Winter’s Gifts

Rivers of London, Book 3

De: Ben Aaronovitch

Narrado por: Penelope Rawlins

The brand new novella in the Sunday Times #1 bestselling Rivers of London series.

THEY DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY ACROSS THE POND . . .

When retired FBI Agent Patrick Henderson calls in an 'X-Ray Sierra India' incident, the operator doesn't understand. He tells them to pass it up the chain till someone does.

That person is FBI Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds. Leaving Quantico for snowbound Northern Wisconsin, she finds that a tornado has flattened half the town—and there's no sign of Henderson.

Things soon go from weird to worse, as neighbors report unsettling sightings, key evidence goes missing, and the snow keeps rising—cutting off the town, with no way in or out . . .

Something terrible is awakening. As the clues lead to the coldest of cold cases—a cursed expedition into the frozen wilderness—Reynolds follows a trail from the start of the American nightmare, to the horror that still lives on today . . .

©2023 Ben Aaronovitch (P)2023 Tantor

Good story.

I'm a fan of the River of London series. This story was good but not a favorite. I had to force myself to finish listening because of the narrator. Her pronunciation of "parka" and "library" were painful. Both words were over used. And the voices she used for the male characters were horrible.

Enjoyable foray into peripheral character

I really enjoy the RoL series and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith has set an amazing example of audiobook narration. So - the story here is great and fun and the narration absolutely does not do it justice.

A good start to explore other countries mentioned

A good start for stories of this series in other countries. Involving native Americans in North American cultures is an added interest. The only negative was Agent Reynolds Christian ideology and mother. In itself ok but it got old. Hammering that Kimberly is quirky.

Good story - poor narration

Love Ben’s books but sadly this narrator isn’t the best person to bring them to life. Hopefully will improve and get pronunciation and character differentiation more on point in the future since I know she’s a talented voice actor.

Narrator could have been better

The story itself was fascinating. Totally in line with the previous Rivers of London series. It’s too bad that the narration was not as high quality. I understand the use of a female voice for Agent Reynolds but wish they could have brought in Kobna Holdbrook-Smith to do the voice of Peter Grant at least and perhaps some of the other male voices. In my opinion Penelope Rawlins just doesn’t have the same level of talent in doing multiple voices especially male voices. I look forward to reading this book in print as I feel that I will enjoy the story much more without the distraction of the disappointing narration.

He Tried….. but this Book was not up to his normal standards

This is the ONLY story in this entire series that I have rated less than a 5. I could see that B.A. tried to branch out, but this story just does not have the “magic” (no pun intended) of the rest of the series.
Lastly, I did not enjoy listening to Ms. Rawlins, At. All. It’s funny because KHS’s American accent is atrocious 🤣, but he’s still the GOAT when it comes to the Rivers of London Series.

I love the world Ben Aaronovitch has created.

I have really enjoyed the stories that have branched into other countries. Still Peter and Beverly and the Nightingale remain my favorite.

Good Story notwithstanding the narration

Audiobook narration is hard. Few are as gifted as dreamy voiced KH-S. Because he is SO uniquely talented, I knew P Rawlins started out behind the 8-ball and I really wanted to be fair.
On paper, I can see why they cast her: British but raised in both the US and UK. I’m not sure they auditioned her.

I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve got the book on reserve at our local library because I can’t figure out if Aaronovich wrote some of this book in dialect or if all of the (many) mispronunciations are solely Rawlins’ inventions.

I’m trying not to let it get in the Way of enjoying the story, but it’s tough.

I really REALLY hope no one STARTS their RoL journey here. Kobna is such a revelation, it would be a shame if this story stopped someone from hearing him.

Good story ok reader

I thought the reader was ok. She was not the best at making male voices sound different to each other, the little girl voice sounded like a parody and her American accent left something to be desired. I particularly found jarring every time she pronounced Parka as Parker . I think maybe they could have hired an actual american actress instead? No complaints on the story which was interesting and as good as any other from Aaronovitch.

Story YAY, narrator NAY

I look forward to any Aaronovitch Rivers series, but the narrator’s lack of vocal differentiation between male characters was lacking. Also disappointing was the poor impression of Peter - dialect was totally wrong. Lastly, mispronouncing parka [paar kuh] as parker could have been a drinking game :P