Rivers of London is the first book in the Peter Grant / Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. It’s an urban fantasy set in and around, you guessed it, London. It follows Peter Grant, one of the local constabulary who discovers that he has some form of magical ability when he finds himself one night talking to a ghost. This becomes all the more helpful when these ghosts can provide information with regard to crimes that are committed by being sort of unofficial witnesses. What follows is what any copper assigned to a boring desk job secretly wishes for but regrets immediately after. He is assigned to a division of the constabulary that deals with magic and the supernatural; a division which actually exists but is, for obvious reasons, not known to many or even talked about. He is apprenticed to a ‘Wizard’ but not like the kind in Harry Potter. That has been stressed. Poor Peter is then thrown into a world of magic which until then would have only seemed to him like the ramblings of a drunk person. We follow Peter’s journey as he very carefully stumbles along his ‘first’ case which is unlike any he’s ever heard off. It, literally, would make your face fall off.

This first entry is a fun and interesting story which sets the scene nicely for the rest of the series. The plot is interesting, and the characters well written and with enough held back that makes you want to find out more about them. We encounter a wizard, ghosts, gods of the rivers (hence the title), a possible vampire, and a very loyal but easily frightened dog. This is the second time I’ve read this book and I enjoyed it a little bit more this time around. I was able to appreciate the tone as well as the character dialogue a little better this time. The irreverent banter adds a nice bit of humour to the story. Don’t let my rating fool you. Fans of the Urban fantasy genre will enjoy this series, and anyone who wants to get into Urban fantasy, say with a British twist, should check definitely this series out.

Rating: 3/5

Links:

• goodreads: Rivers of London – Ben Aaronovitch
• goodreads: Rivers of London series