THE RIVERS OF LONDON.

Read for the What's In A Name? 2015 challenge: A Body Of Water category.

 RIVERS OF LONDON by BEN AARONOVITCH.


BACK COVER BLURB: 'I used to be a probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service, and to everyone else as the Filth...'

Meet PC Peter Grant. He will show you his city. But it's not the capital that you all see as you make your way from tube to bus. It's a city that under its dark surface is packed full of crime, and of magic. Grant's story starts when he tries to take a witness statement from a dead man. It takes him into a centuries' old mystery that could quickly set modern London on fire.

FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter 1: Material Witness}: It started at one thirty on a cold Tuesday morning in January when Martin Turner, street performer and, in his own words, apprentice gigolo, tripped over a body in front of the East Portico of St Paul's at Covent Garden.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 80}: Her face didn't fit her outfit, being too long and sharp-boned with black almond-shaped eyes. Despite her mob cap she wore her hair loose, a black curtain that fell to her waist. She instantly gave me the creeps, and not just because I've seen too many Japanese horror films.

SOURCE: A World Book Night 2014 read.

MY THOUGHTS: On a positive note, a different (weird but different) sort of supernatural/urban fantasy-come-crime novel. It's just sad that for me at least this is as positive as it gets.

Imagine if you will what would have happened if Harry Potter had never gone to Hogworts but instead had joined the Metropolitan police only to be taken on as an apprentice to the last known wizard-come- detective then throw in a couple of 'spirits' that are more than likely unlike any you have encountered before and you have Rivers of London.

An interesting concept I'm sure you'll agree but for me the mix of magic and police procedure never quite hit the mark. And as for the plot and characters? Completely ludicrous. Whilst I willingly bought into the likes of wizards, ghosts and vampires, that magic actually exists, I'm afraid I failed to engage with (let alone believe in) either the world building (much of it built on a foundation of actual London locations) or any of the characters (the trolls residing under London's bridges, Old Father Thames living in a caravan) portrayed here.

What turns out to be the first in a series of the books, Rivers Of London is published in the US as Midnight Riot. A very British novel with what I feel is a quintessential British sense of humour which combined with many references to British culture etc (Dixon of Dock Green, anyone?) might prove bewildering to readers outside the UK.