Les rivières de Londres

Here I am, already having to swallow my words. Writing the Sunshine review, I said that urban fantasy isn't really for me. And then I go and really enjoy this book! Maybe it just needs to be written by a Brit.

Yeah, this book is very British, in its humor, in its setting, in its main character (a simple police constable, with the helmet and all.), and it's a great take on urban fantasy. You can tell that Aaronovitch must have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the city, and he uses it very well to inform the more fantastical aspects of his story. I also love how he involves certain English subcultures, like the Travelers and Nigerian immigrants. That's the stuff that makes it feel like a real, breathing city, you know? Only downside is maybe that our constable in question, Peter Grant, is a horny, young man and I'm not always a fan of how that is portrayed.

Something I did find interesting is that this is the first book in the series. Not that the plot was bad, it was just... bizarre in a way you don't expect in a first book in a series. Really? The spirit of riot and rebellion represented by Mr Punch possesses a ghost, who possesses a bunch of people who have their face magically altered to look like the puppet? And the sidekick is the mastermind behind it all? That just screams "we're four or five books in, and the author is kind of running out of his more normal ideas" to me. Then again, it made more sense when I learned that he used to be a writer for Doctor Who. Either, he was able to weave a lot more of those "normal" ideas into his writing for that show, or it taught him that you can never get too wacky.

I'm definitely looking forward to checking out the sequels.