Rivers of London

Super compulsive reading: all of the best parts of a police procedural with some nicely developed magical systems, all set in one of my favorite cities in the world.

The crime was creepy, but evocative. However, I felt like Punch and Judy manifesting in horrific ways has been done before, for instance by both Diana Wynne Jones and Neil Gaiman.

I liked Peter Grant and his character development. I liked that he was kind of spacey and distractable and well-paired with the detail-oriented Leslie May

I had two big complaints: one was the objectification of the female characters (about which I'd been warned, and also promised that it improves throughout the series, which hopefully is true.) The other is the pacing: climaxes of one scene would jump cut to hours of studying Latin for no clear reason. This is at its worst at the very end, where I really couldn't quite figure out what actually happened because the action was stuffed with exposition and another case. In a lot of ways it reminds me of the Rook: mystery/urban fantasy mashup with world building that occasionally butts its way into action.

Overall, it's chock-full of my favorite things: deeply urban (London, no less), interesting mystery and well-designed speculative fiction. Perfect camping reading, and I'm totally tempted to binge read the rest of the series

I went in expecting something like [b:Neverwhere 14497 Neverwhere (London Below, #1) Neil Gaiman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348747943l/14497.SX50.jpg 16534][b:Neverwhere 14497 Neverwhere (London Below, #1) Neil Gaiman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348747943l/14497.SX50.jpg 16534] but instead, this book delivered something like a mix of Harry Potter, CSI, with just the slightest touch of Gaiman.Overall, this was a really fun read with a compelling lore. The book is soaked in London/English pop culture without being obnoxiously unintelligible to anyone not from London. Some references went over my head, while I managed to catch others. The plot was overall engaging and the pacing was good throughout the book - it managed to balance setting up the world and the magic system, all of which is completely new to our protagonist, while still keeping the action of the plot ongoing at a steady pace.There were some aspects of it I didn't enjoy as much, like how male-gazey it was with the main female characters, even though our protagonist Peter Grant does not overstep boundaries and respects personal space, but his thoughts, lusty as they sometimes got, got a bit annoyingly much. Leslie and Beverly, the two main female characters, definitely have their own personalities, agency, and skills, but I didn't feel like we saw enough of that or them, since the book is told from the first-person perspective of Peter.The last third of the book got really confusing to me. I had a hard time trying to keep up with all the action and information that was coming on fast and furious. I probably got enough of a gist to vaguely understand how the story wrapped up, but if I had to explain it in detail to someone, I'd probably still be lost. I did enjoy the world, the magic system, and the lore that Aaronovitch set up though, and would still continue on the series at some point for that. I've heard that he gets better in his treatment of female characters as the series goes on, so there's that to look forward to as well.

This was another nice start to a new series of books that I'm going to read the rest of when I get my hands on them. It's got magic, wizards, crime, it's set in London, what more can you ask for? Maybe a less rushed conclusion. The character of Molly did not really make a lot of sense to me, and ended up being a bit of a deus ex machina?

Well, that is one the most enjoyable urban fantasy/procedural novels I have read in a good while. Enjoyable, understandable and not over the top human characters. The supernatural characters are well integrated but not used by the author in ways that have them making the humans redundant. The writing is meticulous and the payoffs are will set up.

This is the beginning of an excellent series, which manages to combine a police procedural with the supernatural to great effect. What really lift these stories into the sublime, however, are the audiobooks, which feature a standout performance by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. He manages to perfectly capture Peter Grant, while at the same time personifying a whole smorgasbord of additional characters. A real tour-de-force.

Update: Since I initially listened to the audiobook, I though I'd re-read the written version to compare. Fortunately I can report that it is just are good without the reassuring tones of Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. Having said that, I am now so used to hearing Kobna's narration that I “heard” the book in his voice regardless.

23/02/23:
It was a fun and okay read. Like not particularly exciting but also not particularly boring. The MC's musing and observations were fun to follow, like comments about bureaucracy. I didn't enjoy the male gaze parts though. Its not at the level of Dresden files but still there, which not going to lie, made me really uncomfortable. Not to say there weren't varied personalities of female character. The MC is just horny and makes it really really obvious. If I could reach inside the book and smack his head I would rate the book much higher. (jk)
Final rating: 3.5/5

A fun urban fantasy thats funny, smart, and -in more ways than one- magical. It reads like a comic book, colourful, dynamic, and full of memorable characters.

This novel really exemplifies my idea of Urban Fantasy as a British counterpart to South American Magical Realism wherein instead of the South American approach of “that's just how it is” when it comes to the fantastical, we see an approach more like “that's not right but also none of my business,” that is so delightfully British.

Told through the voice of Constable Peter Grant who finds himself plunged into the world of wizards and magic hidden in plain sight, it has that great, signature, British dry sense of humour that juggles the absurd and mundane fans of Hitchhikers Guide would not be strangers to.

Peter plays the straight man much like Arthur Dent does in HGTTG but in a refreshing way where he isn't fumbling, bullheaded, and infuriatingly in constant denial of his new reality. Instead we see a protagonist that is smart, capable, and endearing in a way you'd want most main characters to be. Kudos to the author in how his character was unfurled to the readers, he really is my favourite part of the book.

Credits also to the book's clean, straightforward storytelling, though not the most complicated of all stories it is filled with so many characters with their own interests and agendas. It was nice that I, queen of short attention spans and lack of focus, was able to keep track of everyone and not mix any of them up. It was a fun and satisfying read from beginning to end.

The only minor gripe I may have with the book is how Peter sometimes talks about women he finds attractive (it's a very boys books so some degree of it should be expected). Nevertheless, I don't think it really took away from the story, it may have even added some gross realism to Peter's character, nobody's perfect after all. He does get called out on it at one point by an angry river spirit which I do appreciate.

As Peter says in the book to the spirit of the London mob, they have to leave us wanting more. I think they succeeded in that aspect, at least with this reader.

Rating: 3.4 leaves out of 5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 2/5
Story: 3/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Genre: Fantasy/Mystery/Crime/Paranormal/Magic/Supernatural
Type: Audiobook
Worth?: Eh

If you enjoyed the Harry Potter Series and The Sorcerer's Apprentice I think you would really enjoy this. It is more adult themed, also keep that in mind. Peter Grant is the type of character that is lost but not really lost. A good guy with a knack for learning and exploring his life of all things magic and paranormal.

The reason for the 3 and the EH is because nothing struck out to me. It was flat and the mystery part was half way there. Everything seemed washed down when it really could have been elevated up so high. The characters were nice, I liked the interactions for all of them but not one of them made connections with me.

There were few funny moments in the story but it felt like a really long road trip and I kept asking are we there yet.

Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/review/R3645PIXW5X76E/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Urban Fantasy - Public employee Magic User

If you like Charles Stross's “Laundry” series, you should like this book. I do and I did. This book has the elements of magic meets British bureaucracy, except that where Stross plumbs the line between eldritch horror and spycraft, Aaronovitch places his story in the line between supernatural story and police procedural.

Police Constable Peter Grant is the neophyte introduced to the supernatural world by his apparently native gift for perceiving the supernatural and by a chance encounter with Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale. DCI Nightingale is the lone wolf head of a Metropolitan Police unit that specializes in the occult and supernatural. Nightingale's specialty is appreciated by some and despised and mistrusted by others. Nightingale decides to bring Grant on as an apprentice, and from there is a quick and hurried introduction to the supernatural world of London and the craft of magic.

In Aaronovitch's world, there is magic and ghosts and vampires, sort of, and gods, sort of. The last element is represented by a confusing and complex set of semi-deities that represent the “rivers of London,” including the lost rivers of Tyburn and Fleet and barely known rivers, all of whom are personified by individuals with interests and powers. There is a conflict between “Mother Thames” - representing the estuary portion of the Thames - and Father Thames - representing the upriver, rural river - over turf. This is important because a daughter of Mother Thames - Beverly Brook - seems slated to be a recurrent character/love interest of Grant.

I liked the London setting. I got a work out searching for background on the various places mentioned by Aaronovitch.

The Macguffin of the story involves unexplained, senseless murders, that we learn are tied into the “Punch and Judy” story. Aaronovitch does a good job of setting up the mystery, following the clues and resolving the story. The story moved along at a good clip. Aaronovitch has a light, engaging style which is often delightful. For example:

“Ever since mankind stopped wandering around aimlessly and started cultivating its own food, society has been growing more complex. As soon as we stopped sleeping with our cousins and built walls, temples and a few decent nightclubs, society became too complex for any one person to grasp all at once, and thus bureaucracy was born.”

And:

“The original house had been replaced by an indoor flower market with an arched iron-and-glass roof. Eliza Doolittle, as played by Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, would have bought her violets there before moving off to display the worst cockney accent this side of Dick Van Dyke. When they rebuilt the Royal Opera House in the 1990s, it swallowed up most of the surrounding block, including the flower market.”

Nice observations.

Grant is apparently half West African and half white. His father was a jazz musician and a heroin addict. These are details that play into the story to add dimension to Grant's character. Other than that he seems to be a fairly typical introverted nerd that people who read this kind of book, who are, I believe, typically introverts and nerds themselves, can identify with.

Aaronovitch also introduces Grant's fellow-PC and unrequited love interest, Leslie May, who was badly used by the Punch ghost in this book, and whose future was left open by the end of the book. In addition, we meet Grant's mentor, boss, master, the wizard Thomas Nightingale, who will undoubtedly play a role in future volumes, and the maid of Nightingale's house, “the Folly,” named Molly, who may be a vampire.

This is a fun book. The series should make a nice alternative to the Laundry.

I would never have read this book if it had been presented in what is apparently the American branding which is renamed “Midnight Riot” and features a low-pixel explosion and a silhouetted figure who looks like Vinnie Jones (the protagonist is mixed race and presents as black) and looks just all-around terrible. But I came across the paperback, with the intriguing map illustration and the “Rivers of London” name, and that made me seek out the audiobook (presented as Midnight Riot by Audible US).

It's a fun story, combining elements of American Gods and other magic stories in a detective/crime structure. I'll probably read the next one at some point. So I'm glad I saw the paperback, and not that terrible American cover, first.

There has been a fair share good of Urban Fantasy around for a while. Usually, its the world building and the characters that fill it who take center stage and drive the narrative. In the case of this one though, its driven by London. You cannot ready this and not want to travel around this city. The fact the first book of the series is titled to capture this is also brilliant. The magic system is simple but not left without the scientific take on it. The players are nicely set especially so the Police. With a bit more heart this could have been brilliant.

A fun read, lots of action and movement [what I like in a story], who was who was a mystery til almost the end [I like this too]. The characters had good depth and personality, and I liked that objects of nature have manifestations.

If you like this book and don't mind a bit of leaning towards sci-fi, you may enjoy [book:The Atrocity Archives|101869] by [author:Charles Stross|8794]. London today, supernatural, and managing the chaos that ensues.