Midnight Riot

Executive Summary: A good, but not great start. 3.5 stars rounded down because I just can't seem to enjoy any Urban Fantasy as much as the Dresden Files.

Audio book: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith does a great job with this book. He seems like a perfect fit. No real memorable voices or anything, but he seemed to do a variety of English accents making different characters distinct from one another. I will definitely continue on in audio.

Full Review
When I first started reading Urban Fantasy, I really loved it and wanted to read more of it. Now whenever I try a new Urban Fantasy series I find myself wishing I was simply rereading the Dresden Files.

I always get people telling me, if you like Dresden you'll like insert series name here. They just never hold up. I usually find myself bored after one book or two.

This one wasn't amazing or anything, but I didn't find myself thinking too much about Dresden while I was listening to it. It somehow seemed to be it's own thing, and not just another Dresden clone, despite the fact that is is another detective magician series.

I suspect if I had the first clue about London, this book would easily be 4 stars. There are probably lots of subtleties that just went over my head. But Mr. Aaronvitch seems to not only bring the city of London alive, but makes it an integral part of the story itself.

The original title for this book is Rivers of London, and it's very fitting. I don't really get why they changed the title for the US. I guess I can see where the new title came from, but it seems far less appropriate than the original.

It's probably because I love the whole magic school/apprentice thing. Peter Grant isn't exactly a young boy who is clueless, but he has a lot to learn and I always find myself enjoying learning about a new world through the eyes of a student.

It also helped its cause with me by not being focused on Vampires, Werewolves or Zombies. I'm pretty sick of all those things. I don't mind them being in the mix, but I hope future books don't focus on them too much.

I'm most interested in the unique aspects of the world building. I want to learn more about the Rivers and how seemingly ordinary people can be come powerful enough to be worshiped like gods.

I hope he continues to focus on that with future books as well as adding in some other unique ideas to set this series apart from the overabundance of uninteresting Urban Fantasy that just doesn't seem to do anything for me. If he does, I may have finally found another Urban Fantasy series I enjoy.