"This is a time with no history, welcome to mystery."

[nausicaa83]

New Reading Bingo entry!



For the "The 1st Book in a Series" square I read Ben Aaronovitch's first novel in his Rivers of London series, Rivers of London. They changed the name to Midnight Riot for the US edition.

Let's face it, I couldn't not love this novel. It's basically Harry Dresden in London, except in this case the main character is a mixed race copper, and he's investigating a ghost who's re-enacting Punch & Judy by killing people. It's a love letter to everything that I love. *_______* There's supernatural creatures, genii locorum (the latinist in me was doing a happy dance constantly, as the latin is always correct and the history is spot-on), a lot of witty jokes, Blackadder references, a very diverse cast of characters, and the main character is constantly describing the route everywhere he goes, and as I've been to London enough times to easily know my way around it, it helped a lot with the feeling of immersion that the roads, tube stations, shops were exactly where they're supposed to be. ♥

I read it in e-book format, but halfway through it I was already ordering the paperback on Amazon. I know it makes little sense, but when I love a book I want to have a physical copy, a digital one just isn't enough. There's five books already published, with a sixth one coming out next year. Well, now we know how I'm going to spend my free time this month. :D

And a link for all of you lovely people: if you haven't already heard of Postmodern Jukebox, prepare to be amazed. ♥

Comments

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

I loved Rivers of London. It made me feel like a proper Londoner. It made me look at and think about all the people I was passing around the town and wondering if they were magical. I gushed about that to a bookseller when I was buying the second one and she agreed! It made our town more magical for us. I think it would make a great tv series and I hope it happens.

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

I agree so much! \o/

I read on tumblr that they actually asked the author permission to make it a movie series, but they wanted to cast a white actor as the main character, so he said no. I didn't check the source, so it could be fake, but it definitely sounds plausible. I'm following Rick Riordan on tumblr (the author of Percy Jackson), and every few weeks he complains about international covers of his books where the characters are whitewashed. And then we had the epic fail that was the Stonewall trailer, just a few days ago. They whitewashed history, what the fuck.

So yep, I'd love to have a tv series so much, but I'm also really worried they'd do a mess with the casting.

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

>:( That's SUCKS but is unsurprising. Those books are one of the few fictional works that actually show a realistic ethnic makeup of London. Well, fairies, ghosts and deities aside! None of the soap operas do, and when they introduce a new non-white family into them you get eejits complaining about pc gone made! >:(

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

I just finished the third book, they are just too good!!!

My only complaint? I wish we'd get more scenes of life at home, with Leslie and Peter learning spells, and Nightingale, and Molly and Toby! I love their interactions so much, I could read an entire book just of their domestic life! *_____*

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

When I first visited London back in 2010, I was surprised to see how diverse it was. I had only movies and tv series to judge, and I thought it was going to be a lot whiter, like Italy is. It was a delightful surprise, like jumping 30 years in the future.

But thinking about it, it shows what a distorted view of the city I had from media. It's very sad. Culture should reflect reality.