Review: RIVERS OF LONDON

Rivers Of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Book 1 of Peter Grant series
Genre: urban fantasy, police investigaiton
Format: hardback & audiobook

About Rivers Of London:

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

Source: Info in the About Rivers Of London was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8680417-midnight-riot on 26/11/2012.

Narrative Evaluation:

Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's voice has a slurrish quality to it that made his words just a tad bit unclear at times. I think this gets more promounced as he reads along. When he is fresh, from what I presume is from breaks, his words becomes clearer again. This took a lot of getting used to and sort of distracted me from enjoying this book more than I would otherwise if not for that. However I did like his Welsh accent! Man, it sounds very authentic!!

The book has this coat-of-arms or insignia in the title page and I presume that this has something to do with the secret fellowship of human wizards in which Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale is now the sole surviving full member and is headquartered at the Folly in Russell Square, London. However, this secret organization was not even named in the book. It was just a "secret fellowship", never mind the symbol being explained. I wonder if this would get explained in book 2... It's loose ends like that which contributed to bringing the entertainment value of this book down a bit. Plus there are little holes in the world building. Don't get me wrong, the overall picture is beautiful! But there are holes in the tapestry which detracted from it's beauty. Despite that, I probably would still read on with this series because I really like the premise. A police Harry Dresden?!! That is just too irresistible for the urban fantasy geek in me to resist. Probably why I like the Grimm TV series so much even if some parts of it is annoying. But this is only Book 1 and I am optimistic and hope that Ben Aaronovitch would get better as he writes along and that the second book would be better... Plus I like the humour with which Ben Aaronovitch writes. A book which makes me laugh or smile would always get brownie points with me!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 3.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 3.5
Ending = 4
World building = 3.5
Cover art = 1
Pace = (9 hours & 58 minutes listening time)
Plot = 4
Narrator = 4
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In Rivers Of London Series: