# Rivers of London/Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch



## Werthead (Jan 13, 2011)

Peter  Grant is a probationary constable in the London Metropolitan  Police Force who hasn't decided yet on what branch of the force he wants  to serve in. A glorious career in the Case Progression Unit - who do  the tedious paperwork other branches don't want - appears to be on the  cards until a terrible murder takes places and Grant ends up taking a  witness statement from a ghost.

Assigned to Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale - who deals with all the '_X-Files_  stuff' no-one else in the Met wants to touch with a bargepole - Grant  finds himself tracking down a mystical serial killer with an old axe to  grind...

_Rivers of London_ - published under the somewhat less evocative title _Midnight Riot_  in the USA - is the first original novel by Ben Aaronovitch,  better-known to SF fans as a writer on the final two seasons of the  original *Doctor Who* (and as the writer of the excellent _Remembrance of the Daleks_  and its impressive novelization). It's the first in a recurring series  featuring Peter Grant and Thomas Nightingale as the Met's supernatural  experts, with _Moon Over Soho_ due in just a few months and _Whispers Under Ground_  due early next year. It's a rather lazy comparison, but this looks like  it could be the closest we have to a British version of *The Dresden Files*, with the notable exception that whilst *Dresden* takes a few books to bed in and really take off, _Rivers of London_ is superb from the very start.

The  book opens with Grant being dragged into the investigation into a spate  of killings and random violence erupting across London. This leads him  to becoming the apprentice to Thomas Nightingale, both the Met's  resident supernatural expert and apparently the last proper wizard in  all of Britain. Grant's education in the ways of magic and mysticism is  played out in sporadic scenes alongside the developing plot, as he  learns how to create balls of light, levitate things around and so  forth. This is also an effective way for Aaronovitch to set out the  rules of magic in his world: magic generates a sort-of EMP field that  reduces silicon components back to their natural state, making it  difficult (but not impossible) for magic and technology to coexist.

Aaronovitch  makes the interesting choice to have Grant as someone who is very much  aware of the SF&F genre, hence references to things like *Doctor Who*, *The X-Files*, the *Twilight*  novels (vampires have a cameo in the book, but no more than that,  thankfully), D&D and Cthulu. This could come across as a bit too  knowing and a bit too nod-nod, wink-wink, but it actually feels pretty  natural and works well. Aaronovitch also has that ability to make the  story humourous one moment, dramatic the next and genuinely horrifying  the next, spinning the story around and sending it off in a new  direction just as you thought you knew what was going on, but always  ensuring that everything makes sense.

The book takes its title  from its main subplot: whilst Grant and Nightingale are hunting down the  mystical killer, they are also tasked with repairing relations between  the warring god and goddess of the Thames, using their tributary stream  spirits (personified as the deities' sons and daughters) as  intermediaries. This is a clever storyline which personifies parts of  London as actual people in a similar manner to Neil Gaiman's _Neverwhere_, and is just as successful. Given that _Rivers of London_  is also the title of the whole series (according to a couple of  listings sites, anyway), I'm guessing these characters will return in  later books, particularly the Lady Tyburn, whom Peter develops an  antagonistic relationship with.

It's difficult to think of  negatives. Perhaps the characters accept the existence of magic a little  too readily, and maybe there's a few underdeveloped elements (some more  info on Molly would have been nice). Otherwise, the book progresses  along at a brisk pace, but is not rushed. Characterisation is strong,  and Aaronovitch juggles the humour and horror very well. At one point he  even trumps _A Game of Thrones_  to provide the most shocking defenestration in the history of modern  fantasy. His depiction of London is also excellent, painting the city  and its history with affection without whitewashing the darker parts of  its past (or showing any hesitation in reducing well-known streets to  warzones). Also, whilst this is a complete novel, Aaronovitch seeds in  some unresolved elements for later novels to pick up and develop.

_Rivers of London_  (****½) is a page-turning, relentlessly entertaining novel which  injects some vigour into the urban fantasy subgenre. It's available now  in the UK and, under its dubious alternative title, in the USA.


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## HareBrain (Jan 18, 2011)

I bought this book on the strength of your review, and you'll be pleased to hear I won't be tracking you down to get my money back. I didn't rate it _quite _so highly, however. The often light, witty first-person narrative (there were a couple of genuine laugh-out-loud moments when describing police/public relations) was very engaging but never allowed real chills or a true sense of horror, to my mind -- frustratingly, there were times when it came close and I could see that a different style of narrative would have worked much better. There were also a few too many overlong and clumsy bits of info-dump about the workings of the Met, with occasionally whole paragraphs of it cropping up in the middle of action scenes. And I really have to disagree with you about the defenetration comparison -- I'm no GRRM-worshipper, but his example was genuinely shocking, mostly because of the POV; this one felt rather throwaway (if you'll forgive a tasteless pun).

It has some great ideas, though, and a well worked out plot. If these elements could be combined with the tone of something like Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May supernatural-themed crime stories (in many ways inferior, but more "serious"), the result would be superb. This felt at times just a bit too flippant; but I would still recommend it.


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## Rane Longfox (Feb 15, 2011)

Having just finished this today, I am full of praise, it's a really excellent book. Comparisons to Jim Butcher are inevitable, but thankfully unfounded, as Aaronovitch has a distinctive voice of his own. The occasionally non-linear narrative can be confusing, but I've grown up on Erikson, so I don't mind waiting a chapter or two for an explanation to something that's been mentioned in passing earlier in the book as having already happened. As debut novels go, this was very very good, and if he gets any better, _Moon Over Soho_ will be wonderful


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## Werthead (May 1, 2011)

*Book 2: Moon Over Soho*



> Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last government-sanctioned  wizard in Britain and the guy who handles all the weird stuff the Met is  clueless about, and his apprentice Peter Grant are on a new case. The  body of a jazz musician is found with strong evidence that he was killed  by magic. Grant, whose father is an influential 'almost made it' jazz  musician in his own right, finds himself drawn back into his father's  troubled life as he hunts down the murderer in Soho.
> 
> _Moon Over Soho_ is the sequel to the recently-published _Rivers of London_ (called _Midnight Riot_  in the USA for reasons that have never been adequately explained),  which made an impressive splash when it was released just three months  ago. This series has been described as a British take on *The Dresden Files*  and though there are vague similarities, the main difference between  them is cultural: Aaronovitch lives and breathes London, its history and  culture, and that comes out in his writing (not just here; anyone who's  seen his *Doctor Who* TV serial _Remembrance of the Daleks_  can see it there as well). London in his books, even this  alterno-magical London of river spirits, chimeras and emotional  vampires, is as much a character as Grant, Nightingale and the  slowly-expanding recurring cast of semi-regulars.
> 
> ...


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## Coolhand (Jul 20, 2011)

Just finished reading Rivers of London today.

I did enjoy it, and will read the sequel, but I did think it had a few problems. 



HareBrain said:


> The often light, witty first-person narrative (there were a couple of genuine laugh-out-loud moments when describing police/public relations) was very engaging but never allowed real chills or a true sense of horror, to my mind -- frustratingly, there were times when it came close and I could see that a different style of narrative would have worked much better.


 
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. The breezy, light hearted first person was all fine right up until THINGS GOT SERIOUS. I can't go into any more details without spoiling it for those who've not yet read it, but those who have read the book will know the point in the story I mean. From this point on, the narrator should have been quite a bit less laid back and breezy about the whole thing than he appears to be, and it really robbed the last third of the book of tension. The ending, which should have carried a serious emotional weight, felt like it was passed off with a shrug and a quip. It stopped me engaging, and actually made me feel quite annoyed with the protagonist.

Also, the sub-plot about the River Spirits felt more as though it had been included simply to set the scene for something coming in a sequel, as it had virtually nothing to do with the resolution of the main plot. It really did feel like padding, albeit interesting padding.

But like I said, I did enjoy it and will read certainly the sequel.


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## Anthony G Williams (Dec 4, 2013)

This is my take on it - an extract from my SFF blog: Science Fiction & Fantasy 

_"Being a seasoned Londoner, Martin gave the body the 'London once-over' – a quick glance to determine whether this was a drunk, a crazy or a human being in distress. The fact that it was entirely possible for someone to be all three simultaneously is why good-Samaritanism in London is considered an extreme sport – like base-jumping or crocodile-wrestling."_

When I read the above extract on the first page of the novel, I thought "I'm going to enjoy this book" and indeed I did. Set in present-day London, it tells the story of Peter Grant, a young police constable, who discovers that there's an entirely unsuspected aspect of London – populated by ghosts, vampires, deities and wizards. This is reluctantly acknowledged by a few senior police officers, and Peter finds himself assigned to work with Detective Chief Inspector Nightingale, who turns out to be much more than just a policeman. As he tries to help Nightingale solve a series of brutal and bizarre murders, Peter finds allies and enemies among the supernatural inhabitants of the capital city – and some major temptations along the way.

The writing is full of the deadpan cynicism revealed in the first quote, and frequently had me chuckling. If the content sounds familiar, it is in a similar category to *Fated*, by Benedict Jacka, which I reviewed here in July. I'm not really sure which book I enoyed the most, but fortunately there are several more in each series, so I have a lot of entertaining reading to come before I need to reach a conclusion.


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## Null_Zone (Dec 4, 2013)

I love these books.

Read the first one on holiday as an impulse buy as I'm not usually an urban fantasy kind of guy and promptly downloaded the rest before even finishing the book.


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