newt5996
Chancellery Guard
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Post by newt5996 on May 1, 2019 17:29:55 GMT
So I heard through the grapevine that Ben Aaronovitch's River of London series is being adapted by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and as I adore Aaronovitch's Who work (Remembrance of the Daleks is my favorite TV Who story and I love his VNAs) I was wondering if it's worth reading? I'm generally not the biggest fan of Urban Fantasy, though I don't mind Dresden Files and the two Discworld Watch Books I've read are great.
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Post by tuigirl on May 1, 2019 17:53:45 GMT
So I heard through the grapevine that Ben Aaronovitch's River of London series is being adapted by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and as I adore Aaronovitch's Who work (Remembrance of the Daleks is my favorite TV Who story and I love his VNAs) I was wondering if it's worth reading? I'm generally not the biggest fan of Urban Fantasy, though I don't mind Dresden Files and the two Discworld Watch Books I've read are great. It is one of my favorite book series ever. So I might be a bit biased. I am not really into Urban Fantasy, either, not in the way my sister is, with a comprehensive collection of every Urban Vampire book out there (not my cup of tea). But I immediately LOVED Rivers of London. It has some really great believable characters, with real flaws and problems as well as some characters with superhero-like awesome powers who are suitably bad-a$$.
The stories are well thought- out, well-written and engaging, with some great action sequences which will be amazing on screen. As you would expect from Urban Fantasy, you get the usual suspects of evil (and not so evil) spirits, magical communities, evil sorcerers and mystical monsters and beasts.
What makes it special is the HOW the stories are told.
Plus, it has tons and tons of humour. It is less a bleak mystery, and closer to Discworld as you mention (however, of course the wit and humour of Terry Pratchett will never be beaten). However, this does not mean it is without violence and gruesome deaths, there is actually quite a lot of it in there (there is even a pathologist who is trained in examining magical murders).
But the way it is presented, there is none of the usual darkness and gloominess which normally scares me away from Urban Fantasy.
I think the defining features of this series are the great characters and their interplay, as well as the humour, and sometimes the plot just takes a step back from those (this might be a point of criticism for some, but I enjoy it the way it is).
I can wholeheartedly recommend this. I already recommended this to quite a few people and most of them got hooked, too. It is quite infectious.
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Post by aemiliapaula on May 2, 2019 1:43:40 GMT
These books are great, I like how the author talks about the city and the history of the buildings. There is a lot of variety of the different beings they encounter. The graphic novels are fun too.
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Post by J.A. Prentice on May 3, 2019 1:51:08 GMT
I can't recommend them enough. They're fun, clever, and everything about them feels very authentic and well-thought-out, from the City of London, to police procedure, to magic. The characters are brilliant and avoid the usual pitfall of clichéd Urban Fantasy characters.
It's a great choice for a TV series, though I'm a little apprehensive that any adaptation will lose the magic of the books.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on May 3, 2019 20:01:36 GMT
Love the books. The comics not quite as much. Still, great series. Well observed, always funny and surprising.
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Post by constonks on May 13, 2019 22:06:37 GMT
Hard recommend from me as well. I've read five of the books so far and it's a 100% recommendation for me as well. Great narrative voice and fantastic (also very casual) world-building. I love Peter's scientific approach to the supernatural and his notes on history and architecture.
Picked them up for two reasons: 1) I loved Remembrance, Battlefield and Transit. 2) I have long said that the only post-Harry Potter material I really wanted was pulp detective novels from when Harry was an auror. I was bouncing around ideas for a wizard detective myself when I found out about this series.
Needless to say, I was not disappointed!
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Post by constonks on May 14, 2019 14:53:38 GMT
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