Reviews - Ríos de Londres

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5.87k reviews for:

Ríos de Londres

Ben Aaronovitch

3.75 AVERAGE

_izzi_'s review against another edition

3.75

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

marmul's review against another edition

4.0

Very readable

rugbychick's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

feliciaday's review against another edition

5.0

Well, I'm always looking for a great Urban fantasy book series, and this one is another one I'll be following with joy! Very much in the style of Harry Dresden, and my other fave, the Alex Verus series. This series is set in modern-day London, and features a black male lead character, who's a cop, and finds himself drafted into the magical investigation unit arm of the police. I love the sensibility of this book, it's incredibly dark at the same time, quippy! The worldbuilding is very interesting as well, and the characters are fun to follow. I will be reading more as soon as I can get my hands on it!

devilspenguin's review against another edition

4.0

The release of the newest book in the series inspired me to reread (relisten?) this one. I wanted to listen to the audiobook while falling asleep but (un)fortunately it was so gripping that I just wanted to keep on listening and it didn't help me fall asleep at all.
I was glad to find myself enjoying the book just as much as the first time I read it 5 years ago and there were actually a lot of things about the plot I had forgotten. Including how incredibly horny Peter is nearly all the time. I really must have blocked that out of my memory.
It was a little sad that the last third of the book had a lot less Nightingale but it totally makes sense for Peter having to figure shit out on his own.
I look forward to continuing my reread of the series.

arockinsamsara's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Creative and clever, this novel plays with familiar urban fantasy and police procedural tropes in exciting ways. The set up for this world is great, with the main character being both fresh-faced in his policing career as well as his wizardry, so he is improving in both as the story develops and we get to see how he has different skill sets that are complementary but also both need to be nurtured and developed. As a main character he is brilliant; he has a great combination of street-smart swagger and emotional reticence, which combines with a complicated history to really allow him to be dynamic and genuine. The ancillary characters are similarly robust, with care and intentionality going to each, letting the cast feel diverse and wide-ranging and yet full of robust personalities that create a fun ensemble and yet still feel like they belong in this world. The world-building is wonderful. Aaronovitch takes the easy route of letting there be a secret department of the police that handles supernatural elements, one that the higher-ups know about and begrudgingly accept and yet somehow keep secret from the public, but I appreciate the ease of that because it lets us focus on the depth of the supernatural, or magical, life in this world. It gives life to the city, almost literally, imbuing the concrete jungle with magic in ways that wonderfully blend contemporary science with ancient folklore. The world feels old and wide open, and without feeling heavy-handed we are introduced to a huge set of possibilities. I especially appreciated the historical elements woven in, playing with British and pre-British history, and while I don’t know the veracity of the historical elements they actually grounded the story in a way that made the world feel deeper and more profound than it would have been otherwise.

The story itself is fun, with two separate plots/cases that cross paths and yet are still independent, keeping the main character busy. Both plots highlighted different parts of the character’s journey and tested different parts of his skill, as a copper and a burgeoning wizard, which worked well. I appreciated the plotting and pacing for the most part, being willing to jump weeks and then just give us highlight reels of what we missed, it kept the story moving. The story is written in the first-person, which really lets us relate to the main character, to his ignorance and wonder at the magical world as it is revealed to him. It is written in such a way that he also gives little asides explaining details of what it is like to be a copper, or what certain parts of the city are like, and so on, and the writing is smooth and never feels forced. It isn’t written in a retrospective style, there is never a *wink wink, nudge nudge* to the reader, we are always active in the important action, there is no veneer of storytelling, even when our narrator is condensing two weeks of spell practice into a paragraph. It keeps the story feeling tight and, for the most part, propulsive. The story slowed a little bit about 2/3 through, trying to balance our character learning new magical skills and more about the magical world in general while also making progress on the two cases, and it felt like balancing those two became a little difficult. However, it wasn’t any real stagnation, as the character’s inner journey and growth was always present, and it was only noticeable because the rest of the story had a quick pacing that served the narrative well.

While it is clearly enjoying the tropes of the subgenres it is playing with, the story is setting up a number of interesting ideas, too. Race, immigration, and class come up as important aspects of the story, as do substance abuse and the ideas of respectability. Understanding your history and how that locates you as part of a larger narrative, finding yourself in a world larger than you knew, shares the page with ideas of family, respect, loyalty, responsibility, and the tension of serving more than one master, both in your personal life and your work life. None of these ideas are foregrounded, this is a police procedural first and foremost, and it just happens to be one where the main character is also learning to do magic in a world more fantastical than he knew. Yet these ideas serve as important backdrop, not playing significant roles in the narrative thus far but also making the story more complex and engaging, creating depth and perspective, which makes this world and story even more enjoyable and intriguing. The story is satisfying in its character development and plot resolutions, feeling complete while also entirely hooking me in and making me excited to stay in the world.

jaybklover's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

Dnf at 70%.

Action packed book with intresting premise. I usually enjoy urban fantasy, but in this case I couldn't connect with the characters and wasn't invested in the series enough to keep reading. Read it via audio, great narration.
I know that it's also available as a graphic novel, maybe I'll try it this way later.