Review by stripedwolfie - Rivers of London

stripedwolfie 's review for:

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

3.0

adventurous funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I really wanted to like this book, since I usually enjoy British humour, police procedurals, and because it's a long series beloved by many. It started off really well, but the longer I read, the more the main character's voice annoyed me. The male gaze is not quite as bad as in The Dresden Files (which I also didn't enjoy), but it's definitely there. Fine, I can give the protagonist the benefit of the doubt and assume that the river goddess and her daughter have some supernatural aura that make all men react strongly to them. As opposed to Peter being attracted to every single woman he lays his eyes on. I found about half of the jokes to be genuinely funny and I wish there were fewer quips in the story, because the overall impression of the humour is that the protagonist is trying too hard. I was willing to overlook all of the above, but by the middle of the book I was also bored. Things kept happening, but the events seemed haphazard and disjointed and I found myself not really caring about any of it.

Content Warnings