4.5 Not the very best book in the series, but pretty damn close. While the savvy reader might worry at times that the story will devolve in one or the other stereotypical ways, Aaronovitch makes sure it never does. Most characters are very engaging, the mystery is neither obvious nor completely obscure and the resolution is satisfying without making all the problems disappear. Indeed, there are a lot of threads left dangling, but again without the feeling that things weren't resolved.

The main criticism I have is that we're again coming back to Britain's great moments in the backstory - a weakness the series shares with Doctor Who - but in contrast to that show, Aaronovitch knows you can't let the few good things in the past overwhelm the bad in past and present.

Also a nice continuum of lesbian visibility and one handicapped and one trans character too. I'll take Peter Grant's London with its non-racist goblin markets over Diagon Alley every day.