From the Bookshelf of The Sword and Laser…

Rivers of London (Rivers of London, #1)

Ben Aaronovitch

Start date: August 1, 2022

Finish date: August 31, 2022

Discussion: Rivers of London

Why we're reading this: aka Midnight Riot. No longer the Jan Brady of S&L!
[close] aka Midnight Riot. No longer the Jan Brady of S&L!

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Rivers of London

The Stranger Times
By John · 1 post · 23 views

last updated Mar 19, 2023 01:03AM

ROL: The most accurate depiction of policing in Literature?
By Sophie · 12 posts · 103 views

last updated Sep 21, 2022 09:51AM

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What Members Thought

Apr 01, 2013 Vicki rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audible, mystery, sff

Police procedural/urban fantasy about a London cop who gets recruited into a little-known division of the department dealing with the strange and magical. The story is great fun and the characters are interesting, flawed, and more vulnerable than the protagonists of many stories in similar genre territory. I'll be following this series. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 14, 2010 Crowinator rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ghosts-and-hauntings, adult, genre-mystery, 2011-reads, genre-fantasy, favorites-2011, urban-fantasy, reread-a-million-times, 2022-reads

July 2022: Instead of reading the 8 million other new books I brought with me on my Kindle during my vacation in London, I reread this one because I wanted to read a London book in London.

4 likes · Like · see review

Sep 11, 2012 Beth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: towerv, foolscap-club, 50-poc, fantasy, sf, wobble, tuesday-book-club, audio

Very London.

The audio is quite good. The accent is nicely English, the characters distinguishable but not forced, and the descriptions clear and the jokes landed.

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 16, 2011 kvon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Where has this author been hiding out? I see, in the Doctor Who universe. Better quality than I expected a fairly random book choice to be, with engaging characters and good setting. I liked that the apprentice wizard is shown having to practice a lot to get a simple spell going. The magic system is still fairly undefined here, I wonder how it evolves over the next couple of books. Enough bits for me to figure out to feel smart, enough I didn't figure out to feel surprised. Female characters wer ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 09, 2013 Shannon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Peter Grant books are directly comparable to the Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher. Except that where Harry Dresden is a wizard P.I. in Chicago, Peter Grant is a wizard cop in London. I really enjoyed the British flavor in these books, and I found the main characters (Peter, his partner Lesley, and his wizardly mentor Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale) all compelling and well-rounded. The writing is workmanlike, nothing fancy, but perfectly serviceable. I plowed through Midnight ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 24, 2011 Daniel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I've heard this described as Harry Potter grew up and joined the police which is kind of accurate but it definitely has a different feel that J.K. Rowlings stuff.

This is definitely one of my new all time favorite series and I'll be watching this writer from now on. ...more

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Jan 20, 2014 travelgirlut rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars. British murder mystery with ghosts and vampires and the like. I liked it for the same reason I love me some British television: snarky British humor. Plus there were references to Doctor Who and Star Wars and all sorts of nerdiness.

Things I didn't like: way too many in depth descriptions of buildings; similarly unnecessary lengthy sets of directions on how to get from one place to the other. I found myself skimming anytime the scene was changing as that's when these lengthy descriptio ...more

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