Book #46: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I remember being told some time ago about this book series, and eventually decided to give it a try.
The books are set in an alternative version of London; people live alongside supernatural entities, like ghosts and vampires. All of the rivers seems to be governed by some kind of deity (Mother and Father Thames are among the many side characters in this book).
Since this is the first book, a lot of the narrative is given to explaining the setting. This does mean that there are some quite dense descriptions of the environment, but writer Ben Aaronovich does a good job of painting an almost immersive picture of what this alternative London is like.
The central characters are Peter Grant and Thomas Nightingale, who work for the police force, and who are called in to investigate a murder. One of the main problems though is that when a witness comes forward, it turns out that he is a ghost. Because magic exists in this version of London, Peter is also being taught to perform spells, and I am assuming this is a plot that will develop throughout the subsequent titles.
So, this book took a few chapters to get into, mostly because of the book needing to introduce the writer to the world in which is it set, but I started to enjoy it a lot. There was a good mixture of drama, often with some imagery that was more gruesome than I expected, and occasional bursts of humour. I am definitely keen to keep reading this series.
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