Review of 'Rivers of London'

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Peter Grant is a newly minted constable in the Metropolitan Police Service in London assigned to a largely ignored section of the force devoted to the exploring of the, shall we say, not quite normal as he has had a rather constructive conversation with a witness to a murder - The odd bit being that the witness is, in fact, no longer living. Peter is guided in his ever deepening understanding of magic by the head of the unit Inspector Nightingale. It is up to the two of them to figure out what is going on in the case as body count continues to increase in a case intertwined with the history of the greatest city on earth - London.

Interesting, particularly to those with an interest in London and the under-stated nature of English humour (the matter-of-fact way that the supernatural here is accepted is partly what I am talking about here…the rioting of the people at the Royal Opera House also being quite an amusing picture as well). Never laugh-out-loud funny it is amusing throughout with the prose being very easy to follow. The author obviously knows the city and this is particularly amusing to readers that also know the city but I would say that this would be of interest to others as well…I can't say I was riveted to the pages but it was not that bad. I will go on to read the two others in the series…

Rating: “Average, but who wants to be average?”

Review Date: 2012-10-14

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Gollancz

Publication Date: 2011

ISBN: 978-0575097582