Reading roundup: Foxglove Summer!

[hamsterwoman]

60. Ben Aaronovitch, Foxglove Summer (Peter Grant/RoL #5) -- So I was seeing all these reaction posts pop up on my flist, because people unfairly live in countries where they can walk into a store and buy this book BEFORE the UK release date, as opposed to having to wait until January, like here (though the US version -- now with actual pretty

Comments

[sysann]

Plus I fully expected Nightingale to come rescue me. Despite loving the Starling bit - that's going to remain my favourite line of the book. <3

[hamsterwoman]

Hugh quoting the Iliad in reference to Nightingale beats it out for me, but this one comes pretty close! <3

[meathiel]

I'm not reading all your post because I'm just at 10% ... haha ... Had to finish another book first!

[hamsterwoman]

Will be very eager to hear your thoughts once you're done! And thanks again for the book! :DD

[philomytha]

You are so good at reviewing books! I can't do it, I can squee and I can write fic and that's about it :-). But I agree with all of this

[hamsterwoman]

You are so good at reviewing books! I can't do it, I can squee and I can write fic and that's about it :-)

Awww, thank you! :D Most of my write-ups end up as squee or annoyed sputtering, and I didn't think I'd have as much to say about Foxglove Summer, but that turned out to be not entirely the case XP

Aaronovitch decided to write a deus ex machina ending, literally

*gets the joke* XD XD XD OK, that does make it better. I mean, I still would have preferred an actual ending with motivation and pacing and sense of closure and Nightingale those kinds of things, but if one is going to have to resort to a deus ex machina ending, having a literal goddess driving a steam engine is, well, points for commitment, haha.

(And that is a good point about how Nightingale knew to come to the rescue / where to find them. I didn't wonder about it at the time, because of the sheer awesomeness of everything, but I don't remember how it's explained, if at all...)

That is clearly going to be a catchphrase of the series,Yeah, I think I'm finally

[asthenie_vd]

I like your thoughts on this! Especially the way you point out why having this solo adventure for Peter in between books focusing more on the over arching storyline is a good thing! That's something that entered my mind, I mean, it's obvious that this is something Aaronovitch is doing with the book, but I didn't think of it as Peter actually maturing and taking stock of how far he'd come. But of course you're right. This is definitely something that's going on in this book.

And I also bloody loved that line from the Iliad about Ajax that Oswald used for Nighingale. It's beautiful and it might have made me squee in a very fangirly way. *g*

the Black Library is probably what's behind the door at the Folly until I saw that mentioned in other reviews, but, yeah, that makes a lot of sense This is something that never entered my mind. Well, probably because I didn't think of the hidden door at all, but now that you mention it, it is something that would make sense

[hamsterwoman]

I'm not sure Peter is, himself, aware of how far he has come, 'cos I think he probably still keeps comparing himself to people like Nightingale (magically) and Lesley (professionally) and coming up short in his mind, and he tends to be kind of self-deprecating, often, but it was good to be able to see it despite the first person narration.

but now that you mention it, it is something that would make sense.

I hadn't thought of it either until I saw it elsewhere, but that really seems like the best candidate for what's behind the door (and having been purchased at such cost, as well as the presumed power in that information, I'm sure Nightingale would be super-paranoid about guarding it...)

communicating from opposite trenches.That is really what it felt like, with all the poignancy inherent therein

[egelantier]

"usually turns out it's a wizard who did this" is my most favorite line of all series, hands down :D especially when beverley trots it out before peter has a chance to!

and the conversation about frogs.

oh, i've missed peter's internal snarkiness soooooooooo much.

mostly just swinging over to say that i always appreciate with a level of detail you put into your reviews, and that we definitely agree on this book pretty much to a t ♥

[hamsterwoman]

Ah, yes, the "wizard did it" line is great! I should've noted it down for icon-making purposes, because I think it's probably the most actually iconable line in this book.

I loved the conversation about frogs, and especially Beverley being completely appalled that Peter's mind went there (when of course it did, this is Peter we're talking about). Because frog fertilization is gross, while having sex in a river to engender a genius loci is totally normal, of course XP

And, haa, we do seem to be in vehement agreement on this book! :D ♥