Foxglove Summer

By: Ben Aaronovitch

Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

Peter Grant - cop, magical apprentice, and Londoner to the core - is being forced out of his comfort zone and into the English countryside. His latest case involves the disappearance of children in the small village of Herefordshire, and the local police are unwilling to admit there might be a supernatural element involved. Now Peter must deal with them, local river spirits, and the fact that all the shops close by 4 P.M.

©2014 Ben Aaronovitch (P)2014 Penguin Audio

Starts slow but ends strong

I have to say I really enjoy this series. The excellent urban fantasy/police procedural mix works quite well. This genre appears to be growing fast and while there are a lot of similar series coming out, this series feels like the most realistic of the group. The author also maintains a good balance between having a stand alone story and advancing the meta-plot.
This is good as a lot of my favorite authors have been focusing on their overarching story to the detriment of the one you are currently reading. Good to see Mr. Aaronovitch has gotten it right.

The narrarator does his usual excellent job. He is definitely top notch and enhances the story with his reading style. He has a pretty good range and you can definitely tell each character apart from the reading alone.

I really only have two complaints with this novel. First, it starts off really slow. The first quarter of the book is almost devoid of any supernatural elements and advances at a snails pace, hence 4 stars for the story instead of 5. Fortunately it picks up after that and moves the story along quite nicely. My second complaint is minor and most may not agree but I am really getting to hate the music between chapters. If anyone from the publishing company is reading this please either get rid of it or rotate in some different music.

Those small issues aside, this is a great novel once it gets moving. Stick with it and you'll be glad you did. I really look foreward to the next book in this series.

16 of 16 people found this review helpful

Narrator is Amazing!

Peter Grant stories are always fascinating, unexpected, and fun. But more than just the story, I love Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's truly phenomenal narration! In every book in this series, I've loved listening to him and the variety of voices he can bring to life. This book in particular really shows off his immense range. Perfectly smoothly, he shifts from male to female, between ethnic groups, social classes, regions, ages, etc. Just astonishing. It really makes this stpry, as others in this series, a true pleasure to listen to - and not just once!

13 of 13 people found this review helpful

What a fun ride!

This installment of Rivers of London is like riding a roller coaster in the dark! Every time you think the story is predictable it takes off in an unexpected direction. And you want to stay alert because every word counts.

First, ignore the blurb that Audible has above. It was written by someone that did not read the book. They took a simple fact, the case is about missing children, and made up conflicts that are not in the book; uncooperative local police and shops close at 4pm? Someone is winging it.

But back to the book (where local police Are cooperative), to avoid spoilers just say we get to spend more time with Peter Grant and the river spirits. We make new friends, see some new examples of non-humans. Peter faces mysteries and dangerous confrontations and plays with new magic spells. We get a new clue about Molly.

Book 4, Broken Homes, was a bit of downer. In this book, Peter gets on with life. Leslie's voice is still with him, goading him on to solve problems, even though she's out of the picture (mostly). We get more hints about the ultimate story arc but it is not solved here.

That suits me because it is so nice to read books written by someone you can trust to entertain you. The author is a master of writing enjoyable prose. I'll be rereading it with pleasure.

14 of 15 people found this review helpful

where's the other half?

As usual, @HoldbrooksMyth delivered an outstanding performance. What I had a problem with was the story. The pacing was entirely off, starting off way to slow and ending in a scene that felt more like a mid-book interluded than a cliff-hanging ending. To me it felt like there should be another 10 chapters in to this book.

It was nice however to have a little more explanation of Molly, and some teasers regarding what's in the basement of the Folly.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

What am I going to listen to now!?!

Any additional comments?

Peter Grant, the magician constable, is back and brilliant. In this installment, Peter goes to a small town to help find two missing girls. The typical cast of characters is not present in this book. With the exception of a few phone calls and text messages, Nightingale, Molly, and, of course, Leslie are largely absent. But Peter is still stumping along and taking huge curveballs in stride, and Beverly shows up to save him when he gets into trouble. If you aren't familiar with this series, give it a try.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

I would listen to this narrator read a phone book

And this story is so good (like the other 4) that I didn't want to miss a word. All I can say is more more more!😄

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

So entertaining, great story & fantastic narration

This is a great audio series! I do feel guilty though. I had paperwork to do today and instead indulged in listening to this audiobook, simply doing menial chores so I could pay attention. This series isn't of books that can be listened to "in the background" because of the author's beautiful attention to details. Some of the audio books I listen to are not worth backing up to catch a paragraph or two that I may have missed, but the Peter Grant series of books are so intriguing that if there is an interruption or distraction, I go back and listen to sections again.

The narration is fan-tas-tic and is a huge part of what makes this a successful audio series. The wrong narrator could have left this series languishing. Plus, the production is professionally done, making the experience an enjoyable escape.

I finished this book in one day. I prefer to buy book series that are already completed, so am unfortunately going to have to wait for the next one. But, the first five books have been a lot of fun . . . I'm so looking forward to the next Peter Grant book.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Moving the series along

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would, but only after recommending the preceding novels in the series.

Would you recommend Foxglove Summer to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes, because they are wonderful, smart, and funny. But I wouldn't recommend this one as a standalone. It is more of a pivotal novel, designed, I hope, to move the series along and tie up loose ends.

Which scene was your favorite?

Hmmm. There are lots of quick moments that are funny, but I can't think of one particular scene. Maybe when Peter learns more about nightingale and etisburg.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Peter talks about his response to the hostage situation and why he does what he does.

Any additional comments?

This is my least favorite of the series. I felt that it did not really move along towards a cohesive ending, or middle for that matter. Things just kind of happened. Also, I missed Nightengale, though peter's interactions with Beverly are always funny. I did enjoy more Bev in this book, but the whole cast of previous characters were not in play this time around.
Even as a least favorite, this is still a great book. But, as someone else points out, it seems to be missing a few chapter. I was actually surprised when it ended. I hadn't been monitoring the time left, so when I heard the signal that the book had ended, I was like, "really?? But what about....the rest of the storyline?"
I hope the next one is better. It seems that this one may be meant to gear the series up for some serious action in the next novel.
Still, read the others if you've not checked out the series.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Addictive

I've chain listened to the whole series. Hard to take the ear buds out. Great blend of grit, magic and fun.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Excellent narrator

I love the story, but a narrators voice can kill a favourite story if it isn't right in my head. Kobna-Smith is fantastic, absolutely excellent. Get this series for that reason alone!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful