Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“That which does not kill us,” I said, “has to get up extra early in the morning if it wants to get us next time.”

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

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Peter Grant and his partner of sorts, Lesley May, have to do a lot of explaining themselves. Not just their actions as members of The Folly, the (tiny) branch of the London Met that deals with “unusual circumstances”, but also every reference that they make about the modern world. Why is that? They’re making these references to The Nightingale; their commanding officer who has been fighting the bad guys (thieves, murderers, Nazis) since before WWII. Before WWII? But how? Well, Nightingale stopped aging in the […]

Spooky Spelunking Ahoy!

Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch

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…but before we dig in, let’s celebrate a Pulp reference! Well, our victim had a thirst for knowledge,” said Stephanopoulos. “He was a student at St. Martins College. Ha! Delightful. This series is chock full of geeky innuendo. Come for a magical rollick through London, but stay for the myriad Harry Potter, Terry Pratchett, Dr. Who, and Tolkien references- just to name a few. Somehow, despite many references to the fantasy that came before and continues to ripple around the world of Rivers of London, this […]

Another Fun Romp Through the Rivers of London

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

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Peter Grant is back, and he is diving further into the underbelly of London and the under-the-table world of magical police work. In the last outing, Midnight Riot, I was treated to a great deal of London’s history. There was another blast of history this time as well; it remains a primer on the foundations of the city and running commentary on the architectural abominations foisted upon the area since the ’50s. Were it not for all the gore and sex I’d say that ol Prince […]

He loves having people make jokes about his name… so feel free to pile in when introduced.

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According to official listings, The Furthest Station is Peter Grant #5.7, which if you ask me is an infuriating state of affairs. I love this series so much, mostly because of the people, places, and things in them. And it’s starting to feel like Aaronovitch is only writing tangents these days. There are the graphic novels plus this novella, but I really mostly want to know is WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH LESLEY MAY. I swear to you, every time I go to Wikipedia to see […]

Class-war evil supernatural black fungus

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I raced through Rivers of London: Black Mould when I brought it home from the library (pro tip: if a book is brand new and it’s not on the shelves but it’s definitely in the catalog, ask your librarian to check the back room! maybe it hasn’t even been shelved yet!), but honestly it didn’t make much more of an impact on me other than to keep moving the Rivers of London universe forward for me. Not that that isn’t of value, because of course […]

Magic is about control, focus, and being able to concentrate when you’re drowning to death.

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I’m definitely rolling downhill with these Rivers of London/Peter Grant books. They are predictably a delight, and I catch myself racing through them and savoring them all at once. I’m very happy to report that The Hanging Tree provides a great moving-forward of things, myth-arc-wise. I had been a little worried after the two graphic novel intervals between this and Foxglove Summer. But we’re back on track, with delightful reference to the happenings of Body Work and Night Witch (and only a handful of contradictions). […]



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