Rivers of London

Rivers of London, Book 1

By: Ben Aaronovitch

Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

My name is Peter Grant, and until January, I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluble, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.

Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in 50 years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden...and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious, vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.

The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying.

Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

©2011 Ben Aaronovitch (P)2011 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Loved the performance, but grew tired of the story

The book started out quite fresh, with a good cast of characters. But I think it somehow narrowed as the story progressed and fell into more and more clichés and in the end it was a little more than okay.

The real take away was the reading by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. He was very fit for the part and managed the voices of the whole cast splendidly.

Thoroughly Entertaining

Never a dull moment. Imaginative, clever and wonderfully narrated.
Can't wait to listen to the next in the series.

Awesome story in every way!!!!

Loved the story, the narration, just all of it!
Thank you for the time away!
Author Lizzi Tremayne

Uneven and not always interesting

Negative:
- Language is simplistic, lots of "I said he said"
- Invented mythology is not enough to grab the reader by the throat, world building is not convincing
- Mysterious resolutions of plotlines should be outlawed... :)

Postiive:
- Good humor
- Good dialog (if you ignore "I said he said")
- Great storyline (the one about puppets, not the one about rivers)

In general, worth a listen.

series gets better as it goes on!

i really enjoy the Rivers of London series but never noticed how male gaze-y the first book is when I read it on paper. Peter's never disrespectful or creepy but it threw me off while listening a little. Other than that, I really enjoyed the story overall as I knew I would!

The narrator has a lovely voice to fall asleep to, which I like in my audiobooks, and he does a really good job with the accents! the only thing is that his intonation is kind of off sometimes, leading to breaks in sentences in odd places. Good job overall though.

would recommend!

A narrator with a thousand believable accents.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked how the world of magic and inner London policing were very realistically entwined, and how Harry Potter films still exist.

What about Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s performance did you like?

The narrator is stunning, equally at home with English and Scottish accents from every social milieu and is one of very few male narrators I have come across who could do a believable female chav!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I listened to this book and its two sequels on a road trip through headphones and my family were amused by my frequent guffaws and snorts of delight.

Any additional comments?

This is a great series with gritty realism in its descriptions of inner city policing, while successfully introducing a believable fantasy worls, apparently on our very doorsteps! Highly recommended.

I can't decide...

I simply can't decide if I like it. I finished the audiobook in 1 day, and the story did hold my attention, but I found myself frustrated quite often.

I found the finale a little lackluster and I didn't like the constant sexual undertone whenever the MC talked to women. Especially when there was a sexual undertone when he was with a much younger woman.

I don't feel like it was a waste of a credit, but I have no plans to buy the next installment.

The soul of London

You miss the city, enjoy history, suspense and well constructed characters? Then this is for you...

Not even close to the Alex Verus

Yeah, Alex Verus is the only book I can compare this one with and it is a far cry. 6 hours left to finish it but I can’t make myself to do it.
Boring and unimaginative to my taste. But again, I have already read and listened to a bunch of urban fantasy books (like 30+) and this one definitely at the bottom and if you are just started reading books of this genre then you might like it, maybe

Shortened and rephrased

Rephrasings of the text and editing out bits without advertising it as such (see for example the last seven lines of page 221). A scam.