Every telecasting networkis looking at doing a police proceduralwith fairies , monsters or conjuror , and there ’s one book they should all take a look at : Ben Aaronovitch , who wrote for Greco-Roman Doctor Who during its wan years in the late eighties , has created the perfect blend of CSI and Harry Potter , with his new book series about a London pig who look into supernatural mystery story .
https://gizmodo.com/every-new-science-fiction-fantasy-television-series-tha-5748341
mollycoddler ahead !
Aaronovitch ’s writing was one of the few bright spots in the last years of Doctor Who — together with a couple of other author and book editor in chief Andrew Cartmel , he land a welcome violation and regenerate sense of mystery and edginess to the overexposed world of the time - move around eccentric person . And with his young novel , called Midnight Riot in the U.S. and Rivers of London in the U.K. , Aaronovitch brings the same sort of glow to the equally overexposed field of urban illusion . Even if you ’ve translate all of the Dresden Files / Sandman Slim / Felix Castor / etc . novels , you ’ll still find good deal of originality and brightness here .
So in Midnight Riot , Aaronovitch introduces Peter Grant , a young police officer who ’s just become a full - fledged constable . Grant is despairing to head off the boring desk caper that is likely his destiny — so it ’s prosperous that he spots a ghost at an impossible criminal offense conniption . His power to see ghosts and other extrasensory hooey bring him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Nightingale , who ’s sort of a one - man charming police force force-out that the regular cops scantily stand . Nightingale takes Grant on as a sort of learner , and Grant hear about the complicated secret world of ace , ghosts , vampires , and river god — while also unraveling an progressively red and disturbing magical crime fling .
The above precis seduce it go as though Midnight Riot might be “ disconsolate and game , ” or noirish — and it ’s not at all . It ’s very loose and downy , with a first - soul narrator who ’s basically unflappable . ( Although Grant is definitely flustered at time , specially when he meet sexy female river god or other titillating situations . ) Grant is a serious improver to the long line of wisecrack urban phantasy protagonists , and the off - kilter situations he stumbles into frequently have a healthy STD of silliness to them , especially as we see how the quondam - fashioned world magic is interacting with the world of cellphone , machine and the cyberspace .
After Grant help oneself Nightingale put down a nest of vampires using phosporous natural gas grenades ( and make it wait like a house fire ) , he remarks , “ And that , Ladies and Gentlemen , is how we look at with vampires in old London Town . ” There ’s also lots of self - deprecate humor as Grant struggles to dominate basic spells , and figure out how to avoid embarrassing himself in the face of ancient powers . It ’s a fun read , and the tempo never slackens , which really helps .
Here are the first 50 - odd pages :
MIDNIGHT RIOT by Ben Aaronovitch , ExcerptClick to see
So what does Midnight Riot have to teach Hollywood ’s gang of aspiring magical police adjective author ? For one thing , unlike most urban phantasy novels about private detectives and whatnot , this one relies heavily on give Grant be a member of the police force force , even after he ’s assign to assist Nightingale with the supernatural cases . Aaronovitch does n’t just take up the caparison of a law story — he ’s in reality super careful to sketch in the details of how everything works in the Metropolitan London police personnel . He details everything from what kind of radios they use to what the communications protocol is when interview a suspect or being questioned . There are farsighted , but somewhat breezy , passages explain the indium and outs of the police bureaucratism as well as the refinement of policing . It ’s all kept slimly satiric and self - mocking , but you ’re left with no doubt that Aaronovitch did hour and 60 minutes of enquiry on every lilliputian detail before write a Good Book .
And even though a slew of the sleuthing in this novel depends on see out exactly which spirit is influence people to murder each other , and what the rules are of a centuries - old hex thingy , Aaronovitch still lets his characters depend a great deal on just substantial policing . There ’s a fair amount of good tec work every step of the manner , and Peter Grant ’s best friend and confidant , Leslie , is a veritable atomic number 29 with no particular magical attainment .
And then there ’s the “ community policing ” facet of it all . One major subplot in the novel — and the reasonableness it ’s called Rivers of London in the U.K. — is the fact that there are two major river gods in London , Father Thames and Mother Thames . They ’ve kept their territories entirely separate for scores of years , but now Father Thames is encroaching southward into Mother Thames ’ territory . Both of these river have ton of offspring , representing all their tributaries and minor local rivers , and the government of the rivers reverse out to be both complex and vexing — especially after Peter Grant pass water off one of the more sinewy local river .
Another deterrent example that Midnight Riot could learn wannabe magical procedural writers is : Keep clear rules for how magical ferment . There ’s not much wriggle room or vagueness in Aaronovitch ’s explanation of the occult art , which is especially handy since we see Peter Grant instruct magic more or less from cacography . There are fairly cogent demo of how to develop basic trance like the “ werelight ” and levitation , and we also learn a lot about the traditions of magic — although some mysteries are kept hanging , for the coming deal of subsequence . ( The 2d book , Moon over Soho , comes out March 1 . )
Those two things — a detailed account of law procedure , and a rundown of the dominion of conjuration — help to make all of the offense - stop and world - construction sense a bunch more real and immediate than they otherwise would . And if the terms is that the lecturer now and again feels a snatch pelt with exposition , then at least it ’s mostly funny tongue - in - cheek exposition .
And the other element that avail Midnight Riot / Rivers of London rise above the ingroup of other supernatural investigator novels is its curious , principle - seeking champion . Even as Peter is pushed into the role of the prentice to the older , more experient wizard - cop , he ’s constantly figuring out stuff and nonsense that his mentor did n’t have intercourse . Most of the time , Peter ’s discoveries are about half stuff his mentor shows him , and one-half stuff he figures out through a superior agreement of scientific phenomena as well as a sealed amount of uncouth sense . You get the horse sense , at times , that Nightingale is a number frustrate by Grant ’s indigence to figure out the physics of deception , but it ’s a blessing to reader who appreciate a proactive , cagy main character . Peter Grant is almost like a science fiction protagonist who ’s thread into a fantasy novel , and that ’s a very good affair .
He ’s also generate , as Nightingale says , “ a devious head , ” and he ’s often very good at manipulating situations to his advantage . If you ’re looking for a main case who ’s fulfill with angst , or who suffers immense moral or worked up crises , you might have to look elsewhere — but if you care a upbeat , resourceful Hero of Alexandria who overcomes increasingly farcical levels of hardship by continue his headway , then you ’ll like Peter Grant .
All in all , the ground forces of screenwriter presently trying to visualise out how to combine Gandalf and Law and Order could do much worse than to consult the works of Ben Aaronovitch . And if you remember his Doctor Who writing lovingly , then you ’ll plausibly get a kick out of his unexampled speculation into cops and spectres .
book reviewBooksDoctor WhoFantasy
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