Moon Over Soho and Whispers Under Ground
This had led to a bizarre debate about the process of human digestion [...]. When I asked him whether they had covered this at his old school he said that they might have but he hadn’t been paying attention. When I asked him what had kept his attention he said rugby and spells.
“Spells?” I’d asked. “Are you saying you went to Hogwarts?”
-- from Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
Moon Over Soho is the sequel to Rivers of London, an urban fantasy police procedural murder mystery. PC Peter Grant has recently discovered that magic exists; been apprenticed to Detective Inspector Nightingale, the only wizard in the police force; and become responsible for dealing with all the weird possibly-supernatural stuff the rest of the police force don't want to know about. He proceeds to make as many references to popular culture fantasy narratives as he can:Nightingale tapped his butter knife on the plastic-wrapped copy of the Principia Artes Magicis. “Nobody carries this book by accident,” he said. “Besides, I recognise the other library mark. It’s from my old school.”
“Hogwarts?” I asked.
“I really wish you wouldn’t call it that,” he said.
It's not quite my cup-of-tea - too dark and gruesome, and I didn't like the romance, even though I can now see how it belonged with all the other pieces of the story. However, the first person narration is very engaging and witty, the portrayal of non-magical London is vivid and nuanced, as is the fantasy world-building - the rivers of London personified, how magic works, the demise of the British wizarding community...
And I liked Whispers Under Ground more! I reached the end and was disappointed to discover the fourth book is not out yet. Whispers Under Ground... didn't seem quite so dark? Also, I was happy that Peter's friend / colleague Lesley (whose name, confusingly, is spelt "Leslie" in the US edition of Moon Over Soho that I read) is back to being a main character again. I first heard of this series in the context of male-writers-who-get-female-characters-right and after Whispers Under Ground, I can understand why. Now I can say I agree with the assessment in the aforementioned article that:... the icing on the cake is that Peter is surrounded by a variety of women who are more competent than he is in any number of ways. And he’s okay with that.
In Whispers Under Ground, he's working on a case with Detective Inspector Stephanopoulos, so he can deal with all the weird stuff Stephanopoulos (and her boss) really don't want to deal know about:'With you so far - wait. Is this where it’s going to get odd?’
‘That depends on how much you want to know, boss.’ I opened the passenger door for her to get in.
‘What are my options?’ she asked as I climbed into the driver’s seat.
‘Meaningless euphemisms at one end and your full-on Unseen University at the other,’ I said. ‘The Unseen University is a bit like Hogwarts-’
Stephanopoulos cut me off. ‘I have read some Terry Pratchett,’ she said.
‘Really?’
‘Not really. But her indoors buys them in hardback and reads out bits to me over breakfast,’ she said.
Lesley is comparing Peter, unfavourably, to various wizards:
[...] she resumed by pointing out that Merlin had probably had something to teach me about the raising of the wrist.
I would have been subjected to a longer list except Lesley had grown up reading Sophie Kinsella and Helen Fielding and so she ran out of fictional wizards at Severus Snape and our journey home continued in relative quiet.
There's just something so fun about fantasy fans in fantasy novels!
I recognised the markings and they weren’t Nordic runes.
‘This is Elvish script,’ I said.
‘I doubt that,’ said Nightingale.
‘Not real elves,’ I said, wondering if there were such a thing. ‘Elves as in Lord of the Rings elves, Tolkien. He developed his own language and alphabet for his books.’
The Elvish is written on a magical weapon and, when translated (by Tolkien scholars on social media, no less), says: IF YOU CAN READ THESE WORDS THEN YOU ARE NOT ONLY A NERD BUT PROBABLY DEAD.
This amused me, 'kay?
I'll stop quoting now.
~ Herenya
“Spells?” I’d asked. “Are you saying you went to Hogwarts?”
-- from Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
Moon Over Soho is the sequel to Rivers of London, an urban fantasy police procedural murder mystery. PC Peter Grant has recently discovered that magic exists; been apprenticed to Detective Inspector Nightingale, the only wizard in the police force; and become responsible for dealing with all the weird possibly-supernatural stuff the rest of the police force don't want to know about. He proceeds to make as many references to popular culture fantasy narratives as he can:Nightingale tapped his butter knife on the plastic-wrapped copy of the Principia Artes Magicis. “Nobody carries this book by accident,” he said. “Besides, I recognise the other library mark. It’s from my old school.”
“Hogwarts?” I asked.
“I really wish you wouldn’t call it that,” he said.
It's not quite my cup-of-tea - too dark and gruesome, and I didn't like the romance, even though I can now see how it belonged with all the other pieces of the story. However, the first person narration is very engaging and witty, the portrayal of non-magical London is vivid and nuanced, as is the fantasy world-building - the rivers of London personified, how magic works, the demise of the British wizarding community...
And I liked Whispers Under Ground more! I reached the end and was disappointed to discover the fourth book is not out yet. Whispers Under Ground... didn't seem quite so dark? Also, I was happy that Peter's friend / colleague Lesley (whose name, confusingly, is spelt "Leslie" in the US edition of Moon Over Soho that I read) is back to being a main character again. I first heard of this series in the context of male-writers-who-get-female-characters-right and after Whispers Under Ground, I can understand why. Now I can say I agree with the assessment in the aforementioned article that:... the icing on the cake is that Peter is surrounded by a variety of women who are more competent than he is in any number of ways. And he’s okay with that.
In Whispers Under Ground, he's working on a case with Detective Inspector Stephanopoulos, so he can deal with all the weird stuff Stephanopoulos (and her boss) really don't want to deal know about:'With you so far - wait. Is this where it’s going to get odd?’
‘That depends on how much you want to know, boss.’ I opened the passenger door for her to get in.
‘What are my options?’ she asked as I climbed into the driver’s seat.
‘Meaningless euphemisms at one end and your full-on Unseen University at the other,’ I said. ‘The Unseen University is a bit like Hogwarts-’
Stephanopoulos cut me off. ‘I have read some Terry Pratchett,’ she said.
‘Really?’
‘Not really. But her indoors buys them in hardback and reads out bits to me over breakfast,’ she said.
Lesley is comparing Peter, unfavourably, to various wizards:
[...] she resumed by pointing out that Merlin had probably had something to teach me about the raising of the wrist.
I would have been subjected to a longer list except Lesley had grown up reading Sophie Kinsella and Helen Fielding and so she ran out of fictional wizards at Severus Snape and our journey home continued in relative quiet.
There's just something so fun about fantasy fans in fantasy novels!
I recognised the markings and they weren’t Nordic runes.
‘This is Elvish script,’ I said.
‘I doubt that,’ said Nightingale.
‘Not real elves,’ I said, wondering if there were such a thing. ‘Elves as in Lord of the Rings elves, Tolkien. He developed his own language and alphabet for his books.’
The Elvish is written on a magical weapon and, when translated (by Tolkien scholars on social media, no less), says: IF YOU CAN READ THESE WORDS THEN YOU ARE NOT ONLY A NERD BUT PROBABLY DEAD.
This amused me, 'kay?
I'll stop quoting now.
~ Herenya