Rivers of London

by Ben Aaronovitch

392 pages

English language

Published Oct. 27, 2018

ISBN:: 978-1-78586-172-7
OCLC Number:: 1037152241

(18 reviews)

Child kidnapping is already an appalling crime, but in the latest case for Detective Constable Peter Grant- newly promoted in the ranks of London's Metropolitan Police, but with a lot still to learn about wizarding- things take a truly dark turn when the victims become the prey in a homicidal hunt that Grant and the members of the Folly must stop!

1 edition

Kat reviewed Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London, #1)

Untaxing and very British

3 stars

I think that, despite being of British parents, I find books written with an overtly Brit-humour voice to be pretty lazy writing, like they've just let obviousness lead the way. It read like they already have a TV adaptation deal. And the het male gaze I could have done without. Still, I read this while unwell with the Bad Virus and it was just right in the sense it was an easy read and a quickly-paced yarn. I did enjoy the way they built the story around geography and place-based history.

B. Zelkovich reviewed Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London, #1)

Review of 'Rivers of London' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Another fun story. I wanted to like Reynard, but this kinda settles him in the bad guy territory for me. But I liked seeing more of Abigail.

windchime reviewed Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London, #1)

Review of 'Rivers of London' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I expected to like this more than I did, since it's not too dissimilar in setup and protagonist to The Dresden Files, which I love. But while I can't put my finger on any particular reason for it, this didn't hold my interest the way Jim Butcher's series does. It has the humour, the geeky/pop culture references, the snarky first person narration, plus a setting I'm more familiar with - but it just didn't gel for me. It's a perfectly likeable urban fantasy, and there were elements of the storyline I found intriguing, but as a whole I found it a little underwhelming.

I see the ratings for the subsequent books go up, so I'll probably give the next in the series at try at some point, but it's moved way down my list.

Michael @ Knowledge Lost reviewed Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London, #1)

Review of 'Rivers of London' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Probationary Constable Peter Grant has big dreams to become a real detective in the London police but has found himself as part of the Case Progression Unit, doing paperwork while his friend Lesley May has landed her dream job. But one unexpected encounter finds him being recruited into a small branch that deals with the supernatural.

At first glance this urban fantasy novel sounds very much like the Dresden Files series and it is; but there is a bigger injection of humour in this series that makes it very enjoyable. The humour is really what makes this novel, it’s funny and at times unexpected; for example the desire to motorboat a river goddess doesn’t occur to everyone does it? Constable Grant is a great character at times, he isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed but what do you expect? Becoming the first apprentice wizard in fifty years doesn’t happen every day and it really helps drive him.

Unlike Harry Dresden, Peter Grant is still very new to wizardry and being a detective so he doesn’t have the years of experience and cynicism behind him, which at times can be a little disappointing but for the humour element, it seems to work best. The case that this book is centred around isn’t too well explained so I felt a little lost at times and often questioned the character’s ability to draw conclusions without any information at all. But in the end this is just a fun read.

I will admit when I finished reading this book I immediately wanted to start reading book two which is a good sign of how much I enjoyed this book. I even wanted to read some more from the Dresden Files series but as always I moved onto something completely different. The desire to read the next book is still there and I’m really looking forward to immersing myself into this world again. It was a fun, pleasurable read and I think might make for some good comic relief after reading a dense novel.

This review originally appeared on my blog; literary-exploration.com/2013/01/08/book-review-rivers-of-london/