False Value

Rivers of London, Book 8

By: Ben Aaronovitch

Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

The eighth book of the best-selling Rivers of London urban fantasy series returns to the adventures of Peter Grant, detective and apprentice wizard, as he solves magical crimes in the city of London.

Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's brand new London start up - the Serious Cybernetics Company. Drawn into the orbit of Old Street's famous "silicon roundabout", Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. 

Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant's favourite son. Because Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC. A technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and forward to the future of artificial intelligence. A secret that is just as magical as it technological - and just as dangerous. 

©2019 Ben Aaronovitch (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"A low-income housing tower gone awry, an old enemy with a bone to pick...and a shocker of an ending - Broken Homes is a delight." (Charlaine Harris, number one New York Times best-selling author)

"The prose is witty, the plot clever, and the characters incredibly likeable." (Time Out)

"This series is a constant joy to read.... I’ve been looking forward all year to find out what happened next, and the book did not disappoint.” (Genevieve Cogman, author of The Invisible Library)

Ben + Kobna collaboration's > sum of words in book

after listening to their interview at the end of the book, it was as much as I'd hoped it would be in real life. They do work so well with one another and create out of what the other thougt but didntsay, and the story, charactets, and plot are all the richer for it! I really think it becomes bigger than the both of them and can't wait for the next one and have listened to each at least 3_|4 times. keep working on those American accents, you're getting better. Slowly, but you are getting better looking forward to see how they develop

Another home run.

While I am not a fan of sports metaphors, this was another home run for both the Author, and the reader. Fantastic work from both sides here. Longstanding characters moved forward, and new characters caught the listeners' collective ear.
Not to spoil anything, but, the twist in the final act solved one dangling story thread, but also created a new path for the stories yet to come to follow along.
(And the interview at the end is amusing and mildly informative.)

What a headache

This story made me crazy for the first 3rd to half of the book. I bought the Audible version 1st. There are so many British words and so many references to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy I wanted to scream. I ended up buying the kindle version just so I could look up what was written in the dictionary, google or Wikipedia so I could understand what the author was talking about. I spent as much time looking things up as I spent reading. What a pain in the A.. I also found this book very confusing at the beginning. It starts out with Peter applying for a new job. You only find out later he was going undercover. I was pretty distressed by then. I found the beginning part so confusing I ended up listening to it then starting all over when I bought the Kindle addition. Ugh. I love the narrators voice. He’s awesome. I’ve listened to all the other books in the series and enjoyed and liked them. This one was really tough. The back and forth time jumps and the meandering story line made me nuts. Where is his editor?

I LOVE Peter Grant

The Rivers of London books are such a fun read and to hear Kobna Holbrook-Smith read them is perfection. His characters sound just as I imagined....or better and I never get tired of listening to his voice.
If you haven’t read/listened to these books you need to stop what you’re doing....stop...now....and give them a go! You won’t regret it

A great ride!

I waited for this book to come out in audio format with dread. The published teaser description made me think that Peter Grant was relegated to dragging us through the muck of some boring story. Not so! False Value is a wonderful book and I enjoyed every second of it!

New characters arise. Characters that grab your imagination and squeeze it every bit as much previous characters have. What a rich world Ben and Kobna have created for us. I am already waiting anxiously for the next audiobook in the series!

MUST READ SERIES!

Can’t say it enough, you must read this series! Witty, well-narrated and beyond magical!

like meeting old friends..

Loved every minute. All the bits between Bev and Peter are sweet and warm. The "wha???" at the end spiked my anticipation for the next book. DO NOT MISS the interview. Great fun. Thank you Ben and Kobna for the laughs and smiles!

False Value is the best yet.

As a fan of the Rivers of London series, I was already inclined toward loving it before even starting the book. The surprise for me was how funny it was. There is a wonderful homage to Douglas Adams/Hitch HIker's Guide in the plot which I loved. Most of our favorite characters are back. Peter Grant is in fine form and he and Beverly are expecting twins which I expect heralds mayhem in future books in the series. There are new villians to fear and new characters to freshen the series. As always, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith brings it all alive with his reading. As soon as I finished it, I went right back and listened a second time. I think it may be my favorite in the series so far. If you haven't read any of the series yet, I recommend you start at the beginning to get full listening pleasure.

Another brilliant performance by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

This latest installment of Rivers of London branches out quite a bit in some ways (ie, tech industry) whilst continuing to build on historical themes. I found it a bit unappealing that there were fewer tie ins to prior plots than usual, but it's well worth the price to stay fresh across the life cycle of a hopefully long series.

Also unappealing was a number of Easter Eggs for which I lack context; this left me feeling stupid rather than smug. Minus one story star for necessitating self scrutiny in a book of this genre!

That's more like it!

I recommend this to fans of the earlier books in the Rivers of London series and people looking for an urban fantasy without angst and with a bit more logic, procedural investigation, and grounded in reality.

This book is finally back to form as far as I’m concerned. It’s much more enjoyable when there isn’t any real overarching story that could destroy London, the UK, the world, etc. This book is much more local and personal than the last few, so it ends up being a lighter, more fun read, like what got me into the series originally.

I won’t say much more, because it’s best experienced blind. However, I will say that Peter is growing, favorite old friends return, and some new ones show up.

This next phase of the series promises to be a solid one, so I sincerely recommend you continue the series in case you were considering dropping it after the last storyline finished up.