Neben "Die Glocke von Whitechapel" definitiv mein liebstes Buch in der Serie. Ich weiß nicht, ob wegen der ländlichen Gegend (als jemand der Metropolen als definitiv überfordernd empfindet und für Wälder und Felder einfach immer mehr Platz in seinem Herz hat) oder einfach insgesamt wegen der Charakter und der gesamten Stimmung des Buches.

Trotz des spannenden Falles und der faszinierenden Erweiterung unserer Horizonte was die Magie Englands anbelangt, kann man das Buch wohl gut mit dem Ausdruck "No plot, just vibes" zusammen fassen. Etwas falsch, angesichts der Tatsache, dass wir hier immer noch einen Fall zu lösen und die insgesamt Bedrohung des gesichtslosen Magiers haben, aber trotzdem finde ich, dass das Buch vor Allem mit seiner Stimmung punktet.

Kudos außerdem für die wachsende Beziehung zwischen Bev und Peter, ich mag die beiden wirklich gerne zusammen. ( )

Book five in the detective/urban fantasy series Rivers of London. Although this one is less urban and more rural, as our protagonist, police officer and wizard-in-training Peter Grant, is sent out to a small village in the countryside to assist in a case involving two missing eleven-year-old girls, which probably doesn't actually have any supernatural component. Probably.

My responses to these novels seem to be pretty consistent, really. They're interesting enough for me to keep going with the series, but I never seem to find them anywhere near as engaging as I feel like I should. I mean, I like Ben Aaronovitch, who wrote one of my all-time favorite classic Doctor Who episodes, as well as the possibly even better novel version of it. I like the main character. I like the world-building, overall. I like the pleasantly geeky sensibility, and the clueful handling of class and race and other issues. The plots are decent enough, and the way that this one starts out as almost pure police procedural and then evolves into something with deep roots magical folklore is at least theoretically interesting. It seems like it should all add up to something I really, really enjoy! And yet, in the end I just feel like I've just read something deeply, deeply... okay.

I'm starting to think, actually, that the issue may in fact be that it's the police procedural half of the crossed genres here that I'm not quite vibing with. I haven't actually read many of the more mundane kind, and maybe they're just not quite my kind of thing, I don't know. ( )

I really enjoy these books. They make me read like I did when I was a kid. I stay up too late at night, read at the dinner table, avoid/ignore conversations with humans to get in more reading time, and generally just race through them like a kid running with scissors.

Their just so much fun. But now, I've whizzed through this one and will have to wait probably a year for the next. Sadness is quickly settling in. ;) ( )

Peter Grant ends up in the small village of Herefordshire where the local police are reluctant to admit that there might be a supernatural element to the disappearance of some local children. But while you can take the London copper out of London, you can’t take the London out of the copper. Grant soon finds himself caught up in a deep mystery and having to tackle local cops and local gods in a town where all the shops are closed by 4pm. I’ve really been enjoying what a rollicking ride this series is, especially listening to it on audiobook. I can always count on having my day stolen entirely while I steal every possible side moment to listen. I also have to admit that when he was reading off directions on where he was going in the beginning of the book, I was hopping up and down and screeching that I’D BEEN THERE, I’D BEEN THERE! ( )

Entertaining as always. Probably my favorite story-wise thus far. ( )