Ben Aaronovitch was born in 1964. As a screenwriter he wrote for Doctor Who, Casualty and the world’s cheapest ever SF soap opera Jupiter Moon. He then wrote for Virgin’s New Adventures until they pulped all his books. Then Ben entered a dark time illuminated only by an episode of Dark Knight, a book for Big Finish and the highly acclaimed but not-very-well-paying Blake’s 7 Audio dramas. Trapped in a cycle of disappointment and despair Ben was eventually forced to support his expensive book habit by working for Waterstones as a bookseller. Ironically it was while shelving the works of others that Ben finally saw the light. He would write his own books, he would let prose into his heart and rejoice in the word. Ben Aaronovitch currently resides in London and says that he will leave when they pry his city from his cold dead fingers.
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Midnight Riot (aka Rivers of London in the UK) by Ben Aaronovitch
Peter Grant is a constable-in-training in London’s police force. At the end of his probation period, it looks like he’s in line for a long career of boring desk work in the Case Progression Unit, but that all changes when he draws the luckless duty of guarding a crime scene overnight where, earlier that day, a headless body was found lying on the street. While Peter is freezing his heels off in the cold London night,
Stefan Raets, Kelly Lasiter, Terry Weyna, Ray McKenzie and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
A promising jazz drummer is found dead of a heart attack shortly after playing a gig in London. At first, the only odd circumstance surrounding his death is the fact that Peter Grant, apprentice wizard and police constable, faintly hears the notes of the jazz standard “Body and Soul” rising from the corpse, indicating that magic was somehow involved in the musician’s death. However, when further research reveals that several jazz musicians have died in similar circumstances over the years, it suddenly becomes much more urgent for Peter and his supervisor Thomas Nightingale to find out what’s really going on…
Stefan Raets, Terry Weyna and Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch
For a policeman, Peter Grant is a terrible policeman. This might have something to do with the fact that he practices a method of policing known fondly amongst his co-workers as weird bollocks. Or that he recently hijacked an ambulance and crashed it into the River Thames. Or that the latest recruit to The Folly (the magical branch of the London Metropolitan Police) is already way better at magic than him.
Whispers Underground (2012) is the latest instalment of Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON series.
Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
Peter Grant, mediocre policeman and inferior wizard, is back. Broken Homes (2013) is the fourth instalment of Ben Aaronvitch’s PETER GRANT series, and the detective returns with his love of acronyms and Red Stripe. Once more under the supervision of DCI Thomas Nightingale, Peter, Lesley and (the newly initiated) thirteen-year-old Abigail, must police the supernatural elements of London’s crime scene.
The story opens with a series of seemingly unconnected crimes: a car accident,
Ray McKenzie and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
One of the definitive aspects of Ben Aaronovitch‘s PETER GRANT series is the fact that it’s set in the big smoke (aka London, for all you non-Londoners). So it may come as a surprise to discover that Foxglove Summer (2014), the fifth instalment of the series, is actually set in the countryside. But don’t be fooled into thinking this is story about sleepy village life and the occasional nosy neighbour. Far from it. Peter Grant is back along with a myriad of supernatural problems,
Ray McKenzie and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
DCI Peter Grant returns in both literal and proverbial car crash style in The Hanging Tree, the latest addition to Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON series. We left Peter and the gang still reeling from their adventures in Herefordshire in Foxglove Summer (adventures that included a magical rampaging unicorn), but we see a return to the concrete jungle that is London for Peter’s latest escapades.
Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
Peter Grant, our favourite semi-competent detective cum wizard-in-training, returns in Lies Sleeping (2018), the seventh book in Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON series. The Faceless Man has been unmasked and is on the run, and it is now up to Peter and the inimitable Detective Chief Inspector Nightingale (slash last officially sanctioned English Melvin the Wizard) to apprehend him.
(Fair warning: some spoilers for preceding books will follow.)
London is once more under threat and there can only be one man behind it.
Ray McKenzie and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch
My friends here at FanLit love Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON / PETER GRANT series. I haven’t read any of the novels yet, so when The October Man (2019), a related stand-alone novella, was recently released, I thought it might be the perfect place to jump in.
I was right. Though familiarity with the novels might have made things a little easier, I found The October Man to be both perfectly understandable and enjoyable.
Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Ben Aaronovitch | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
False Value by Ben Aaronovitch
It is hard to believe that we have reached the eighth book in Ben Aaronovitch‘s inimitable RIVERS OF LONDON series. Back with characteristic aplomb, Peter Grant returns in a somewhat unlikely position: he is interviewing for a job. He has, he explains to his new prospective employer, been suspended and is no longer working for the London Metropolitan Police. Given his previous track record of obliterating electronics, it might be surprising that Peter accepts a job at the Serious Cybernetics Corporation.
Ray McKenzie´s rating: 3.5 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch
“She looked at me, her eyes wide.
“‘Am I free?’ she said.
“‘Yes,” I said. ‘And no.’”
Amongst Our Weapons (2022) is my new favorite in Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON series, mostly because, at long last, Peter and Beverly’s progeny, the twins, make an appearance. That isn’t the only reason; the plot is good and moves quickly, and the talking foxes recruited by Peter’s young cousin Abigail are in the book just enough to keep it extra entertaining.
Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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