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Re-Read 8/26/21:Buddy reading and enjoying it as much now as I did the first time. It's wild to go back to the early days. Also disturbing, knowing what will come. ; ;Original Review:I'm giving this top marks for a UF for several reasons.1. Plain enjoyment! (This one should be obvious but it doesn't always work even with a lot of other titles I respect across the board. I may love bits and pieces of them, but then you come across writing that is a breeze to fall into and enjoy throughout, and th...
Rivers of London (U.S. title: Midnight Riot) by Ben Aaronovitch, 2011 I received this book as a gift a rather long time ago. It sat in my to-be-read pile for far too long because, I am embarrassed to admit, of its cover, which looked dreary and literary. I should instead have looked at the first page, which opens:“It started at one thirty on a cold Tuesday morning in January when Martin Turner, street performer and, in his own words, apprentice gigolo, tripped over a body in front of the West P...
Well, this was something different. It had to grow on me. Which, in the end it did. Fun characters, out of the box weird story, humor here and there and all playing in London, one of my most favorite cities in the world. Many streets I could envisage for me, especially Covent Garden, the prime place of crime. It is of course a fantasy story, a young man, starting out as a cop, turns into a learning wizard cop. No, it's not like Harry Potter.... it's kind of a weird fantasy story playing in Londo...
Too. Much. Fun.But not too much. Just the right amount of fun. Ladies and gentleman, if you're looking for a relatively light read, with overtones of the theatre and English puppetry, and undertones of feuding rivers and power struggles, all sifted through the eyes of a police constable who has just discovered that magic is real, and he's been chosen to police it, then this is the book for you!Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enfo...
Goddammit. I wanted to like this one. I really, really, really did. It has a lot going for it. Midnight Riot, also known as Rivers of London across the pond, has, while not the most original premise, certainly an engaging voice. It's got that dry British humor going on, an initially likable hero, an intriguing world and diverse cast, a science(ish)-based magic system, and a POC protagonist who doesn't read like a white guy with a paint job. It was close, SO CLOSE, to enjoyable.Unfortunately,
Midnight Riot is the kind of book that people like me, absolute anglophile and devoted BBC lover, couldn’t help but like. The humor and the texture to the narrative in this book reads delightfully British, but in a fashion that suggests that England isn’t just Jane Austen or Charles Dickens. It’s also Doctor Who, Blake’s Seven, Being Human, Law and Order: UK, and Luther. It’s upper crust and working class. It’s a mix of past and present. Even deeper, it’s the everyday lives of Britons, not all N...
Posted at Shelf InflictedI’m a fan of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series, even though I got tired and stopped reading after #9. After a while the stories became too repetitive and I didn’t see any significant growth in Harry’s character. His smart-ass comments that were amusing in the earlier books started getting annoying towards the end. In the hopes I would find a fun read similar to the Dresden books, I picked up Midnight Riot. It wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t a great one either. Peter Gr...
Peter Grant is a Probationary Constable, a term I wasn't familiar with until I began reading. At the beginning the London of Peter Grant is a normal one. The genre is not in Fantasy waters from the beginning. But then Grant witnesses a ghost at a crime scene.The author reminds me of Ian Rankin when there is police procedure of the mudane type, and Jim Butcher when magic is involved. I liked how imperfect the hero, Peter Grant, is. There is, however, always a trade off. I found the writing style
This is a marvellous reread of a wonderfully humorous fantasy series by Ben Aaronovitch that has London as a central character. I have to admit I originally read the series out of order as a mix of audio and the actual books, I can still remember the first book I read, The Hanging Tree, and being completely bowled over by it and wanting to read all the other books, and absolutely loved the black police officer, Peter Grant. With a new addition to the series coming up, which I will be reading, it...
Thoughts on the book:my review.Thoughts on the audio version:As many people have noted, Kobna Holbrook Smith is a fabulous reader. Turns out he is an actor and director is well, with a long list of tv credits, which is kind of a bummer because I hope he continues to have time for the Peter Grant series.Holbrook Smith is clearly a talented voice actor who can understandably convey a range of London accents, from that of an 19th century itenerant to Nightingale's 'posh' early 20th century to curre...
I really love this narrator! If I continue with this series, it will have to be on audio as well! Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
One of the best crime, fantasy, horror mixes next to Jim Butchers Dresden files A kind film-noir hommage and persiflage at the same time.It´s a love letter to London and especially for native Londoners, there may be the one or other bonus.Especially the horror parts are well written.
UPDATE 27 June 2013: A TV series is on the way! Maybe 2014! Rating: 3.5* of five The Publisher Says: Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with