The October Man

The October Man, from 2019, also takes us away from London, though not as far as Winter's Gifts. In this novella, we are in Germany and our narrator is Tobias Winter, who basically has Peter Grant's job (and, it must be said, almost exactly Peter Grant's voice...)

Set in the wine-growing town of Trier, our first mysterious corpse has been choked by mould, which proves to be 'noble rot,' used in wine making. But there's a tangled backstory that involves German river goddesses, ancient wizards, a men's social group, an attempted rape twenty years ago, layers of German bureaucracy and fun compound words, and an over-enthusiastic assistant.

The October Man doesn't really contribute anything extra to the main Rivers of London narrative, apart from a vague warning that magic is increasing, but it's a fun excursion. What's the point of creating this rich, sprawling universe if you don't explore its outer reaches now and then?
 

Winter's Gifts

Another Rivers of London novella from Ben Aaronovitch. Winter's Gifts takes us across the Atlantic to snowbound Wisconsin, with FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds as our protagonist. While she mentions (and once telephones) Peter Grant and the Folly in London, the focus is entirely on her and her hunt for a mysterious and vengeful supernatural creature.

I very much enjoyed this foray onto another continent, and Kim is good company: smart, resourceful and capable. There's a satisfying amount of action, with explosions, severed limbs, several frantic pursuits, a tentacled beast rising from a frozen lake, and even some pashing. We meet a Native American spirit in the form of a fourteen year old boy, which is a nice touch. I must admit that I wasn't entirely clear at the end of the story exactly what the evil object was, but maybe that was due to my inattentive reading -- I do tend to let the details wash over me when I'm reading Rivers of London books and just enjoy the ride.

What Abigail Did That Summer

What Abigail Did That Summer is a novella, less than 200 pages, set during the same time as Foxglove Summer. There's some suggestion that this is a young adult spinoff, designed to draw in younger readers to the Rivers of London series, which makes sense. Our narrator is Abigail Kumara, Peter Grant's thirteen year old cousin, who also has magical abilities and is beginning to be mentored at the Folly. 

There are a lot of reasons why this story might appeal to younger readers -- there are talking foxes! Missing teens (who are all returned unharmed). A sassy, streetwise, smart-mouthed heroine who can summon up river goddesses for advice. And the plot of What Abigail Did is a fair bit milder than most of the Peter Grant novels, which can contain some very dark material. The thing is, I'm not sure that Rivers of London needs a special YA gateway; I'm pretty sure that YA readers are quite capable of discovering and enjoying the regular novels all on their own. And I'm also not sure that Abigail's voice is totally convincing as a thirteen year old Black girl? (I must say that Abigail narrated parts of Stone & Sky and her voice was better handled in that later novel.)

Having said all that, I really enjoyed What Abigail Did, and especially the poignant source of the mystery, which is a house that's kind of come alive and kidnaps teens to act out memorable scenes from its past (shades of Tumbleglass). One aspect of the Rivers of London books I really relish is the awareness and inclusion of history. Those references just sit a tiny bit uneasily in Abigail's mouth, for me.
 

Stone and Sky

Since the first Rivers of London novel appeared in 2011, the universe of Peter Grant has expanded to include ten full length books, graphic novels and several novellas. I must admit I've pretty much stuck to the novels, though I'm tempted to sample some of the other products (if I can find them). I've been waiting for months for Stone and Sky to arrive on my reserve shelf at the library, and though I confess I have lost track of some of the characters and events, I'm always eager to plunge into a new Ben Aaronovitch. He can't seem to resist the temptation to invent new characters and fresh phenomena with every Rivers of London story; some of them can be successfully woven into the new material, some inevitably get left by the wayside (there wasn't nearly enough Nightingale in Stone and Sky for my liking, but I was happy to spend lots of time with Abigail, Peter's feisty younger cousin).

In Stone and Sky, we relocate from London to Aberdeen, an area of Scotland that I'm not hugely familiar with, to deal with murdered selkies, sexy mermaids, other dimensional panthers and homicidal gulls, as well as talking foxes, river goddesses and gigantic magical horses. Even if I no longer have a firm grasp on the outer reaches of Peter Grant's universe, I'm always along for the ride. Aaronovitch produces a perfect (for me) marriage of magic and the supernatural with police procedural, two of my favourite genres, and it's always hugely good fun.
 

False Value

It's been a long time since I last read any of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series -- I think the last one was Lies Sleeping, which I got as soon as it came out, and that was more than four years ago! Consequently my grasp on the series continuity has become rather hazy -- which I gather from reading other reviews of False Value, might actually be an advantage. I haven't kept up with all the novellas and graphic novels either, so there is a lot missing from my understanding of the universe -- again, possibly a good thing!

I delayed reading False Value for so long partly because I was put off by seeing some less than enthusiastic reviews, suggesting that Aaronovitch had become distracted from the main story arc by all the side projects, and that he might have lost control of his own creation. However, I must say that I enjoyed False Value. Coincidentally, it was set in the kind of tech milieu that I recently dipped a toe into with Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and Silicon Valley -- probably not very accurate portraits of the world of tech entrepreneurs, but what would I know? There are also many, many references to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- and weirdly, purely by coincidence, my daughter suggested that we watch the 1981 TV version together at exactly the time I was reading False Value, which meant I picked up far more of the jokes than I would have otherwise (Bambleweeny, the doors saying thank you, Vogons, and literally countless others -- I'm fairly sure the tech billionaire was made an Australian purely so he could use the phrase 'dingo's kidneys.').

Since I couldn't remember very clearly what was happening plot-wise, hiccups in continuity didn't bother me the way they bothered some other readers, and anyway, False Value seems to mark the beginning of a new plot arc. Taking it page by page, I had a great time. I think I'm back on baord.

Lies Sleeping

What better start to the reading year than the latest installment of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series, Lies Sleeping? I gorged on this novel like a box of Christmas chocolates.

There are so many things to love about this series -- the thrilling combination of modern police procedural and ancient magic; the humour and smarts of apprentice wizard and Detective Constable Peter Grant; the diverse cast, an accurate reflection of a modern city; and the ageless history of that same history which continually intrudes upon the present, through Peter's architectural asides or the river gods and goddesses.

Okay, so I sometimes get confused about the plot and the burgeoning multitude of characters (probably because I haven't kept up with the comics and short stories set in the same universe), but it doesn't spoil my delight. I owe a huge debt to Memoranda for putting me onto these books; see Michelle's review here.