Tales from the Folly
Ratings35
Average rating4.1
Return to the world of Rivers of London in this first short story collection from #1 Sunday Times bestselling author, Ben Aaronovitch. Tales from the Folly is a carefully curated collection that gathers together previously published stories and brand new tales in the same place for the first time. Each tale features a new introduction from the author, filled with insight and anecdote offering the reader a deeper into this absorbing fictional world. This is a must read for any Rivers of London fan. Join Peter, Nightingale, Abigail, Agent Reynolds and Tobias Winter for a series of perfectly portioned tales. Discover what’s haunting a lonely motorway service station, who still wanders the shelves of a popular London bookshop, and what exactly happened to the River Lugg... With an introduction from internationally bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series, Charlaine Harris. This collection includes: The Home Crowd Advantage The Domestic The Cockpit The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Granny King of The Rats A Rare Book of Cunning Device A Dedicated Follower of Fashion Favourite Uncle Vanessa Sommer’s Other Christmas List Three Rivers, Two Husbands and a Baby Moments One-Three Praise for the Rivers of London series: ‘Ben Aaronovitch has created a wonderful world full of mystery, magic and fantastic characters. I love being there more than the real London’ –Nick Frost ‘As brilliant and funny as ever’ –The Sun ‘Charming, witty, exciting’ –The Independent ‘An incredibly fast-moving magical joyride for grown-ups’ –The Times Discover why this incredible series has sold over two million copies around the world. If you’re a fan of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams—don't panic—you will love Ben Aaronovitch.
Series
Series
9 primary books25 released books#1.5, 1.6, 2.5, 4.6, 5.1, 5.1, 5. in Rivers of London
Rivers of London is a 25-book series with 9 primary works first released in 2001 with contributions by Ben Aaronovitch.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
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This is a short book of slight tales. If you don't expect much, then you won't be disappointed. I read the rather mixed reviews in advance, so I didn't expect much, and I enjoyed them quite well.
We get six short stories from Peter Grant's viewpoint, then four short stories and three ‘moments' from various other people's viewpoints.
When it comes to short stories, there's an old American saying that's apt: “It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog.” The best short stories can stand up to novels, because there's plenty of fight in the dog: they're compact but powerful. You read them, and they stick in the mind long afterwards.
Aaronovitch can cope with writing short stories, but he doesn't shine at it. His short stories have some fight in them, but no more than you might expect from the size of the dog.
Really, this whole book is probably best seen as a collection of outtakes: extra scenes that don't fit into a novel and would otherwise be discarded. If you don't bother with them, you're not missing much, but if you fancy some outtakes, then here they are.
Good points:
1. On average, they're relatively cheerful.
2. They're varied, and you get various different points of view.
3. One of them is from Abigail's point of view, and more of Abigail is always good. The other viewpoints we get are from Sommer, Winter, Croft, Nightingale in 1966, Reynolds, and a nameless person who doesn't appear in the novels (as far as I know).
For those of us that have devoured all the novels and novellas, this book has some bite-sized encounters with our favorite characters and even some who atarted out as bit players in the main story. It's good to see some more of the magical world of Peter Grant & co.
