Rivers of London
Ratings67
Average rating3.9
'Ben Aaronovitch's masterfully crafted world of magic, ghosts and gruesome crimes gives the late, great Terry Pratchett a run for his money' The Sun 'Great, great fun' Simon Mayo, Radio 2 My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluble, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England. Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden ... and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair. The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying.
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9 primary books25 released booksRivers of London
Rivers of London is a 25-book series with 9 primary works first released in 2001 with contributions by Ben Aaronovitch.
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Very interesting. I liked it. I actually read something with the Sword & Laser at the same time they did.
Second read: Downgrading from 5 to 3 stars. Some important stuff doesn't make sense upon a second reading.
First read: Wooo, what a ride! Up late every night reading, up well past midnight last night to finish. This is my type of fantasy book: grounded in the real world with magic and/or magical beings layered on top, and British humor veined throughout. Bonus points for the historical bits.
Just something about this book didn't blow me away
I'd been hearing a lot of positive things about this series for a while and after some high fantasy reads, I thought I'd bring myself down to something a little more realistic (based in a real place at least). I thoroughly enjoyed the way in which Ben Aaronovitch wrote, if a little sexist and perverted, it was poetic and well thought out throughout. However, there was a lot of descriptions and background writing that drew me away from the story a little. Almost like he's trying to teach us about the history of London, which I understand he likely was and is possibly the book's semi-intention, but it just didn't flow with me.
The main character was probably a 3/5, he wasn't funny, he wasn't witty, he just seemed to go through the motions and end up doing the right thing. Play, as previously mentioned, nearly all the women were described by the size of their breasts and it just took away from any real picture of what any female characters looked like.
It may sound like I didn't like this book, I did! I thoroughly enjoyed the unique magic system, the clever references to London and how grounded the fantasy elements were. It would make a fantastic dark version of Harry Potter. I would still recommend this book to anyone who enjoys London or city-based books with a slight fantastical twist.
