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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This one has a lot of great stuff. Lesley back and on the magic beat as a proper copper, hunting down Little Crocodiles, cool Underground weirdness, Abigail’s initiation, and the intro of Zach to the series.
I was surprised the ending was so un-actiony. I didn’t remember that from when I read this series a couple years ago. It’s a quieter, more talky ending, but riveting nonetheless.
BIG GRIPE: Ok, nothing to do with the book, but the book’s description makes sure to mention Kimberly Reynolds being a born again Christian and how it’s not going to go well when she learns magic is afoot. THIS LITERALLY NEVER HAPPENS! She’s a little leery about it but seems to roll with it fine. Who wrote that book description? They should be reassigned, that’s total rubbish. Peter tries to hide it from her because she’s an American FBI agent not because she’ll burn him at the shake when she finds out.
I was surprised the ending was so un-actiony. I didn’t remember that from when I read this series a couple years ago. It’s a quieter, more talky ending, but riveting nonetheless.
BIG GRIPE: Ok, nothing to do with the book, but the book’s description makes sure to mention Kimberly Reynolds being a born again Christian and how it’s not going to go well when she learns magic is afoot. THIS LITERALLY NEVER HAPPENS! She’s a little leery about it but seems to roll with it fine. Who wrote that book description? They should be reassigned, that’s total rubbish. Peter tries to hide it from her because she’s an American FBI agent not because she’ll burn him at the shake when she finds out.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I don't know if it was the gap in time between reading the first two books, my brain, the book, or all of the above, but the quality and style of writing in this book felt very different from the first two. Like the first two were professionally edited while this one wasn't. My copy was full of typos and grammatical errors, even forgotten words. And the book as a whole felt very skimmy in nature, making it hard to follow what was going on plotwise and to visualize the setting from the manner it was described in. Even the ending left me confused, but I think that's at least in part from not remembering important details from the previous book.
My favourite in the series so far. I loved the Tolkien references, the snippets of information about the London Underground and the new people discovered. There were some genuine creepy moments as well as plenty of humourous ones. After the last book, I was worried when the female FBI officer arrived but thankfully Peter managed to keep things platonic.
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
What a fascinating concoction this series is turning out to be. It’s like Aaronovitch is playing in a sandpit full of exciting and interesting ideas, getting the balance between the fantasy/magic element and the police procedural as well as the history and setting almost perfect. You can tell he’s had input on real police procedurals as well. There are some problems though - firstly, and most obviously, there’s just far too much going on. Things, ideas, characters will be introduced and then forgotten about and then reintroduced. Sure, they’re in the sandpit - but are they actually being used for the narrative? Sometimes this is unclear, and it feels like a lot of things lack development (there’s a discovery at the end of this volume which is key to the plot which is just fascinating but… we hardly learn anything really about it - there’s just enough but I’d have happily added another 40 pages or so learning the ins and outs) and this means the mystery/crime solving element is often completely unguessable. Also, characters seem to move in coincidences and stumble across stuff too often - with multiple things happening at once that seem to be both separate and connected. This isn’t a bad thing, but it jars with the realism of the police procedural.
And it’s too fast paced, just overall. Which is inevitable when too much is going on.
That said, I can’t help but love it. There’s a great narrative voice, genuinely funny humour, properly diverse cast of characters, brilliant ideas - and it’s not a bad thing to leave you wanting more rather than bored. There’s a genuine creativity here which makes it really readable and involving even though a lot of it is just totally bananas. And despite too many elements, I feel the core ingredients are balanced (but maybe not blended) well, including a slowly developing series arc which is becoming intriguing, but doesn’t seem to be integral to the rest of the plot just yet.
Despite obvious flaws, some of these bring their own charm, and I can’t really give it a middling score because it was just such a fun and unusually funny, quirky and interesting read.