Book Review - Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London
Published by: Gollancz
Publication Date: January 10th, 2011
Format: Paperback, 392 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than on reviewed)
PC Peter Grant feels his police career slipping through his fingers. He's had his career progression meeting with Inspector Neblett and has been told they think he'd make a good fit with the Case Progression Unit. He'd be "performing a valuable role" by doing paperwork that no one else wants to do. He's too easily distracted is the kindest way his partner Lesley can think of to put it. And technically it is a valuable role. This vision of his future spurs Peter into doing something desperate. The day before he and Lesley were both guarding an important crime scene. A man literally had his head knocked off in the middle of Covent Garden. When Lesley was off getting them coffees Peter happened to find a witness. A witness that has been dead for over a hundred years. Peter's a sensible man, he doesn't believe in ghosts, but if that ghost could give him valuable information leading to the killer, who is he to complain? And then goodbye Case Progression Unit, hello murder team. Of course when he's off secretly ghost hunting he runs into a senior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale. And in that moment all possible futures collapse into a singularity. He knew he was bound for the Case Progression Unit. Until Neblett informs him that he has been seconded by Nightingale, who he is to meet in a Japanese restaurant. Nightingale informs Peter that ghosts do in fact exist, as do ghouls, faeries, demons, witches, warlocks, elves, goblins, but no aliens, as yet. As for the current investigation, they are on the lookout for the uncanny, a flash of laughter and violence. Nightingale is offering Peter something beyond the ordinary, an apprenticeship to a wizard. He'd be a part of the Special Assessment Unit based out of the Folly instead of pushing paperwork with the Case Progression Unit. Peter's rather quick to swear his fealty, which is something they still do apparently, because he wants to make a real difference. Only maybe he should have paid attention to the fine print. This is a dangerous job and as more people die in oddly theatrical manners with killers whose faces reshape itself into a mask he realizes he'll be lucky to survive his first case.
Rivers of London is a supernatural police procedural that fills a very specific niche that I don't think many people realized they were missing in their lives. Aaronovitch has created a world were we have a protagonist who has grown up in a mundane world with a scientific background and is thrust into a world of magic. And while that world of magic has drawn comparisons to Gaiman and American Gods in particular due to the personification of rivers, though you could make an argument for Neverwhere too, this book does for me what American Gods was never able to do, make me enjoy the ride. I apologize to all those American Gods fans out there, but sometimes Gaiman's execution doesn't live up to the concept. And I'm by no means saying that Rivers of London is a perfect book, it fumbles the explanation of exactly who the villain is in the end, but would I read this book again? You bet. Because I just love this tension of magic and science. Peter Grant is unwilling to accept that magic can't be explained by the scientific method. So he tests magic. He notices that if he does magic it will fry his phone, so perhaps the magic is draining the energy from the battery, thus proving that the energy magic needs doesn't come out of thin air and also answering the lifelong question of anyone who reads magical books, why don't electronics work in conjunction with magic. Plus he does it with calculators. It's way cooler than I make it sound. But in the end it's the theatricality that sold me on this book. The spirit of riot and rebellion that brings together the bizarre history of Punch and Judy with a V for Vendetta bent. I challenge you to actually find a more dramatic, in all senses of the word, climax than the one at the Royal Opera House. It's scary, funny, and totally over the top. And now I will end with a random aside, I think Ben Aaronovitch has had bowel issues. All the gastroenterology jokes combined with referring to the Punch "possession" as a sequestration, when acid sequestration is a way to rebalance the biome of the gut, it just tracks as it were... Also you DO NOT want to know why I know so much about this.
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