Midnight Riot

So different, but good too.

I would not not have guessed I would enjoy this book as much as I did based on the book description. The writing is fantastic and the Aaronovitch casts the fantasy characters in a modernized light with the gravity of their history. I found the main character believable. Clever in his own way, but not a genius. He doesn't buy too much into his own stock and his awkwardness with women is a nice change from the stereotypical lead who is confident and comfortable with the opposite sex. I do think this could have been done without sounding so much like a teenager who is hyper aware of the female body. 

All said, this is a fun adventure blending modern London with mythical fantasy. 

A fun read, lots of action and movement [what I like in a story], who was who was a mystery til almost the end [I like this too]. The characters had good depth and personality, and I liked that objects of nature have manifestations.If you like this book and don't mind a bit of leaning towards sci-fi, you may enjoy [b:The Atrocity Archives 101869 The Atrocity Archives (Laundry Files, #1) Charles Stross https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440461724l/101869.SY75.jpg 322252] by [a:Charles Stross 8794 Charles Stross https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1355510574p2/8794.jpg]. London today, supernatural, and managing the chaos that ensues.

I didn't have huge hopes for this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. The characters are sharp and clever, the plot is twisty without being overcomplicated. It's a cop story that recognizes a lot of the problems with cops. I think I might have enjoyed it more had I had a more knowledge or any experience with London itself, but even as an American who spent 2 hours at Heathrow once, I didn't have trouble following the story. This actually might be my new favorite popcorn series. If you're a fan of things like Dresden Files or Wellington Paranormal, this is a fabulous series.

Fun supernatural mystery with humor and a likeable main character. I look forward to reading more of the series!

Update 10/22/23: I'm not big on audiobooks but I decided to “reread” this with the audio version because I'd heard good things. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is absolutely the perfect narrator for the series. I love it when they get it so right.

With a prompt to read a book written about England, I dove into this book. It has been sitting on my toread pile for a LONG time (and actually was a bit surprised that the name had changed from Rivers of London to Midnight Riot, so it took me a while to find it).

I was hugely surprised by this book. Part mystery, part fantasy... all soaked in some magical realism. I loved the idea that everyone has magic as a part of their make-up. I know from reading some less than favorable blogs about how the author writes about women, which was a nice warning. It did also make that part stand out to me. Women were all highly sexualized but not to the point that it made me cringe like some other fantasy writers.

The way you chase down magic is through smells, which is awesome. And also... really amazing fodder for literary candle companies. I'm surprised I haven't found Rivers of London themed candles yet.

I ended up doing a combination of reading and listening and the audiobook is SUPERB. I loved the voices the narrator was doing, the accents.

Comparativ cu ”Zei Americani”, din care se inspiră copios, PG#1 e doar de vreun 3/5, dar față de oferta editorială românească a ultimilor 2 ani, e considerabil peste - deci 5/5.
Recenzie pe larg aici: https://bloguldesefe.ro/2021/01/24/raurile-din-londra-de-ben-aaronovich/

I picked this one up because so many people said that if you like the Dresden Files, then you'll like the Peter Grant series as well. Now having read through it I certainly see the parallels, but I think I still enjoy the Dresden Files much more. Not to say I disliked this one in any way, I appreciated the London setting, the viewpoint from a coppers standpoint and the creative magic system that includes ghosts, vampires and magical beings in a new light. Though there is some humor, it isn't as prevalent as the Dresden series, and I found Peter Grant likable, but I didn't fall quite as in love with him as I did with Harry. Both series unfortunately tend to talk way too much about women's boobs and hips, something I could do with a little less of, but at least it isn't the focus. This first volume was interesting enough to keep me reading the series, I just hope you get to see a little more of Peter Grant's character come out in further volumes, I'd like to know more about him and less about just what he's thinking in the situation. Still well worth a read, but hoping for more in future volumes.

Went into this with lowish expectations, but wanted a short book to tide me over till I embark on Stephenson's latest tome. In reality it fully deserves it's four stars - i really enjoyed it. It has the same atmosphere of American Gods - the juxtaposition of mythical figures in a stark contemporary world but even though it does not have the refinement and lyricism of Gaiman, it makes up for it with humour and great one liners. I think i have time to read book # 2...

Executive Summary: A good, but not great start. 3.5 stars rounded down because I just can't seem to enjoy any Urban Fantasy as much as the Dresden Files.

Audio book: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith does a great job with this book. He seems like a perfect fit. No real memorable voices or anything, but he seemed to do a variety of English accents making different characters distinct from one another. I will definitely continue on in audio.

Full Review
When I first started reading Urban Fantasy, I really loved it and wanted to read more of it. Now whenever I try a new Urban Fantasy series I find myself wishing I was simply rereading the Dresden Files.

I always get people telling me, if you like Dresden you'll like insert series name here. They just never hold up. I usually find myself bored after one book or two.

This one wasn't amazing or anything, but I didn't find myself thinking too much about Dresden while I was listening to it. It somehow seemed to be it's own thing, and not just another Dresden clone, despite the fact that is is another detective magician series.

I suspect if I had the first clue about London, this book would easily be 4 stars. There are probably lots of subtleties that just went over my head. But Mr. Aaronvitch seems to not only bring the city of London alive, but makes it an integral part of the story itself.

The original title for this book is Rivers of London, and it's very fitting. I don't really get why they changed the title for the US. I guess I can see where the new title came from, but it seems far less appropriate than the original.

It's probably because I love the whole magic school/apprentice thing. Peter Grant isn't exactly a young boy who is clueless, but he has a lot to learn and I always find myself enjoying learning about a new world through the eyes of a student.

It also helped its cause with me by not being focused on Vampires, Werewolves or Zombies. I'm pretty sick of all those things. I don't mind them being in the mix, but I hope future books don't focus on them too much.

I'm most interested in the unique aspects of the world building. I want to learn more about the Rivers and how seemingly ordinary people can be come powerful enough to be worshiped like gods.

I hope he continues to focus on that with future books as well as adding in some other unique ideas to set this series apart from the overabundance of uninteresting Urban Fantasy that just doesn't seem to do anything for me. If he does, I may have finally found another Urban Fantasy series I enjoy.

Not being too familiar with England, I didn't get a lot of the English-specific references, but I liked it. Neat premise with a theatrical touch I didn't expect going in.

I think any first book in a series is difficult to write. The author is introducing brand new characters and a brand new world. Midnight Riot was a decent start to the Peter Grant series, but there are certain elements that could have been improved. Let's start with the good. I enjoyed Peter's humor and his comments that connected his world to the our world. My favorite was when he mentioned Harry Potter, which made me laugh. I also liked the explanation given about the different set up the police have in London, it helped bring Peter's job as a constable into understandable terms. I also enjoyed the concept of magic draining energy from both the human body and electronic devices, though I am interested to know why only certain parts of said devices are affected. Now let's continue with the not so good. There was no character development, there wasn't even any development between the relationships of characters. The plot was also at times very disjointed and skipped around. There were a few times I flipped to previous pages to understand why Peter met certain characters or why he went to certain places and I still could not figure it out. And the end kept going....and going....and going. I will give Aaronovitch a second try with the sequel Moon Over Soho to see if there are improvements to the plot structure and characters

Pulp, but really fun pulp. Aaronovitch will inevitably draw comparisons to Butcher's Dresden Files series, and for good reason as their premises and style are pretty similar. This is set in London instead of Chicago and things are both less structured and less established, as Aaronovitch's protagonist is a neophyte and an actual cop, rather than an experienced wizard with a history. Definitely doesn't go the trashier route a la Kim Harrison, but is not an especially brave or groundbreaking work.

Due to lack of half-stars, I must note that there are three-star books and Three-Star Books. This is a TSB. I enjoyed it enough to get the next one. My friend has, perhaps, created a monster. And what ‘The White Devil' lacked in English life details, this has in spades. Because, y'know, written by someone who is from the UK. Oh, yes, highly enjoyable stuff here.

I'm re-reading the Rivers of London books before I catch up on the ones I haven't read yet.
I started reading these after our first trip to London because the subject was interesting and because a bunch of it took place in places we had visited.
This time I got slowed down because I kept looking up locations on Google Earth/Street View.
Still liked it and it's still funny, exciting and horrifying.

Ríos de Londres

Really good book. I like how thought out the magic rules are for the setting, making them familiar to fans of, for example, the Harry Dresden novels, while still being their own thing. The mystery itself is also very well written, and incredibly enjoyable, with interesting characters and well done prose.

In a very real sense, there's practically nothing new in this book–neophyte wizard just discovering a world of magic; super-secret police division tasked with investigating (and covering up) supernatural crimes; a whole world of ghosts, vamps, trolls, dryads, nymphs, demigods living unseen amongst mortals; clever (and funny) pop culture references littered throughout the text; and so on...Urban Fantasy 101. BUT, there's something about the way that Aaronovitch writes that makes Midnight Riot so fresh, so entertaining, so fun, it feels like I'm reading a brand new genre. He's basically the British [a:Anton Strout 833164 Anton Strout http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1297087363p2/833164.jpg] (but a tad bit funnier). I had a blast reading this–every second of it–laughed out loud, sat on the edge of my seat, and tore through this book.