Tales from the Folly

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).

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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If asked, I'd have thought I posted about this book weeks ago, so imagine my surprise this past weekend when I saw this title still on my “To Be Written” list when I was checking for something else. Better late than never...

WHAT ARE THE TALES FROM THE FOLLY?
The subtitle pretty much gives it away, really. These are shorter works set in the Rivers of London series. The Folly is the unofficial name for the recognized British magical organization, following in the first formal study of magic made by Sir Isaac Newton( no known relation, but that doesn't stop me from claiming him as an uncle), it's currently formally organized as the Special Assessment Unit of the Metropolitan Police. The Folly is also the nickname for their headquarters. Either use works for this collection.

There are seven short stores (or one novella and six short stories) told from Peter Grant's perspective—just like the series. Then there are four stories from the point of view of other characters in the series and three “moments” (Aaronovitch's term for “something that is more of a mood than a story, something that will last a page or two and conjure an atmosphere).

PETER GRANT STORIES
Obviously, this is Peter's series (at least so far...), so he gets the bulk of the space. Most of these take place around the time of the first few books in the series, but at different stages of Peter's development. I enjoyed them all and most of them are good enough to justify the purchase price on their own.

I can't put my finger on why, exactly, but the first story “The Home Crowd Advantage” is my favorite. It's about a French practioner who got up to no good during the 1948 London Games who revisits the scene of the crime in 2012 when rookie apprentice Peter Grant is the only one around ot deal with him.

The last entry in this section is the novella, A Rare Book of Cunning Device that I talked about when it was released as an Audible Original in 2017. It's rare for me to go from hearing a work to reading it, so it was interesting that way. I enjoyed it just as much this time around, but I think Holdbrook-Smith's voice is a better one for this series than whatever is echoing around in my skull.

EVERYONE ELSE
The fact that Aaronovitch is able to tell stories outside of Peter's perspective shows the strength of the series in my book, he's built the world and the characters out enough that they can carry the weight of a narrative for at least a little bit.

We get a story from the perspective of one of the Rivers, one from Abigail's perspective that will warm the cockles of your heart (and maybe make you a little sad for a bit), a nice one featuring Vanessa Sommer from Germany (making me hope we get back to Germany for another novel soon), the answer about what happened to the River Lugg after Foxglove Summer. Then there are the moments, one featuring Nightengale, one with Reynolds and one with Sommer's pal Tobias Winter years before The October Man

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT TALES FROM THE FOLLY?
That's easy, I thought it was great. I'd buy volume 2 tomorrow, and volume 3 next month. If Aaronovitch wrote that quickly, anyway. They're like the comic series in a way—a nice way to spend some time in this universe without having to put in the time of a novel.

The collection covered the gamut of emotions and types of story typical of the series with Aaronovitch's evident charm and skill. It's a must for every Rivers of London fan.

I was actually wary of reading this - I don't generally enjoy short stories and, even worse, the latest instalment in this series, [b:False Value 45016688 False Value (Rivers of London, #8) Ben Aaronovitch https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1564222811l/45016688.SY75.jpg 69684460], was a severe disappointment. Thus, I was happy to find out that these short stories feature the same dry humour and sarcasm that made especially the first books such a joy to read. »I've actually done controlled laboratory experiments that indicate that he can detect magical activity up to ten metres away, although false positives can be generated by cats, other dogs and the remote possibility of a sausage.«(About Toby, the supernatural police Wonder Dog) The writing is Aaronovitch at his best; in my favourite story “A Dedicated Follower of Fashion” his fantasy literally overflows, blooms and flowers and simply explodes in the best of ways: »I, on the other hand, found myself increasingly drawn to the cellar door. Especially when it started to flower. It started with a spray of cotton around the door frame, overlapping triangular leaves of white and navy-blue cotton that stuck to the bricks of the wall as if they'd been glued in place.« We also get to meet Abigail again whom I'd already found to be a very enjoyable addition and who proceeds to cement this position in “Favourite Uncle” by completely being herself. »Still I traded the make up at school and keep the case to house my specimen collection kit. And some of the Mac cosmetics that Bev gave me later.« With the “Moments” - short stories so short (and uninspired) they couldn't stand on their own - an unfortunate exception, all the stories are truly fun, sometimes relatable but always surprisingly enjoyable. This is not one of those collections of short stories to squeeze out another few cents out of us but pure, delightful Folly - with all the full authentic vibes. Five out of five stars! »Then the children's section had been moved upstairs and the poor little deity started to feel unloved. ‘Just one of those things,' I said. ‘But what am I supposed to do about it,' he asked. ‘Sacrifice a goat?' ‘About once a week somebody has to sit down and read it a book,' I said. ‘What kind of book?' ‘It's not the book that's important,' I said. ‘It's the reading.'« Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram