False Value

As a software engineer, Babbage and Lovelace have a special place in my heart, so i especially enjoyed this book.
There is a (annoying) style in TV shows to show a car chase, lots of shooting and then the car gets stopped and the police surround the evil driver, only for us to be surprised that it is the hero of the show.
Then the next scene starts with a text that says something like 12 hours earlier.
This book did that a couple times and I hope Mister Aaronovitch is done with that.

It's nice to spend more time with the familiar characters, and the story is readable, but overall I find this novel somewhat unappealing.1. Peter Grant is sent into the Serious Cybernetics Corporation as an undercover agent to investigate what's going on there. The SCC is a rather dreary place full of unfunny in-jokes about [b:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 386162 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1) Douglas Adams https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559986152l/386162.SX50_SY75.jpg 3078186]; I don't enjoy reading about it. 2. The initial chapters are out of chronological order, which seems unnecessary and is somewhat confusing and annoying.3. The new characters introduced in this story will probably never be seen again; even the author doesn't seem much interested in them.4. The story turns out to have not one but various different baddies of different levels of weirdness, acting at cross-purposes. It seems too complicated.5. There's something called a Mary Engine, which seems to be steampunk technology from the 19th century, but somehow functions as a generator of magical power—mixed up with various other diverse ingredients whose relevance is unclear and never really explained. I suppose the author wanted a generator of magical power for this story, and decided to cook one up using whatever ingredients first came into his head. I don't think it was a good idea; I hope the Mary Engine won't reappear in future books.6. In the context of the series, it's an uneventful story, in the sense that the regular characters experience little change of status.7. Lesley has disappeared without trace, and is mentioned in passing only a couple of times.It's good enough to read, and reread occasionally; there's nothing about it that I seriously dislike; but it's lacking in positive attractions.

Peter is so much more clever and funny than his German counterpart, and I always love his wit and the references to nerd culture. Plenty of that in this book, which sees him investigating in the world of high tech. Wonderful, plenty of character development, and more hints to Nightingale's past during WW2.

Executive Summary: Another enjoyable entry in the series. He mixes things up a little bit and I enjoyed it more than the last entry, probably because of its connections to tech. Audiobook: One of the things I love best about this series is the narration of Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. He does his usual fantastic job here, that really makes this series a must listen for me.Full ReviewI was late to picking up the Rivers of London books because I didn't have a great track record with Urban Fantasy. As such I'd been slowly consuming the series whenever I was in the mood for something light and fun. It took me about 3 years before finally catching up late last year. When this one came out earlier this year I didn't pick it up right away more out of habit than anything else. I ended up saving this for a time when I just wanted something short and fun and this fit the mold.Looking back at my review for [b:Lies Sleeping 36534574 Lies Sleeping (Rivers of London, #7) Ben Aaronovitch https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1517326409l/36534574.SY75.jpg 58260751], I enjoyed it far less than my friends seem to. I don't really remember the details anymore, but I apparently felt it more of a stand alone story. This one fits that mold as well, but enjoyed it slight more.I found the first part of this book a bit confusing at first and then a bit frustrating as he kept shifting the focus when I wanted to know what would happen next. This is something I'm used to in multiple POV stories, but not from this series with its single POV.As someone who works as as Software Engineer, but not for any of the Big Tech companies, I can only assume he does a good job in portraying the kind of environment that they often work in. For me I've never had that “we have all the amenities on sight so you never want to leave thing” going on. I did find some of the supporting characters very familiar however.I loved the inclusion of Ada Lovelace and the Babbage machine. I've actually seen a working Babbage machine at the Computer History in California and I've been fascinated by them ever since. I loved the blend of technology and magic in general of this book.I think that for me is why I ended up enjoying this one more than the last, because it is also pretty stand alone. There was some pretty interesting new world building elements. I'll be curious to see how that plays in future novels.I'm now once again caught up on the series. I'm not sure if I'll pick up the next one on release day or once again save it for when I need a fun, light read, but I'll be picking it up either way.

A unique twist on existing fears of the singularity, the idea of a truly self-aware AI developing consciousness, and perhaps the first time in the series where murder isn't the start of the investigation. I'm intrigued to see if we get further interaction with The Librarians; there's certainly room for the magical tech introduced to make a reappearance. Still, I think I prefer when Peter's not undercover, and when he's dealing with the more absurdly fantastical than plausibly sci-fi. Happy to report the next in the series seems to be starting out that way! ☺️