Let me start by saying that Rivers of London has been sitting on my shelf for….well, for quite some time. I’ve been meaning to read it for about a year, acquired a copy several months ago and have been subsisting on good intentions as it gathered dust since then.

Until last week. Because last week, I started buddy reading this book with my friend Roz (seventyeight.sundays on Instagram) because the both of us wanted to actually get the thing read and the best way to do that, obviously, is with accountability. Plus, you have someone to talk to about the book when you’re done instead of preaching to a lonely corner of the internet the way I do. Which I still do, obviously, but it was still nice to talk to Roz about the book as we went through, and then when we had both finished.

So, the book. I was pleasantly, pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the writing style of the book. Not because I thought the book would be bad, but because it is written in an almost stream-of-consciousness style that I don’t ordinarily enjoy. Mr. Aaronovitch, however, really made it work for PC Peter Grant, and it absolutely helped that the witty one-liners were employed throughout the book. I often found myself grinning or giggling out loud and let me tell you, given I read most of this on the train to/from work….I garnered more than a couple of odd looks and awkward shifting from fellow commuters. No matter.

Another factor of the book that I really enjoyed was the way that it twisted and smoked through aspects of mythology and history, urban legend and supernatural life while still clearly a detective fiction novel. I really, really loved this book and I’m utterly ecstatic that there are more books in the series that I can get hold of straight away in order to keep reading. Not least of which, I want to know how Nightingale and Lesley are getting on. And Beverley, cause I gotta admit I did not see Mama Thames being ok with that. She must think Peter has a head on his shoulder because I honestly thought that she and Father Thames were going to have a go!

Five star read, people. Check it out.

Categories: 2018 Reading Challenges, Book Reviews, Fiction Reviews, Mystery, Reading Challenges

Tags: 2018 PopSugar Challenge, 2018 Reading Challenge, Australian Book Reviewer, Ben Aaronovitch, book blog, book blogger, Book bloggers, book review, Book Reviews, books, Bookstagram, bookstagrammer, fantasy literature, fiction, Goodreads, Goodreads Challenge, Goodreads Reading Challenge, literature, novel, PC Peter Gran, reading, Reading Challenge, Reading Challenges, Rivers of London