I just had to re-read this classic series again,
before book six came out. (Too late!)
It's been a
few years now, and what with Rivers of London, Moon over Soho, Whispers Underground and Broken Homes, starting to blend into one, I sort of needed a refresher.
Well, I've
finished book one and I'm half way through book two, and if anything, I'm
liking them more now than the first time.
Ben
Aaronovich paints a picture of the secret magical wing of the Metropolitan
police force, (which consists of: one man - who is over a hundred years old - a
vampire ghost, and an H.Q called The Folly), very convincingly, and then, P.C Grant starts talking to a
ghost in Covent Garden and the Folly has a new recruit.
P.C. Peter
Grant, who, up until that fateful night, was just a regular probationary
constable, is our main character here. On the discovery of ghosts being real
and their ability to inflict serious damage on the living, (our first victim is
beheaded), our story begins.
The normal police take a very dim view of the
Folly and its purpose, until an ancient malevolent ghost starts killing people
that is. After that results are expected and expected
fast.
Whilst
spending a lot of the book discovering that magic is real, trying to learn it,
(as well as Latin), P.C Grant, also finds himself embroiled in the middle of a
feud between the mother and father of the river Thames. (Hence the book’s
title).
With
centuries of history and immense power between them, the two entities, along
with their extended families, control all the river of London; the Thames of
course being the biggest. With much fumbling, and only a small amount of
destruction, our intrepid trainee magician, mediates the situation the best he
can.
There is
horror in this book, fun, laughter, genuine intrigue and as you tread the cobbles
of one of the most famous placing in the world, (Covent Garden), you get
trapped; trapped in a world of magic, policing, and fear, a world that hovers
behind a thin veil between normality and fiction.
Exquisitely
researched, so much so that I thought the author was a Jazz playing ex
policeman, who wondered the streets of London of an evening, smoking something
that could result in his arrest, and it’s fast paced too.
The chase at the end, with P.C Grant running through a London that gets magically younger, before finally disappearing altogether, going back to pre-Roman times, is just fantastic.
The chase at the end, with P.C Grant running through a London that gets magically younger, before finally disappearing altogether, going back to pre-Roman times, is just fantastic.
So, five big fat
delicious stars for this book then, and with Moon over Soho under way, I'll be
back in touch in a week or so with another update.
Keep
reading and don't forget your Children in Need donation.
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