Moon over Soho

Rivers of London, Book 2

By: Ben Aaronovitch

Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

I was my dad's vinyl-wallah: I changed his records while he lounged around drinking tea, and that's how I know my Argo from my Tempo. And it's why, when Dr Walid called me to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognised the tune it was playing. Something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint like a wax cylinder recording. Cyrus Wilkinson, part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant, had apparently dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig in a Soho jazz club. He wasn't the first. 

No one was going to let me exhume corpses to see if they were playing my tune, so it was back to old-fashioned legwork, starting in Soho, the heart of the scene. I didn't trust the lovely Simone, Cyrus' ex-lover, professional jazz kitten and as inviting as a Rubens portrait, but I needed her help: there were monsters stalking Soho, creatures feeding off that special gift that separates the great musician from someone who can raise a decent tune. What they take is beauty. What they leave behind is sickness, failure and broken lives.

And as I hunted them, my investigation got tangled up in another story: a brilliant trumpet player, Richard 'Lord' Grant - my father - who managed to destroy his own career, twice. That's the thing about policing: most of the time you're doing it to maintain public order. Occasionally you're doing it for justice. And maybe once in a career, you're doing it for revenge.

Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

©2011 Ben Aaronovitch (P)2011 Orion Audio

Even Better Than the First One

I enjoyed this even more than the first in the series, and now I'm hanging out for Book 3. I found the action a little easier to follow (maybe that's because I have got a bit better control over my iPod now... though I can't make it stop replaying the last half hour of any session whenever I switch it on!) and a lot of things from Book One suddenly made sense. Peter is an interesting character with a good deal of tolerance for the "different", though not a lot for the "ethically challenged". Back story for Nightingale, Molly and Richard "Lord" Grant slides seamlessly into the current action. Excellent work, Messers Aaronovitch and Holdbrook-Smith.

Stellar performance of an enthralling book

Both this and the previous effort by Ben Aaronovitch were excellent fun books to read but were made even better by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's narrations.
He does multiple characterisations effortlessly without sounding corny and this adds to a sense of involvement in the story which with Aaronovitch's descriptions, make you feel you are watching rather than listening.

Pure Imaginative Brilliance

I came across this book/series by accident but it is a terrific listen. such wonderful imagination combining the geography of London, the mundane details of police procedure and magic. The book moves between humour, tragedy and compassion so one has little idea what is coming next. The narrator is pitch perfect accents are spot on and makes the street references of modern London speech that much more pertinent. Enthralling, looking forward to the next book and I have yet to finish this current book.

Best series I’ve listened to in years

Urban Fantasy at its best. Atmospheric without unnecessary backstory with a great band of charters and a superb narrator.

Slow start to a good story.

I struggled to get into this one initially but it was good once I got into it.

Better and better.

Again a very good book.
Ans with a deeper connection to the character this book is just a bit better than the former.
Looking forward to see where they will go.

Love this series.

The narrator is superb and the characters vivid and likable. Great series!, F@%k me you can do magic indeed!

excellent

the voice characterisation is superb and compliments the humour, and quick wit woven through out the story... love the concept of the return of magic... I totally recommend

Good story and performance

Started reading the Peter Grant aeries and pleasantly surprised to find an Audio book!

it is really an entertaining ride!

awesome series highly recommend.

this is an amazing book. and brilliantly performed by Kobna I cannot wait for the rest of the series each book opens up so many questions that I need answered.

Very good sequel

Its books like this that make me happy to try new authors, the delight you experience when you realise there another one by "that guy who did..." doesn't occur often enough. This is the second Rivers of London novel and its as much fun as the first .

Hopefully Ben Aaronovitch will continue with this series (I suspect there are enough "story arcs" (as American TV writers like to say) left open to work with) as the characters are entertaining and enjoyable.

I hope Kobna Holdbrook Smith continues to narrate as he is now "the voice" for these books in my head.

Perfect audiobook

This comes as close to perfection in an audiobook as I think it's possible to get. The mix of wry observation about everyday policing in London combined with a clever supernatural storyline is brilliant. And the narrator is fantastic. His dry, deadpan delivery works well both for the comic one-liners and for the action sequences. In fact, I suspect that I would not enjoy this book so much on the page because it would lack Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's timing and character voicing. Great stuff.

Very entertaining

Having not long finished 'Rivers of London', I was delighted to see 'Moon over Soho' as an audio book. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is a perfect narrator and the plot is entertaining and tight. A very, very enjoyable listen.

Great again

A brilliant second novel, written and read perfectly. Keep this combination up because its magic!

And it's as good as the first

Always a worry when you have enjoyed a first book a lot - "Can the second match it?" This does and sent me back to re-listen to Rivers of London as great detail that I missed first time round. Looking forward to listening to this again shortly.

Fantastic, bring on the next!

I knew I shouldn't have bought this so soon after it was released, now i've got to wait ages for the next one! Needless to say it's brilliant! Great book, fantastic narration.

Great Sequel

I really enjoyed the first book and this sequel did not disappoint. Takes off exactly where the other left off and is ripe for another. I really hope there is more. I do love the Policing / London angle, which is the bit I thought would be least attractive to me (not liking police dramas in the least), but the Ben Aaronovitch merges magic with the everyday brilliantly.

Really great narration by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. Every character is brought to life with their own 'voice'.

Extremely entertaining! Fingers crossed there is more coming.

Promising follow up to Rivers of London

This series is really starting to develop. It's not perfect yet, the characters are still bedding in as we get drawn into the world of magic, but the plot is complex and thought provoking. I have no interest in jazz but still enjoyed those elements of the story.
I originally started reading this series expecting a sort of British Harry Dresden but this is very different and very British. I am looking forward to the third in the series next year.

Body and Soul - and all that Jazz

Excellent reader that Kobna Holbrook-Smith. Catches the spirit of the main character and the book spot on!



This second book, as the title hints, takes place in Soho. The author juggles effortlessly with multiple strands of plots from jazz to horror cabinets and the history of british practitioners.



In the first book everything was new, fresh and exciting. Often it is not easy to raise stakes and still keep it tight but Aaronovitch handles it splendidly!

Vampires, but not as you know them

Ben Aaronovitch gives a new aspect on the overworked vampire genre; it is funny, clever, and engaging. I can't wait for Peter and Nightingale's next adventure.