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Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Cas...
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reviews
Jan 21, 2012
new_user
rated it: 
Ben Aaronovitch is funny. Midnight Riot's appeal stems from protagonist Peter Grant's humor:
"Do we have a plan B?"More...
"Molly can do haemomancy," said Nightingale [...] "It might be possible to find [the suspect] that way."
"Why can’t we do it that way now?" I asked.
"Because the odds are five to one against you surviving the experience," said Nightingale.
"So, yeah," I said. "Probably best not to do it that way
10 comments
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(14 people liked it)
May 09, 2011
Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress"
rated it: 
Midnight Riot is the kind of book that people like me, absolute anglophile and devoted BBC lover, couldn’t help but like. The humor and the texture to the narrative in this book reads delightfully British, but in a fashion that suggests that England isn’t just Jane Austen or Charles Dickens. It’s also Doctor Who, Blake’s Seven, Being Human, Law and Order: UK, and Luther. It’s upper crust and working class. It’s a mix of past and present. Even deeper, it’s the everyday lives of Britons, no
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16 comments
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(39 people liked it)
Feb 22, 2012
Carol
rated it:
Four and a half stars. I enjoyed this book, so much that I didn't want to review it right away because I was still immersed in Peter Grant's London. It's the urban fantasy take on the detective novel, a police procedural that gives a close-up view of a modern London with undercurrents of magic and magical beings. I love the tone of this book--it's wry and humorous, but doesn't let the humor take over the scene. It's one thing to be ready with a quick line, another entirely to go through one's e
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3 comments
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(11 people liked it)
Sep 05, 2011
Nick
rated it: 
I can never keep the new shelf classifications straight, but this has to be a {moderately} dark urban fantasy. It's dark the way Harry Dresden is dark, not like Felix Castor or John Constantine. Bad things happen, but the world itself is not an absolute bastard which wants you to die with a pitchfork in your eye.
I read it. I enjoyed it muchly. I want more from Ben Aaronovitch, soon, please, because my next read is about free market economics and the false rhetorics of capitalism in the More...
I read it. I enjoyed it muchly. I want more from Ben Aaronovitch, soon, please, because my next read is about free market economics and the false rhetorics of capitalism in the More...
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(10 people liked it)
Jun 30, 2011
Lou
rated it:
Once upon a time there was a Mama River and a Papa River and a Copper called Peter.
Jokes aside there really are these characters in the story.
This story serves up a concoction consisting of the humor of Terry Pratchett, a dice of Neil Gaiman's characters and plot and finally a fixer kind of guy and supernatural goings on from Jim Butcher.
Peter is a copper of mixed race ethnicity his mother was a cleaner, his father was a drug addict and grew up in a council estate. He became a d More...
Jokes aside there really are these characters in the story.
This story serves up a concoction consisting of the humor of Terry Pratchett, a dice of Neil Gaiman's characters and plot and finally a fixer kind of guy and supernatural goings on from Jim Butcher.
Peter is a copper of mixed race ethnicity his mother was a cleaner, his father was a drug addict and grew up in a council estate. He became a d More...
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(9 people liked it)
Jan 16, 2012
Regina
rated it:
3.75 stars. Midnight Riot is great start to a series and also is simply a fabulous new series for the urban fantasy world. This book is funny, not silly funny like Three's Company, but dry funny with an amazing delivery. Ben Aaronvitch makes very witty observations about human nature and delivers in such a way that it is funny. At the same time, he sets up an intriguing urban fantasy world, playing on existing mythology and bringing new stuff in. He even makes a few Harry Potter jokes.
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46 comments
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(5 people liked it)
May 19, 2011
Mike (the Paladin)
rated it:
Another hard to rate book in that I can't really say I like it as much as my favorite books...but it it deserves more than 4 stars. So...5 stars, but not quite the top of my 5 star rating (?).
This is an urban fantasy, a genre that's become so chock full lately that you can't swing a kobold without hitting a new one. Most are(sadly) of the mediocre vein but every now and then you stumble on (or as in this case are directed by a friend on Goodreads) a gem.
Peter Grant is a More...
This is an urban fantasy, a genre that's become so chock full lately that you can't swing a kobold without hitting a new one. Most are(sadly) of the mediocre vein but every now and then you stumble on (or as in this case are directed by a friend on Goodreads) a gem.
Peter Grant is a More...
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(8 people liked it)
Jan 30, 2012
Tyrone
rated it:
I'm a fast reader so getting through a book in two days isn't a problem, except for the fact that I'm easily distracted, so life often gets in the way and books often take much longer to finish than their length would suggest.
Not this one. I began to resent having to do other stuff as it was stopping me from reading this book. Its very well written but not in an obvious way so was not hard to read and the ideas were compelling enough and the mystery interesting enough to pull the reade More...
Not this one. I began to resent having to do other stuff as it was stopping me from reading this book. Its very well written but not in an obvious way so was not hard to read and the ideas were compelling enough and the mystery interesting enough to pull the reade More...
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(4 people liked it)
Jul 06, 2011
Nikki
rated it:
I first came across Rivers of London on the Kindle store, and downloaded the sample. I was intrigued by the first chapter, and put it on my wishlist. A friend or two read it, and finally one lent me his copy. He thought I'd tear through it in one go.
Not quite true, as it happens. Oh, all in all, I think it took about two hours to read, but sometimes a few days would go by without me reading more. It reminded me a lot of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books -- which is not really a complim More...
Not quite true, as it happens. Oh, all in all, I think it took about two hours to read, but sometimes a few days would go by without me reading more. It reminded me a lot of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books -- which is not really a complim More...
Dec 28, 2011
Michael
rated it: 
Books are a little bit like love; you always remember your first. Even though others may come along that are better, you still remember your first. So it is with urban fantasy for me. I’ve never been a big fan of the genre and I’ve became even less of a fan with the growing popularity of werewolves and vampires hiding behind every beautifully stylized full-color cover. I thought I’d try the genre again with Ben Aaronovitch’s Midnight Riot and found I’m not ready for another trip into the fairy w
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Nov 07, 2011
Kirsten
rated it:
I got this ARC from a Goodreads Giveaway and let me tell you I'm glad I did! I would've never picked it up at the library or at work otherwise, I have to give Aaronovitch a resounding round of applause.
He weaves an absolutely wonderful story, characters and plotline. His characters are flawed while maintaining a certain likability when the situation calls for it. The story flowed smoothly and I kept telling myself that I was just going to read "one more chapter" and ended u More...
He weaves an absolutely wonderful story, characters and plotline. His characters are flawed while maintaining a certain likability when the situation calls for it. The story flowed smoothly and I kept telling myself that I was just going to read "one more chapter" and ended u More...
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 31, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
Peter Grant is just a rookie cop in the Metropolitan Police Service when he discovers an aptitude for magic, and is taken on as an apprentice wizard. As he comes to realise the complicated supernatural life that infuses London, he is caught up in a case involving a malicious vengeful spirit. A spirit who is twisting the lives of ordinary Londoners and leaving a trail of nasty deaths in its wake. Peter has to learn the magic trade quickly before he and his colleagues becoming part of the game.
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(7 people liked it)
Jan 15, 2012
Tracey
rated it:
US title – Midnight Riot. Ben Aaronovitch has an excellent pedigree: he wrote two 7th-Doctor-era serials for Doctor Who, and has written DW novels which I will now have to seek out. And he seems to have been the first to send a Dalek up a staircase. Evil, evil man.
I'm becoming an audiobook voice groupie. Which is going to be a problem here, because the sequel to Rivers of London is not (legally) available in the US. Mia Michaels, judging on So You Think You Can Dance, coined More...
I'm becoming an audiobook voice groupie. Which is going to be a problem here, because the sequel to Rivers of London is not (legally) available in the US. Mia Michaels, judging on So You Think You Can Dance, coined More...
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(1 person liked it)
Mar 01, 2011
Benni
rated it:
http://www.rantingdragon.com/midnight-ri...
Midnight Riot (U.S. title) or Rivers of London (U.K. title) is the first installment in an urban fantasy series starring Peter Grant, a probationary constable. When his ghost whispering skills prove useful in the latest series of murders, Peter catches the attention of England’s last wizard, Inspector Nightingale, and finds himself immediately promoted. Now Peter just has to figure out why seemingly normal folk are committing senseless, brutal More...
Midnight Riot (U.S. title) or Rivers of London (U.K. title) is the first installment in an urban fantasy series starring Peter Grant, a probationary constable. When his ghost whispering skills prove useful in the latest series of murders, Peter catches the attention of England’s last wizard, Inspector Nightingale, and finds himself immediately promoted. Now Peter just has to figure out why seemingly normal folk are committing senseless, brutal More...
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(3 people liked it)
Feb 14, 2012
Yune
rated it:
I put this urban fantasy on hold at the library accidentally, then figured I might as well read it. I found it quite readable but not impressive, although its wisecracking narrator and the sheer London-ness of the book appealed to me on paper.
Peter Grant is a constable in the police force who stumbles across a witness to a murder; only the witness turns out to be a ghost that his parter can't see. When he goes out ghost-hunting to get some more clues, he admits it to a passerby, expe More...
Peter Grant is a constable in the police force who stumbles across a witness to a murder; only the witness turns out to be a ghost that his parter can't see. When he goes out ghost-hunting to get some more clues, he admits it to a passerby, expe More...
Jan 21, 2012
Mardel
rated it:
cover- ummmm, I like the UK cover - if you see it up close, it's a map of London, with waterways and streets, etc. You can't really judge this book by the cover, though. By the cover, it could be any type of book; featuring London and water, maybe? I like it because it's different. Now the U.S. cover.....I don't like it. At all. It's too...I don't really know why I don't like it, I just don't. In fact, I almost bought this book quite a few times, and ended up putting it down, probably because of
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Jan 06, 2012
Claire
rated it:
I bought this and the sequel a while back and they've sat on my shelf as I stubbornly resisted all the praise for the series. Bloke discovers wizard powers - pah I thought, why can't it be a woman? Fights crime - meh I thought. So we reach the down under summer hols, I can't be bothered to fight the hordes to get to the library, it's on the shelf, how bad can it be?
Actually - pretty good. Ok Peter isn't Petra but he is black which makes a refreshing change, and there are lots of wo More...
Actually - pretty good. Ok Peter isn't Petra but he is black which makes a refreshing change, and there are lots of wo More...
Nov 09, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
I'm a big fan of urban fantasy. I love Charlaine's Harris'quirky Southern Vampire series, Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld, Richelle Meade's Dark Swan, Patricia Brigg's Iron Kissed, The Joe Pitt series by Charlie Huston and Mike Carey's Felix Castor books. So when I read the preview for Midnight Riot, I was pretty excited.
I've long thought that Urban Fantasy could use a good police setting, I've grown a bit weary of supernatural storylines that take place in private and never come to the More...
I've long thought that Urban Fantasy could use a good police setting, I've grown a bit weary of supernatural storylines that take place in private and never come to the More...
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(1 person liked it)
Oct 20, 2011
Mike
rated it:
My wife and I planning an oft-postponed trip to the U.K. next fall. We’ll probably pass on the major tourist attractions (look, kids, Big Ben, Tower of London), opting instead to visit some of the places we’ve already toured via the books of many of our favorite British, Scottish and Irish mystery authors. From Sherlock Holmes’s dank and foggy moors to the seedy underbelly of the Edinburgh prowled by Inspector Rebus and the lofty haunts of the murderous professors of Morse’s and Lewis’s Oxford,
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(1 person liked it)
Oct 01, 2011
Annmarie
rated it:
Great beginning to this urban fantasy, featuring a new young British policeman who, after discovering and chatting with a ghost at a crime scene (and being observed doing so), is inducted into the semi-secret department of wizardry in the British police force. It was a department of one, due to some unexplained tragedies during the wars, but his wizard mentor realizes magic doesn't seem to be diminishing in Great Britain after all. So he takes our man on and moves him into his large house for tr
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Sep 29, 2011
Ami
rated it:
My friend told me that if I liked Jim Butcher, I should liked this one. On one hand, as a male protagonist, Peter Grant is pretty likeable. I like the idea of having a wizard apprentice as a male protagonist, rather than a full-time wizard (like Dresden). It gives Peter a chance to develop his talent as he criss-crosses the world of magic for the first time, including understanding how the god and goddeses of Rivers of London work. I also like how Peter keeps trying to "insert" some sc
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Sep 16, 2011
Hikachi
rated it:
"A wizard."
"Like Harry Potter?"
"No, not like Harry Potter."
"How come?"
"For one, I'm not a fictional character."
I was awed for a second before burst into laughter when I read that dialogue. I mean, seriously...
Rivers of London (Yes, I read the UK version) is about Peter Grant, a rookie copper who wanted to enter the murder squad, but thanks to his bad luck, he was placed in a data entry position. However, h More...
"Like Harry Potter?"
"No, not like Harry Potter."
"How come?"
"For one, I'm not a fictional character."
I was awed for a second before burst into laughter when I read that dialogue. I mean, seriously...
Rivers of London (Yes, I read the UK version) is about Peter Grant, a rookie copper who wanted to enter the murder squad, but thanks to his bad luck, he was placed in a data entry position. However, h More...
Sep 04, 2011
Ellen
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 29, 2011
Ori
rated it:
An unexpectedly great read! I actually just picked this up on the basis of its excellent cover, and am very glad that to report that it gave me zero in the way of regrets.
A protagonist who isn't your usual Caucasian detective badassis something that needs to happen more often, but the great thing is that while Peter Grant is still affected by a fair number of the stereotypes assigned to people of mixed race (for instance, people staying a bit away from him on the tube, or several rac More...
A protagonist who isn't your usual Caucasian detective badassis something that needs to happen more often, but the great thing is that while Peter Grant is still affected by a fair number of the stereotypes assigned to people of mixed race (for instance, people staying a bit away from him on the tube, or several rac More...
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 18, 2011
David
rated it:
Peter Grant is an ordinary police officer, until he finds himself interviewing a ghost about a mysterious death. Pretty soon, he’s working for DI Thomas Nightingale, the Metropolitan Police’s one-man bastion against supernatural crime, which seems to be on the rise again after several decades. So, in between learning magical secrets that haven’t been taught for fifty years or more, Peter has to contend with an entity apparently causing normally placid individuals to commit violent murders, and w
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Aug 01, 2011
Mlle.
rated it:
This is the second review in a row I've written where my primary beef with the book is actually about the marketing. When I picked up MIDNIGHT RIOT I was all starry-eyed after reading the glowing blurbs from Charlaine Harris and Diana Gabaldon - two authors I like quite a bit - and not only that, Diana Gabaldon compares MIDNIGHT RIOT to Harry Potter, namechecking a THIRD author I absolutely adore, so I opened up MIDNIGHT RIOT fully expecting to gobble up the mass-market-paperback equivalent of m
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Jul 28, 2011
Paula
rated it:
My local library system introduced free inter-library loans a few months back and as a result I've been using that to pick up stuff I've heard good things about, often with very mixed results. A number of books I haven't even been interested enough to finish, making me very glad I haven't shelled out for them, one way or another...
I'm very pleased to say that 'Rivers of London' has been one of the major exceptions to this rule, turning out to be one of the best things I've read so fa More...
I'm very pleased to say that 'Rivers of London' has been one of the major exceptions to this rule, turning out to be one of the best things I've read so fa More...
Jul 24, 2011
Ruth
rated it:
c2011. Hmmm - great premise but I am not sure about the execution of it. The quote from Diana Gabaldon "What would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the Fuzz". This could be taken either as compliment or a withering criticism. I know that this is not the authors first foray into being published and that he lives a life surrounded by books. Somehow, in this particular instance, it made me very concerned about the authenticity of the police procedures mentioned (obviously taking
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Jul 22, 2011
Michelle
rated it:
I'm reading along, settling in to enjoy a new novel when, unexpectedly, the protagonist begins talking to a ghost. I admit I didn't know anything about Midnight Riot before I started reading it, but the juxtaposition between the supernatural and the real was a bit jarring. In the world of this novel, our existence is shared not only with ghosts, but with nymphs, vampires, trolls, river gods, and any other number of supernatural creatures. That's why London's police force needs to have a divis
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Jul 05, 2011
Clay
rated it:
“Midnight Riot” (Ballantine Del Rey, $7.99, 298 pages) and “Moon over Soho” (Ballantine Del Rey, $7.99, 288 pages) are a pair of witty, entertaining romps through a modern-day London that has a very active underground of gods, goddesses, demons, nymphs and the other usual suspects.
The hero is Peter Grant, an apprentice policeman in London (which is described in great detail throughout the book, so those who are familiar with the city will get even more out of the books), and he finds h More...
The hero is Peter Grant, an apprentice policeman in London (which is described in great detail throughout the book, so those who are familiar with the city will get even more out of the books), and he finds h More...
