Squee Challenge #5: this being a review of The Rivers of London/Peter Grant book series
prompt #5: PSA: why your f-list should get excited about an upcoming TV series or movie
Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London books have been optioned for TV (so this totally counts as an upcoming TV series, right? :D ). Also, book 4 is coming out in a few days*, and you should be excited for this also.
But why should you be excited about it? Well let me explain.
These books merge your typical British evening TV police drama with urban fantasy elements. In this setting magical creatures have always been hanging around humans, normal people usually just don't notice them. Sounds pretty much like standard fair, doesn't it?
btw. A while ago I even made a batch of text icons featuring quotes from the series because I loved the books so much. So, in case you would care for some lines from the books, either go get an extract from the publisher's homepage (doooooo it!) or have a look at the icons -- ideally you will do both. ;)
As I said, these books have their problems too. The supernatural goings-on, world-building and character interactions (ESPECIALLY the character interactions! *squee*) are way more interesting than the individual crime plot of each book. There is also an overarching plotline beginning with book 2 that is also far more interesting than the individual plots. Which is both good and bad. On the other hand it's another definitive incentive to keep reading the books, on the otherhand it can make having to read through 200 pages of the less interesting story even more frustrating until you get new info on the more exciting stuff.
Then there's the narrative perspective, which is first person, but unlike a lot of other first person perspectives I've encountered in fiction. Despite Peter being involved in the story he tells, the narration feels very distant, detached from what is being narrated. This might even make you forget for a while that you are reading from a first person perspective (which is good for me, because I prefer the stuff I read for entertainment to be written in 3rd person -- I'm such a peasant, I know!).
However, you might ask, why then, are these books written in first person at all, if the narrator is so distant? Because the humour and nerdery feel more natural in first person? Because it’s a detective story trope?
I don't know. To be honest, it does not bother me that much, but I can understand why someone might be put off by this narrative style.
Also, and this is a big one, there is one big flaw behind the logic behind the co-existence between the supernatural communities and the regular humans, that appears to get a little bigger with every book. It can be explained away, and is explained away (somewhat) in the books themselves, but it in turn makes everyone look hilariously incompetent. Vague spoilers: [Spoiler (click to open)]Why has the Folly been manned only by a single person for decades? With no one even considering, even if expanding the department is off the table, that training replacement wizards might be an intelligent thing to do? Even though magic is fading, the guy still has to go catch criminals and kill vampires! You know, he might get shot or something. :p It makes no sense! We might still get a more satisfactory explanation in one of the future installments (perhaps it's all a conspiracy by someone who wants the city losing its defences against supernatural threats. I would accept that ;) ), but until then this will bug you while reading, and it's sad, because the rest of the world-building is so wonderful and flawless.
In general though, I really, really recommend these books. If you want to support a fantasy series, that tries to bring something fresh and original (like a diverse cast without grimdark lone-wolf stereotypes!) to the market, you should give them a try. Especially since you can get the eBook editions of these books for very little money. So even if you will only like them, instead of love them, they will still have been worth the money at least.
*I strongly suspect my copy might arrive tomorrow, or on friday, so I needed to post this now. Just in case I start hating the series after reading the new book. ;) If any of the main characters or regulars die, I am going to throw a hissy fit. Just so you know... *g*
Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London books have been optioned for TV (so this totally counts as an upcoming TV series, right? :D ). Also, book 4 is coming out in a few days*, and you should be excited for this also.
But why should you be excited about it? Well let me explain.
These books merge your typical British evening TV police drama with urban fantasy elements. In this setting magical creatures have always been hanging around humans, normal people usually just don't notice them. Sounds pretty much like standard fair, doesn't it?
- It is Urban Fantasy for People Who Don't Like Urban Fantasy!
Let me explain. I've tried to get into the genre a couple of times before, but I always failed to connect. I started reading the Dresden Files and found myself wanting to claw out Harry's eyes after fifty pages. Same with Gaiman's American Gods and similar books. They're too full of gritty, noir man pain. Or sometimes too full of the pain of entitled young boys and their annoying demon adviser's (Bartimaeus). Or sometimes they're about little orphan girls, but the book can't decide what century it's taking place in (Lycidas). And there's the paranormal romance sub-sub-genre, in which you have your random yuppie chicks fucking vampires. Booooring.
In short, I've just never come accross a book in this genre I genuinely enjoyed. Not surprising then, that I was, at first very sceptical when I picked up the first book (especially since they're written in first person, and I always have trouble really getting into 1st-person fiction, because so much rests on the narrative voice of a single character).
But, I enjoyed the first book. And the second one even more so! And the third somewhat less. Why? Well, basically they simply do away with the angsty lone-wolf protagonist, all the grim-dark grittiness, and they replace it with a more colourful cast and Doctor Who references (the author wrote a couple of Classic Doctor Who episodes. This should not come as a surprise).
Still, even without any over-the-top bleakness this is mature Fantasy, for sophisticated adult readers, by which I mean there is gore and sex in it.
- The Characters
What really carries this series are the characters. I will freely admit that the crime plots of the books are not very impressive or very gripping. But I still found myself not able to put these books down, because I became embarrassingly invested in the characters pretty fast. I simply had to make sure they were still alright on the page.
First of all there is Peter. Police Constable Peter Grant. He is Our narrator.
And as fantasy protagonists go he is something special. As crime fiction protagonists go he is something special. Truly, you might want to sit down for this one: he is a well adjusted, mentally stable and phsyically fit 20-something who is anything but a social klutz and who actually likes his own family. Whoa. And he's mixed race.
I know, right? You're probably wondering where these books have been all your life.
He is also something of a nerd, which is why these books are filled with references to Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and other pop culture icons that might come to mind if your average geeky person were confronted with the supernatural. (Do not be alarmed though. Most of the humour in the books stems from the supernatural meeting the mundane. Not nerd-humour.)
The only thing not so super about Peter as a cop is, that he's a bit rubbish at being a cop. His friend Lesley May is actually the talented one of them. In fact, if this were a regular crime show, she would be the star and he would be her slightly incompetent comedy relief side-kick.
(source of original image)
Yup. That's kinda what it would look like.
Luckily, Lesley is also one of our main characters, so whenever there is some actual police work to be done, Peter can turn to his vastly superior friend, and watch her do all the hard work for him. At least this gives her the right to wind him up with many sarcastic comments, of which she makes very good, and constant use. Honestly, she is delightful. All right, almost everyone in these books is a bit snarky, but she gets some of the best lines. Perky, pretty, competent and snarky. What more could you want? (And there's such a great character arc for her, but I can't tell you more right now, because with her we would enter heavy spoiler territory pretty quickly. You don't want to go there, yet.)
In fact Peter's career looked like it was going to end uneventfully before it had begun, until he unwittingly interviews a ghost at a crime scene, and the department that deals with all supernatural goings-on takes notice of him... which, until Peter joins (more or less voluntarily) was manned by exactly one person, our third main character, DCI Thomas Nightingale.
He eventually teaches Peter magic and becomes his mentor. I don't think I have to mention that I have a fondness for the mentor archetype, but Aaronovitch really went out of his way to make this character attractive to fangirls. They handed out troubled pasts for free along with adorable, mysterious personalities, when this character was conceived. Seriously, he's a handsome, well-educated powerful gentleman wizard & veteran soldier with a horrible past who dresses like it’s still the 1920’s and has a cool old-timey car (if they made this into an anime instead of a live-action show he would be surrounded by sparkles at all times). Someone must have handed Aaronovitch a fangirl bait construction kit.
And these are just the main characters. I haven't even mentioned yet all the lovely supporting characters like Dr. Abdul Walid and DS Miriam Stephanopoulos, and Molly (oooh, poor Molly!), and did I mention they have a dog too? A small, smelly but ultimately cute dog? That can see ghosts?
I want to reach into the book and hug them all and feed them cookies, they're so lovable.
- The setting
Oh, where do I even begin? First of all, the books are set in modern day London, and you will notice. The London setting is essential to the books. If you've ever been to the city you will recognize not only place names and even tube stations, but the city will come alive before your eyes (sometimes more literally than you would think). London as a melting pot and meeting point of cultures becomes a background theme in the books in a way that I don't think the books could be seprated from the London setting and that's something I'm really into.
What I liked about the implementation of the magic aspects into the modern, urban setting is that it's not too Harry Potter. Most of the supernatural creatures live everyday lives among humans, people simply don't know there really elves or river spirits (nothing against Harry Potter, but too much focus on a completely seperate magic world just wouldn't have worked for this series).
I'm also pretty fond of the Magic System because it's kinda similar to the one I thought up for my own stories. It's not language-based magic, but very physical. In fact, in the books the first British Wizards to lay down rules for magic users, and to explore magic properly is said to be Sir Isaac Newton. Pretty cool idea, isn't it? And what also endeared Peter to me as a protagonist, is, that as soon as he started learning to do magic, he tried to find out what exactly magic was on a scientific level, and more importantly, why it kept frying his mobile phone! And since I prefer magic-use to have limits in settings like these, I also love that using too much magic in these books will have quite horrific consequences for you. This is your brain on magic, indeed.
- Speaking of which, here's one of my top reasons why I adore this series so much: injuries have long-term consequences, both physically and mentally! There is no healing magic, and certainly no magic spell that takes the emotional wounds away.
Horrible things happen in this series to our characters, and they don't shrug it off, or mope a bit but then they are fine in the next book. If a character gets shot it takes months and months to build up their strength again. If a character gets mutilated they have to learn to cope both with the physical as well as the mental scarring. And as, for instance, the first three books combined take place over, roughly, a year, and there are only short time spans passing between each book, we get to see these characters' progress step by step. Which is not to be taken for granted in fantasy literature, or so I have found. And even more interestingly, we get to see the characters' friends and family coming to terms with these injuries. Example: One character gets horribly mutilated and another character, while sympathetic, has a hard time coping with their friend's new looks. It really makes you appreciate these characters as humans, with petty faults, despite their good intentions, and not just plot devices.
btw. A while ago I even made a batch of text icons featuring quotes from the series because I loved the books so much. So, in case you would care for some lines from the books, either go get an extract from the publisher's homepage (doooooo it!) or have a look at the icons -- ideally you will do both. ;)
As I said, these books have their problems too. The supernatural goings-on, world-building and character interactions (ESPECIALLY the character interactions! *squee*) are way more interesting than the individual crime plot of each book. There is also an overarching plotline beginning with book 2 that is also far more interesting than the individual plots. Which is both good and bad. On the other hand it's another definitive incentive to keep reading the books, on the otherhand it can make having to read through 200 pages of the less interesting story even more frustrating until you get new info on the more exciting stuff.
Then there's the narrative perspective, which is first person, but unlike a lot of other first person perspectives I've encountered in fiction. Despite Peter being involved in the story he tells, the narration feels very distant, detached from what is being narrated. This might even make you forget for a while that you are reading from a first person perspective (which is good for me, because I prefer the stuff I read for entertainment to be written in 3rd person -- I'm such a peasant, I know!).
However, you might ask, why then, are these books written in first person at all, if the narrator is so distant? Because the humour and nerdery feel more natural in first person? Because it’s a detective story trope?
I don't know. To be honest, it does not bother me that much, but I can understand why someone might be put off by this narrative style.
Also, and this is a big one, there is one big flaw behind the logic behind the co-existence between the supernatural communities and the regular humans, that appears to get a little bigger with every book. It can be explained away, and is explained away (somewhat) in the books themselves, but it in turn makes everyone look hilariously incompetent. Vague spoilers: [Spoiler (click to open)]Why has the Folly been manned only by a single person for decades? With no one even considering, even if expanding the department is off the table, that training replacement wizards might be an intelligent thing to do? Even though magic is fading, the guy still has to go catch criminals and kill vampires! You know, he might get shot or something. :p It makes no sense! We might still get a more satisfactory explanation in one of the future installments (perhaps it's all a conspiracy by someone who wants the city losing its defences against supernatural threats. I would accept that ;) ), but until then this will bug you while reading, and it's sad, because the rest of the world-building is so wonderful and flawless.
In general though, I really, really recommend these books. If you want to support a fantasy series, that tries to bring something fresh and original (like a diverse cast without grimdark lone-wolf stereotypes!) to the market, you should give them a try. Especially since you can get the eBook editions of these books for very little money. So even if you will only like them, instead of love them, they will still have been worth the money at least.
*I strongly suspect my copy might arrive tomorrow, or on friday, so I needed to post this now. Just in case I start hating the series after reading the new book. ;) If any of the main characters or regulars die, I am going to throw a hissy fit. Just so you know... *g*