daNanner reviewed What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Review of 'What Abigail Did That Summer' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I need more Abigale stories.
Hardcover, 232 pages
Published March 17, 2021 by Subterranean.
4 stars
(9 reviews)
Ghost hunter, fox whisperer, troublemaker.
It is the summer of 2013 and Abigail Kamara has been left to her own devices. This might, by those who know her, be considered a mistake. While her cousin, police constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant, is off in the sticks chasing unicorns Abigail is chasing her own mystery. Teenagers around Hampstead Heath have been going missing but before the police can get fully engaged the teens return home – unharmed but vague about where they’ve been.
Aided only by her new friend Simon, her knowledge that magic is real and a posse of talking foxes that think they’re spies, Abigail must venture into the wilds of Hampstead to discover who is luring the teenagers and more importantly – why?
kim karma reviewed What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Review of 'What Abigail Did That Summer' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Audio.
Quick fun story in the Rivers of London universe.
Review of 'What Abigail Did That Summer' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
4.0 The first Abigail poin-of-view novella is not bad, but a little too much horror and a little to much internal monologue to reach top-tier. I like how we learn more about Abigail's family and how the cast continues to diversify, but I don't like how the new characters like Simon are mostly side-lined. It's clear that this is Abigail's show and the only one who comes close is not Simon, but Simon's mom, who is amazing in her own right, though. It's good to see a stout, non-action-oriented character portrayed in this way. Sometimes it feels a little as if the author are checking boxes with representation, but not with this character.
The foxes are charming as always, but it gets a little repetitive at times and they are quite ancillary to the story. I liked heavy lesbian subtext (no, it doesn't really involve Abigail) and the stories within …
4.0 The first Abigail poin-of-view novella is not bad, but a little too much horror and a little to much internal monologue to reach top-tier. I like how we learn more about Abigail's family and how the cast continues to diversify, but I don't like how the new characters like Simon are mostly side-lined. It's clear that this is Abigail's show and the only one who comes close is not Simon, but Simon's mom, who is amazing in her own right, though. It's good to see a stout, non-action-oriented character portrayed in this way. Sometimes it feels a little as if the author are checking boxes with representation, but not with this character.
The foxes are charming as always, but it gets a little repetitive at times and they are quite ancillary to the story. I liked heavy lesbian subtext (no, it doesn't really involve Abigail) and the stories within the story, but sometimes it felt a little disconnected, because of that. The first part is definitely more fun than the others. What I do like is the 'villain' of the story. It's quite a nice change from the usual.
urbaer reviewed What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Review of 'What Abigail Did That Summer' on 'GoodReads'
No rating
I don't quite know what I think of this one. Abagail is nice enough and the foxes are charming.
I like the concept of the situation/big bad that Abagail is facing in theory maybe more than I like it in practice. I like the idea of it, but I don't think it plays out the right way. I'm trying to keep this spoiler free and I suspect that I shouldn't.
My major bugbear was two things, first I was unclear who Abagail is writing this for. Postmartin is making notes for someone (it may have been pointed out early on who for, but I may have forgotten) on Abagail's prose and this mostly feels like it's an excuse to explain Britishisms to Americans, because presumably American readers can't be bothered to google things when they hit a word that they don't know. But also to explain some youf speak which …
I don't quite know what I think of this one. Abagail is nice enough and the foxes are charming.
I like the concept of the situation/big bad that Abagail is facing in theory maybe more than I like it in practice. I like the idea of it, but I don't think it plays out the right way. I'm trying to keep this spoiler free and I suspect that I shouldn't.
My major bugbear was two things, first I was unclear who Abagail is writing this for. Postmartin is making notes for someone (it may have been pointed out early on who for, but I may have forgotten) on Abagail's prose and this mostly feels like it's an excuse to explain Britishisms to Americans, because presumably American readers can't be bothered to google things when they hit a word that they don't know. But also to explain some youf speak which is fairly easy to decipher from context.
But it's a light quick read and expands the Rivers world somewhat, so... yeah.
