A review by the_cheerful_necromancer
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Ported over from my now-abandoned Goodreads:
I'm a sucker for an urban fantasy. A British-set urban fantasy chock full of geeky pop culture references, authentic slang, brilliant wit, quotable lines, genuinely tense mystery, an amazingly unique premise, excellently crafted magic system, lovable and complex characters, gloriously hateable villains- how could I possibly refuse? 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Addiction

This book is a murder mystery. Many of those murders are graphically described, and at least one is seen in-progress:

a man murders his wife and infant child.

With regards to body horror, a main plot-point involves a gory magical injury:

the victim's face warps into an unnatural shape, damaging its structure irreversibly.

Note also that the main characters are a black male cop and a female cop, so there is some unpleasantness levelled their way. The narrative doesn't support it, of course.