Tag archives for Ben Aaronovitch
Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch [Book Review]
Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection by Ben Aaronovitch My rating: 5 of 5 stars A good collection of short stories from the Rivers of London universe, half of which are not from Peter Grant's perspective. I read the whole collection over two days, quite rapid progress in the current climate! Each story is easy to read in a short sitting, and from there page turn onto the next. As a long-standing follower of the Peter Grant stories I loved the way these expanded the universe out into new spaces, or filled in gaps. Tales from the Folly I'd read a couple of these before on the web, or possibly tucked into another book. However they were just as enjoyable the second time round. Also most of the stories were new to me, even though…
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch [Book Review]
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch My rating: 5 of 5 stars I really enjoyed Lies Sleeping, and liked the multiple meanings inferable from the title. Lies Sleeping continues and expands on the Peter Grant story, for one thing PC Grant is now a Detective Constable. Lies Sleeping represents a watershed in the development of the universe, setting it up for more and bigger stories. The Folly is getting bigger and better organised. We see some of the liaison officers, that merely tolerated Peter and magic, accepting that it's not going away and treating Peter as one of the family. Lies Sleeping There are several key parts of the world that are explored and deepened. There is the nature of magic, keeping with Peter Grant's penchant for experimental approach and attempts to document how and why. There's what happened to practitioners…
The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch [Book Review]
The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch The Furthest Station is a novella, so quite short, set between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree. There's some interesting character development of some of the regular cast and also a couple of new characters. There are also some tantalising loose ends that I hope end up being explored in future stories. The Furthest Station Rush hour on the London Underground (Photo: Wikipedia) The main plot is of a ghost hunt on London Underground. Peter is joined by his younger cousin Abigail, who is turning out to be more than she appears on the surface. Abigail has an affinity with Foxes. Some things happen off-screen that I think may be connected with the Cry Fox graphic novel (which I've not yet read, I'm waiting for the collected edition before I acquire it). The Furthest…
Rivers of London: Black Mould by Ben Aaronovitch [Book Review]
Rivers of London: Black Mould by Ben Aaronovitch My rating: 4 of 5 stars Black Mould is a lovely little side story for Peter Grant that you can read without having read all the previous ; Black Mould The premise is pretty straightforward, although there's more than meets the eye initially. Peter Grant and his colleague Guleed are called to a luxury high rise where there's an infestation of black mould. This is more than just a fungal infection, otherwise they'd have sent a cleaner instead of the Met Police's second best ; The graphic novel format works really well, and despite having read five books before getting to the graphic novels (this is the third graphic novel) the characters are drawn/painted the way my imagination did from Ben Aaronovitch's ; There are some lovely background bits that tie Black…
Book Review – Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch My rating: 5 of 5 stars A change in direction for the Peter Grant series. Peter's out of London and without his mentor Nightingale. As well as this the story is one of two missing children, which adds an urgency to the pace of events. As you'd expect there is a strong supernatural element to the story, with an interesting twist in it. Only Peter and Beverley Brook really feature through the story, Nightingale bookends it and there is minor contact with Dr Walid at one point. All the rest of the characters are locals from West Mercia. Out on his own Peter develops as a character. He's a lot more self-reliant and capable, he doesn't have any magical backup so deals with what he finds himself. The background is also expanded a bit, Peter…