Quick update & some book squee
Well I have now had my initial induction to the wonderful world of River Island. It seems like it's going to be ok :) I'm pretty pleased that the uniform involves jeans - it should mean being a bit comfier than I was in Debenhams. I will also not suffer the usual problem of needing belt loops and not having any. The whole time I was at Debenhams I would have to do tasks while holding the keys to the jewelery if I was given them. I kept meaning to sew a loop onto my trousers (damned if I was going to buy a new pair when I'd only bought black suit trousers for the job anyway...), never got around to it. I did have a moment of hilarity when they tried to explain how overtime pay works. They said that you get your regular hours pay once a month plus all the overtime up to a cut-off point. After the cut-off point the rest of the overtime goes into the next pay packet. This is very simple to understand. They told me, I said "Yes, I get it, fair enough." Then they said that it's really complicated and that they'd need to go find a chart to show me how it works. They explained it again without the chart, got the chart and explained it twice more. *shakes head*. I got it the first time! Cut-off point! Fair enough, it makes sense! I think my 'I'm talking to new people face' must be easily interpreted as 'I understand nothing, please fetch diagrams!'.
But anyway, it's all good.
As for the book squee, I shall place it under a cut because it will probably be quite long. The Book in question is:
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Firstly, I feel that the story behind me getting this book is worth skimming briefly. In the Botanic area of Belfast there is a little book shop called No Alibis. It is possibly my favorite bookshop in the world. It specializes in crime fiction and also trades in first and special edition books, signed books and children's crime fiction. Yup, it's a crime fiction bookshop with a dedicated kiddies corners. They also put on signings, gigs and events. It is one hell of a cool shop too. Their store detective is Columbo and he keeps watch over the store. He lives... oh I don't want to spoil it in case you're ever there. If you are, ask about Columbo. You will probably be sent on a hunt to find him. Cool shop. On one visit this incredibly cool looking book that was on the 'featured' shelf caught my eye. It had a super-detailed wordy map of London on the front. I read the blurb. Stopped, closed the book, put it down, picked it back up, re-opened it and read it again. Yup. Wizard-Cops. You heard me. Actually, let me explain using a very simple diagram:
Naturally I bought the book. I also bought some Rory's Story Cubes and had played a game with them with the book seller. Do you ever get to play storycubes in Waterstones? Probably not. The guy also promised me that Rivers of London was a fantastic book and that I would really, really enjoy it. This is why No Alibis is such a special shop. Then Danielle and I went looking for Columbo, but that story contains spoilers.
Ok so Rivers of London? Yes. I'll keep this relatively spoiler-light. The book is about a young PC at the end of his probabtionary period who happens to meet a ghost whilst guarding the perimeter of a very grizzly murder scene. Being a cop he interviews the witness, corporeal or not. It turns out that PC Peter Grant has a special gift. Luckily it means that instead of making a "valuable contribution" as a pencil-pusher specializing in paper work he becomes apprentice to the Met's last remaining wizard. What follows includes a series of brutal murders and assaults, diplomatic wranglings with river gods, scientific magic, water nymphs, a yappy little dog, infanticide, blood, violence and rebellion and, of course, exploding apples.
One of the most successful elements of the books is the main character PC Peter Grant. Aaronovitch has written him as a character who is very much an 'everyman', i found him quite relatable. Because the world of ghosts, gods, monsters and magic is as new to him as it is to the reader, he is a very good medium for immersing the reader into the world. He asks the questions that we want to ask, he loves to know how and why things work. Curiosity is one of his biggest characteristics and it manages to be both his greatest asset and his greatest flaw. His curiosity means that he's interested in everything (which means we're treated to lots of interesting history, folklore and even science as a part of his musings). This unfortunately means that he's easily distracted, not a great quality in a cop. Strangely this means that even though his curiosity leads him to miss out on clues that his more astute colleague (and potential love interest) Lesley does not, it also means that he is frequently able to spot details and connections that others miss. He's pretty smart, but he's not a genius. He works hard, but isn't a workaholic - he's definitely the dark and brooding, alcoholic, married-to-the-job cliche*. It's funny, often in books I really like characters who are fantastic as fiction but you know you would not get on with in real life. Grant is the opposite of that. His humour reminds me of guys I know, he's quite easygoing in many ways. This is a fictional detective you wouldn't mind sitting around drinking beer with on a saturday afternoon. Not to say he hasn't got problems, but rather he doesn't seem to let his problems turn him into an inherrently fucked up man. Whether he maintains his non-fucked-upness throughout the series will be interesting to see. But based on the first novel, it's going to take a lot. He's resourceful, resilient and a very solid character. It may also be worth noting that I haven't come across many crime novels with a mixed-race lead. I also haven't come across that many fantasy novels with a non-white lead (the exception that springs to mind is Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, also a very good book). So to have an urban-fantasy crime novel with a black cop as the main character is pretty awesome. It's also kind of cool that he's not immediately AMAZING at magic. He has the potential but he has to learn and practice to become good at things.
The supporting characters are fairly good too. I was worried, on reading the blurb, that Grant's love interest PC Lesley May was going to basically exist to be sexy and unobtainable but not much of a character. It actually turns out that although Grant really fancies Lesley, they're also pretty much best friends. And she does have a personality! She's frequently described and 'perky' and 'bubbly' and that does kind of come across. But she's also kind of sarcastic, she's deffinitely written as the more talented at straight detective work than Grant is (he is originally assigned to follow his probation with paper-work duties, she is snapped up by CID...) Lesley is the sort of character that, in another novel, would be playing the earnest female sidekick to a gruff, dark and brooding, alcoholic, married-to-the-job cliche*. Further to her sarcasm, she has one of my favorite lines of the whole book. She and Grant watch CCTV footage of the first murder, which is carried out with a massive stick that's bigger than a baseball bat. Why? Lesley's suggestion is "Maybe he likes to speak really softly?"
DC Grant's direct boss is DCI Thomas Nightingale. Nightingale is kind of a mystery. I'm not sure if it's because the author is keeping his cards really close to his chest or if he hasn't decided quite where he's going with the character yet. Or both. But he's still kind of a cool character. He comes across as very reserved. He seems to be very meticulous and neat in his habits - he's described as well groomed and expensively dressed. He drives a vintage Jag. Grant's first impression of him is 'like a villain in a James Bond film'. But like many mysterious posh blokes with old-fashioned habbits, he reeks of hidden depths and is, of course, a closet bad-ass. He is apparently a lot older than he looks (like... a lot...), has an ambiguous relationship with his housekeeper Molly (who I will come to in a moment), and you get the feeling that thus far we have only seen the tip of the bad-assery iceberg. In my imaginary TV adaptation of the book he would be played immaculately by Paul Rhys.
Molly is the housekeeper at The Folly, which is where the wizarding goes down (Nightingale lives there, when Grant becomes his apprentice he too moves in). She is... something. She isn't human anyway. Always silent, quite demure and seemingly devoted to Nightingale (wherein lies the ambiguity). She covers her mouth if she opens it for any reason. This is because she has a lot of sharp, pointy teeth... yeah. She's incredibly pale and dresses in an edwardian maid costume (think floorlength black with white apron). I can imagine, should fandom happen to this series, that she will be welcomed as a potent combination of Fetish Fuel and Nightmare Fuel. I'm on team Nightmare Fuel. But generally she's quite sweet. Generally.
There is also Beverly Brook, a water nymph, daughter of Mama Thames who Grant befriends. She sort of becomes another love interest. She appears to be about 17, but is most likely also a lot older than she looks (I'm still not sure how the water nymph thing works...) In some ways she acts a bit like a teenager - she's quite cheeky (eg. whenever she has to go somewhere with Peter she asks if they're taking Nightingale's Jag), sometimes a bit sulky, clearly very much into fashion and worrying about her hair. She too has hidden depths (as befitting a river, obviously) and is more powerful than she first appears. Due to her complex family set-up and the implications of dating somebody who's not human, it isn't clear whether anything will ever happen between Peter and Beverly. Interestingly, even though Beverly clearly fancies Grant, and Grant kind of fancies her but also has his UST with Lesley, Lesley and Beverly get on well when they meet and there's not even a hint of rivalry, bad-feeling or resentment. Not sure why this is, but it's kind of refreshing. Two women, both cool in their own ways, both part of a sort-of-but-not-exactly love triangle and they don't try to undermine each other. It could be because Lesley sees herself as 'just friends' with Grant and Beverly knows that she could work water-nymph influence on him if she really wanted to - and he isn't actually with either of them. But I'm choosing to interpret it as Ben Aaronovitch not hating is female characters (or rather loving his male character so much that the girls HAVE to fight over his attention).
The story is pretty well done as well. It's quite cleverly plotted, draws you in slowly to begin with, builds up the tension and the mystery quite well and it's quite chilling in parts despite the idea behind it being... potentially very silly. You can tell that a lot of thought and work has gone into weaving the threads of the story together. It's packed full of interesting mythology, culture and history too.
One of the things that I know is really well done, but kind of leaves me cold personally is the geography. This is a London novel through and through and that's great. But at some points, such as during chases etc. the very specific locations kind of get in the way of the flow. It might be exciting if you're a Londoner or really familiar with the West End. But I'm not. If you knew exactly where he was talking about it might add to your enjoyment (there are probably even in-jokes I don't get too), but as somebody who's not great spacially anyway, and isn't all that familiar with London (I've only visited a few times**) it becomes quite distracting and a little annoying. I guess for the author it means he isn't going to get snotty emails saying 'in Chapter 3 you said he turned left of such and such a street but there is no left turn you KNOB!!!'. But I reckon that if the chase starts somewhere specific, ends somewhere specific and the directions in between are actually possible then it doesn't matter which specific side streets the characters run down to get where they're going. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the one thing i would change is more action, less googlemaps during the action sequences, please.
On the whole I would highly recommended you read it. Rivers of London was so much fun to read (I'm talking the 'I'm still reading at 3am and I have to be up at 8 for an induction tomorrow...' kind of fun). Aaronovitch has created a universe with a lot of potential for great stories and I really like his take on magic and mythical creatures. The characters that he's set to playing in the sandbox of his imaginary London are also very strong. I'm a very character-oriented reader who finds it hard to enjoy a story without caring about the characters, so I was very satisfied by this. The book does a good job blending the mundane with the extraordinary in an exciting plot. The writing is just a very little on the clunky side here and there but this is only the 1st book, I think it will get better in time. Ben Aaronovitch is actually a TV writer, which maybe explains why this feels like it should be a TV series. But I'm not sure TV would do the book justice. The next novel is actually out in the US and comes out in the UK in April***. Can't. Freaking. Wait!
* that I love so much...
** My most often repeated experiences with London tend to go 'Get on train, 4-5 hour train ride to london (possible change in Chester and/or Crewe), arrive in Euston. Either get on another train that goes somewhere else or get on the tube, go to Victoria station. Once there get onto train to Portsmouth, sit in the wrong half and panic one station before it splits because one half goes to where Row lives in about 2 hours, the other gets there eventually after about 3 or 4)
*** That's right. London-based man writes a book based in London that's fueled by his love of London and London's amazing history, folklore and cultural landscape. Naturally you'd release it in the US first...
Oh and ALSO: this book is actually called Midnight Riot in the US. We have another Philosopher's Stone/Sorcerer's Stone situation. I think the US publishers must have thought no American would read a book with London in the title? That said mum did think I was reading a travel book, so there's that. *le shrug
But anyway, it's all good.
As for the book squee, I shall place it under a cut because it will probably be quite long. The Book in question is:
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Firstly, I feel that the story behind me getting this book is worth skimming briefly. In the Botanic area of Belfast there is a little book shop called No Alibis. It is possibly my favorite bookshop in the world. It specializes in crime fiction and also trades in first and special edition books, signed books and children's crime fiction. Yup, it's a crime fiction bookshop with a dedicated kiddies corners. They also put on signings, gigs and events. It is one hell of a cool shop too. Their store detective is Columbo and he keeps watch over the store. He lives... oh I don't want to spoil it in case you're ever there. If you are, ask about Columbo. You will probably be sent on a hunt to find him. Cool shop. On one visit this incredibly cool looking book that was on the 'featured' shelf caught my eye. It had a super-detailed wordy map of London on the front. I read the blurb. Stopped, closed the book, put it down, picked it back up, re-opened it and read it again. Yup. Wizard-Cops. You heard me. Actually, let me explain using a very simple diagram:
Naturally I bought the book. I also bought some Rory's Story Cubes and had played a game with them with the book seller. Do you ever get to play storycubes in Waterstones? Probably not. The guy also promised me that Rivers of London was a fantastic book and that I would really, really enjoy it. This is why No Alibis is such a special shop. Then Danielle and I went looking for Columbo, but that story contains spoilers.
Ok so Rivers of London? Yes. I'll keep this relatively spoiler-light. The book is about a young PC at the end of his probabtionary period who happens to meet a ghost whilst guarding the perimeter of a very grizzly murder scene. Being a cop he interviews the witness, corporeal or not. It turns out that PC Peter Grant has a special gift. Luckily it means that instead of making a "valuable contribution" as a pencil-pusher specializing in paper work he becomes apprentice to the Met's last remaining wizard. What follows includes a series of brutal murders and assaults, diplomatic wranglings with river gods, scientific magic, water nymphs, a yappy little dog, infanticide, blood, violence and rebellion and, of course, exploding apples.
One of the most successful elements of the books is the main character PC Peter Grant. Aaronovitch has written him as a character who is very much an 'everyman', i found him quite relatable. Because the world of ghosts, gods, monsters and magic is as new to him as it is to the reader, he is a very good medium for immersing the reader into the world. He asks the questions that we want to ask, he loves to know how and why things work. Curiosity is one of his biggest characteristics and it manages to be both his greatest asset and his greatest flaw. His curiosity means that he's interested in everything (which means we're treated to lots of interesting history, folklore and even science as a part of his musings). This unfortunately means that he's easily distracted, not a great quality in a cop. Strangely this means that even though his curiosity leads him to miss out on clues that his more astute colleague (and potential love interest) Lesley does not, it also means that he is frequently able to spot details and connections that others miss. He's pretty smart, but he's not a genius. He works hard, but isn't a workaholic - he's definitely the dark and brooding, alcoholic, married-to-the-job cliche*. It's funny, often in books I really like characters who are fantastic as fiction but you know you would not get on with in real life. Grant is the opposite of that. His humour reminds me of guys I know, he's quite easygoing in many ways. This is a fictional detective you wouldn't mind sitting around drinking beer with on a saturday afternoon. Not to say he hasn't got problems, but rather he doesn't seem to let his problems turn him into an inherrently fucked up man. Whether he maintains his non-fucked-upness throughout the series will be interesting to see. But based on the first novel, it's going to take a lot. He's resourceful, resilient and a very solid character. It may also be worth noting that I haven't come across many crime novels with a mixed-race lead. I also haven't come across that many fantasy novels with a non-white lead (the exception that springs to mind is Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, also a very good book). So to have an urban-fantasy crime novel with a black cop as the main character is pretty awesome. It's also kind of cool that he's not immediately AMAZING at magic. He has the potential but he has to learn and practice to become good at things.
The supporting characters are fairly good too. I was worried, on reading the blurb, that Grant's love interest PC Lesley May was going to basically exist to be sexy and unobtainable but not much of a character. It actually turns out that although Grant really fancies Lesley, they're also pretty much best friends. And she does have a personality! She's frequently described and 'perky' and 'bubbly' and that does kind of come across. But she's also kind of sarcastic, she's deffinitely written as the more talented at straight detective work than Grant is (he is originally assigned to follow his probation with paper-work duties, she is snapped up by CID...) Lesley is the sort of character that, in another novel, would be playing the earnest female sidekick to a gruff, dark and brooding, alcoholic, married-to-the-job cliche*. Further to her sarcasm, she has one of my favorite lines of the whole book. She and Grant watch CCTV footage of the first murder, which is carried out with a massive stick that's bigger than a baseball bat. Why? Lesley's suggestion is "Maybe he likes to speak really softly?"
DC Grant's direct boss is DCI Thomas Nightingale. Nightingale is kind of a mystery. I'm not sure if it's because the author is keeping his cards really close to his chest or if he hasn't decided quite where he's going with the character yet. Or both. But he's still kind of a cool character. He comes across as very reserved. He seems to be very meticulous and neat in his habits - he's described as well groomed and expensively dressed. He drives a vintage Jag. Grant's first impression of him is 'like a villain in a James Bond film'. But like many mysterious posh blokes with old-fashioned habbits, he reeks of hidden depths and is, of course, a closet bad-ass. He is apparently a lot older than he looks (like... a lot...), has an ambiguous relationship with his housekeeper Molly (who I will come to in a moment), and you get the feeling that thus far we have only seen the tip of the bad-assery iceberg. In my imaginary TV adaptation of the book he would be played immaculately by Paul Rhys.
Molly is the housekeeper at The Folly, which is where the wizarding goes down (Nightingale lives there, when Grant becomes his apprentice he too moves in). She is... something. She isn't human anyway. Always silent, quite demure and seemingly devoted to Nightingale (wherein lies the ambiguity). She covers her mouth if she opens it for any reason. This is because she has a lot of sharp, pointy teeth... yeah. She's incredibly pale and dresses in an edwardian maid costume (think floorlength black with white apron). I can imagine, should fandom happen to this series, that she will be welcomed as a potent combination of Fetish Fuel and Nightmare Fuel. I'm on team Nightmare Fuel. But generally she's quite sweet. Generally.
There is also Beverly Brook, a water nymph, daughter of Mama Thames who Grant befriends. She sort of becomes another love interest. She appears to be about 17, but is most likely also a lot older than she looks (I'm still not sure how the water nymph thing works...) In some ways she acts a bit like a teenager - she's quite cheeky (eg. whenever she has to go somewhere with Peter she asks if they're taking Nightingale's Jag), sometimes a bit sulky, clearly very much into fashion and worrying about her hair. She too has hidden depths (as befitting a river, obviously) and is more powerful than she first appears. Due to her complex family set-up and the implications of dating somebody who's not human, it isn't clear whether anything will ever happen between Peter and Beverly. Interestingly, even though Beverly clearly fancies Grant, and Grant kind of fancies her but also has his UST with Lesley, Lesley and Beverly get on well when they meet and there's not even a hint of rivalry, bad-feeling or resentment. Not sure why this is, but it's kind of refreshing. Two women, both cool in their own ways, both part of a sort-of-but-not-exactly love triangle and they don't try to undermine each other. It could be because Lesley sees herself as 'just friends' with Grant and Beverly knows that she could work water-nymph influence on him if she really wanted to - and he isn't actually with either of them. But I'm choosing to interpret it as Ben Aaronovitch not hating is female characters (or rather loving his male character so much that the girls HAVE to fight over his attention).
The story is pretty well done as well. It's quite cleverly plotted, draws you in slowly to begin with, builds up the tension and the mystery quite well and it's quite chilling in parts despite the idea behind it being... potentially very silly. You can tell that a lot of thought and work has gone into weaving the threads of the story together. It's packed full of interesting mythology, culture and history too.
One of the things that I know is really well done, but kind of leaves me cold personally is the geography. This is a London novel through and through and that's great. But at some points, such as during chases etc. the very specific locations kind of get in the way of the flow. It might be exciting if you're a Londoner or really familiar with the West End. But I'm not. If you knew exactly where he was talking about it might add to your enjoyment (there are probably even in-jokes I don't get too), but as somebody who's not great spacially anyway, and isn't all that familiar with London (I've only visited a few times**) it becomes quite distracting and a little annoying. I guess for the author it means he isn't going to get snotty emails saying 'in Chapter 3 you said he turned left of such and such a street but there is no left turn you KNOB!!!'. But I reckon that if the chase starts somewhere specific, ends somewhere specific and the directions in between are actually possible then it doesn't matter which specific side streets the characters run down to get where they're going. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the one thing i would change is more action, less googlemaps during the action sequences, please.
On the whole I would highly recommended you read it. Rivers of London was so much fun to read (I'm talking the 'I'm still reading at 3am and I have to be up at 8 for an induction tomorrow...' kind of fun). Aaronovitch has created a universe with a lot of potential for great stories and I really like his take on magic and mythical creatures. The characters that he's set to playing in the sandbox of his imaginary London are also very strong. I'm a very character-oriented reader who finds it hard to enjoy a story without caring about the characters, so I was very satisfied by this. The book does a good job blending the mundane with the extraordinary in an exciting plot. The writing is just a very little on the clunky side here and there but this is only the 1st book, I think it will get better in time. Ben Aaronovitch is actually a TV writer, which maybe explains why this feels like it should be a TV series. But I'm not sure TV would do the book justice. The next novel is actually out in the US and comes out in the UK in April***. Can't. Freaking. Wait!
* that I love so much...
** My most often repeated experiences with London tend to go 'Get on train, 4-5 hour train ride to london (possible change in Chester and/or Crewe), arrive in Euston. Either get on another train that goes somewhere else or get on the tube, go to Victoria station. Once there get onto train to Portsmouth, sit in the wrong half and panic one station before it splits because one half goes to where Row lives in about 2 hours, the other gets there eventually after about 3 or 4)
*** That's right. London-based man writes a book based in London that's fueled by his love of London and London's amazing history, folklore and cultural landscape. Naturally you'd release it in the US first...
Oh and ALSO: this book is actually called Midnight Riot in the US. We have another Philosopher's Stone/Sorcerer's Stone situation. I think the US publishers must have thought no American would read a book with London in the title? That said mum did think I was reading a travel book, so there's that. *le shrug