Matthew's grandmother, but we don't know how much of it it's ObfuscatingStupidity.
* CoolTrain: The Last Train, which will never stops and never takes any passengers, unless they already know about it. It also, depending how you look at it, qualifies as NightmareFuel.

* DoctorsOrders: Dr. Seah cheerfully accepts that Matthew probably isn't going to stop showing up broken, bruised, and bleeding on her doorstep, so to make up for it she gives him stern orders to take it easy (whoch she knows he won't do) and pain meds. Lots of pain meds.

* EnergyBeings: What the Angels were before Mathew's resurrection.

--> '''Chaigneau:''' You... blue eletric angels... you are children with the power to kill, destroy and burn. You know nothing about life, its rules, norms, laws and understanding, and probably care less. Why should you not set the field of fire for the prettiness of its burning; why should you not kill wherever you go, simply because you can; why should you understand anything that the rest of humanity can?

* {{Necromancer}}: A few pop up. Their MO is that they tend to try their hand at immortality by swallowing papers with the traits they wish they had in a {{golem}}-esqe way. They die as soon as the paper is taken out, but it in the meantime, they "live" [[ExactWords exactly]] to the constraints of the paper (meaning if you forget to, say, write down that you still want to see colors or [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower actually feel things]], you're life undead won't be very pleasant).

* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The "concerned citizens" from ''A Madness of Angels'' know a frankly frightening amount about Bakker's lieutenants, right down to judging San Khay's taste in men, and their name could hardly be vaguer

* ParentalSubstitute: Bakker to Matthew, which make what happened between them even worse.

* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Averted in ''The Midnight Mayor'', as Matthew delivered one and run away. Given the situation, however, menaging to escape alive ''was'' a victory.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Nair, the previous midnight mayor, was apparently one of these to the point where, even after his death, the Aldderman ultimately decide ''not'' to kill Matthew out of sheer respect for Nair's decision.

** Mathew also gives a pretty spectacular one to Oda at the end of ''The Midnight Mayer'' about why he won't [[spoiler: kill Penny]].

* SirSwearsALot: Penny is apparently unable to form a sentence without swearing. To a lesser extent Jeremy the Troll.

* StraightEdgeEvil: San Khay, who lives a fiercely regimented lifestyle, exercises hard, always eats healthily, and never partakes in smoking or drugs. However, his well-planned routine does permit him a one-night-stand every week...

* IDontWantToDie: The reason behind [[spoiler:Bakker's]] FaceHeelTurn. The Angels also tend to freak out when they feel their lives at risk.

NeedsMoreLove.