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staceyinthesticks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol
trying_ceratops's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This was a fun book! It feels like a good ole detective story with some magic throne in. If you like the Dresden series, you’ll likely enjoy this. Some of the tech is a bit dated and women are objectified fairly often (main reason for docking a star), but they are often portrayed as powerful/smart/best at what they do. I enjoyed the story and was genuinely surprised by the ending, in a good way. Will continue reading the series.
The narration was done well in the audiobook. The male voice actor handled the many voices well and the female characters didn’t sound falsetto nor overly high pitched
The narration was done well in the audiobook. The male voice actor handled the many voices well and the female characters didn’t sound falsetto nor overly high pitched
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Classism
shaddowhawke's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Sexism
cazab22's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Blood
stripedwolfie's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
I really wanted to like this book, since I usually enjoy British humour, police procedurals, and because it's a long series beloved by many. It started off really well, but the longer I read, the more the main character's voice annoyed me. The male gaze is not quite as bad as in The Dresden Files (which I also didn't enjoy), but it's definitely there. Fine, I can give the protagonist the benefit of the doubt and assume that the river goddess and her daughter have some supernatural aura that make all men react strongly to them. As opposed to Peter being attracted to every single woman he lays his eyes on. I found about half of the jokes to be genuinely funny and I wish there were fewer quips in the story, because the overall impression of the humour is that the protagonist is trying too hard. I was willing to overlook all of the above, but by the middle of the book I was also bored. Things kept happening, but the events seemed haphazard and disjointed and I found myself not really caring about any of it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, and Gore
marianne_maschine's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Murder
kmedusa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Addiction
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
1.75
The misogyny was the main deterrent and I'm not sure why I pushed through to finish it because it sealed the deal on not wanting to continue the series in the future.
Content Warnings
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
lucas_mannion's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Really enjoyed this. Dialogue and protagonist's perspective were funny without trying too hard. Interesting plot, didn't take itself too seriously. Struggled to follow some parts and took me a while to get through but that may just be my own attention problems. Main negative is that all of the female characters were sexualised by the protagonist. Could have been a conscious choice to show his immaturity, but was just a bit tasteless in my opinion. Would like to read more of this series but hope that the female characters are more developed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Vomit, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
jefferz's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It took me longer than it should've to learn that Rivers of London was released in the US as "Midnight Riot" hence why it took me so long to read this despite it being high on my to-read list. In hindsight the rename makes perfect sense as Midnight Riot is a much more appropriate title for the better of two core plot/cases covered in book (not to mention that the series this book ended up starting is also called Rivers of London).
Confusion on its dual-title release aside, I wanted to like Midnight Riot a lot more than I did as it has such an exciting premise. Peter Grant is a probationary constable/loose police officer who is assigned as an apprentice to Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale after having a run-in with a ghost while on surveillance duty following a grisly beheading murder at Covent Garden (as in the actual real Covent Garden, all locations are either real-life places or are heavily inspired fictional interpretations on boroughs of London). In training as both a supernatural investigative officer and a magic user, Peter Grant and Thomas Nightingale team-up to unravel the truth behind a series of seemingly random murders who’s only connection is their location at Covent Garden and sudden rage experienced by various perpetrators. It’s a serial murder investigation in a modern urban fantasy setting combined with magic apprenticeship, fantasy creatures like river trolls, river spirits, vampires, the works.
I was pleased to see how strong the London setting, history and tone runs throughout Midnight Riot. The writing style and narrative tone screams of British humor full of lowkey tongue in cheek jokes, sparring banter, and typical London slang and mannerisms. It has a casual style that's never laugh out loud funny but nonetheless cheeky to read. The book also heavily incorporates real London locals and history into the plot which on one hand felt authentic, albeit sometimes hard to follow for myself as a non-British reader. I often felt like I was missing a lot of references and was constantly googling locations and events that were quite foreign to me (little did I know there’s a handy official google maps created by the author Ben Aaronovitch for quick reference). There’s been a bit of surge in British-set books and movies lately written by non-British writers that have felt contrived; this series is anything but.
Unfortunately despite the effective setting and lore established, I found the actual reading experience to be a mixed bag. Midnight Riot’s pacing and narrative felt disjointed due to the decision of focusing on two plot points. The first is the aforementioned series of murders in Covent Garden. The second is a growing conflict between Mother Thames and Old Father Thames, two powerful river entities (hence the “rivers of London” bit) and their anthropomorphized families engaged in a turf war of sorts. The two stories don’t really work with each other and frankly it felt like the Rivers of London plot constantly derailed the momentum of the Midnight Riot investigation story. The book frequently switches back and forth by deploying Peter to different locations for each of the two cases with almost no transition or purpose. The two cases also have almost no impact on each other than the inclusion of Beverly as a sidekick companion and one of Mother Thames’ daughters representing the physical Beverly Brook in suburban London. Although The Rivers of London greatly expands the fantasy lore of magical entities and powers, I found it to be rather boring to read. Its inclusion almost feels like it exists to add length to what was probably a concise yet short novella what would’ve been stronger as an independent story.
The other main drawback is character development. Peter Grant has an interesting background being mixed race and African roots through his mother's family; this is highlighted on more than one occasion beyond his physical looks. However apart from Peter, characterization feels under-development and the sheer number of characters are tough to follow. The various river spirits are easy to track due to their distinctive looks and personalities, but countless superiors in the Metropolitan Police Force and other affiliated agencies are a lot. They’re also introduced in rapid succession and most are slight variations on standard police/supervisory stereotypes which quickly blended together for me (there's a distinctive "riot" scene that has many officers and superiors responding and I had a hard time remembering who was who and had what responsibilities).
The characterization and writing is also quite overtly masculine, aka the book constantly sexualizes its female characters both in descriptions and Peter’s longing gaze. On one hand it is fine if the internal thoughts are appropriate to the characterization or events unfolding, but the description of women’s assets, actions (loose coworker Leslie shares a bed with him naked for literally no reason randomly just for kicks?) and Peter’s horny thoughts are just thrown in haphazardly. Their sudden appearances constantly interrupted the flow and my interest in the story and had me eye-rolling “really?” when it frequently came up. The sexual maturity and writing feels like that of an adolescent teenager rather than a strapping young adult which conflicts with the otherwise straight-laced narrative.
Ultimately, I do plan to at least read the next book before making a call on this series. On paper there are so many great things in Midnight Riot and the mystery investigation is interesting, the pacing is just slow and narrative disjointed and loose. The lore and setting is great but the plot is all over the place and random. I’ve heard that subsequent books in this procedural series are more focused so we’ll if Moon Over Soho and keep me interested.
Confusion on its dual-title release aside, I wanted to like Midnight Riot a lot more than I did as it has such an exciting premise. Peter Grant is a probationary constable/loose police officer who is assigned as an apprentice to Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale after having a run-in with a ghost while on surveillance duty following a grisly beheading murder at Covent Garden (as in the actual real Covent Garden, all locations are either real-life places or are heavily inspired fictional interpretations on boroughs of London). In training as both a supernatural investigative officer and a magic user, Peter Grant and Thomas Nightingale team-up to unravel the truth behind a series of seemingly random murders who’s only connection is their location at Covent Garden and sudden rage experienced by various perpetrators. It’s a serial murder investigation in a modern urban fantasy setting combined with magic apprenticeship, fantasy creatures like river trolls, river spirits, vampires, the works.
I was pleased to see how strong the London setting, history and tone runs throughout Midnight Riot. The writing style and narrative tone screams of British humor full of lowkey tongue in cheek jokes, sparring banter, and typical London slang and mannerisms. It has a casual style that's never laugh out loud funny but nonetheless cheeky to read. The book also heavily incorporates real London locals and history into the plot which on one hand felt authentic, albeit sometimes hard to follow for myself as a non-British reader. I often felt like I was missing a lot of references and was constantly googling locations and events that were quite foreign to me (little did I know there’s a handy official google maps created by the author Ben Aaronovitch for quick reference). There’s been a bit of surge in British-set books and movies lately written by non-British writers that have felt contrived; this series is anything but.
Unfortunately despite the effective setting and lore established, I found the actual reading experience to be a mixed bag. Midnight Riot’s pacing and narrative felt disjointed due to the decision of focusing on two plot points. The first is the aforementioned series of murders in Covent Garden. The second is a growing conflict between Mother Thames and Old Father Thames, two powerful river entities (hence the “rivers of London” bit) and their anthropomorphized families engaged in a turf war of sorts. The two stories don’t really work with each other and frankly it felt like the Rivers of London plot constantly derailed the momentum of the Midnight Riot investigation story. The book frequently switches back and forth by deploying Peter to different locations for each of the two cases with almost no transition or purpose. The two cases also have almost no impact on each other than the inclusion of Beverly as a sidekick companion and one of Mother Thames’ daughters representing the physical Beverly Brook in suburban London. Although The Rivers of London greatly expands the fantasy lore of magical entities and powers, I found it to be rather boring to read. Its inclusion almost feels like it exists to add length to what was probably a concise yet short novella what would’ve been stronger as an independent story.
The other main drawback is character development. Peter Grant has an interesting background being mixed race and African roots through his mother's family; this is highlighted on more than one occasion beyond his physical looks. However apart from Peter, characterization feels under-development and the sheer number of characters are tough to follow. The various river spirits are easy to track due to their distinctive looks and personalities, but countless superiors in the Metropolitan Police Force and other affiliated agencies are a lot. They’re also introduced in rapid succession and most are slight variations on standard police/supervisory stereotypes which quickly blended together for me (there's a distinctive "riot" scene that has many officers and superiors responding and I had a hard time remembering who was who and had what responsibilities).
The characterization and writing is also quite overtly masculine, aka the book constantly sexualizes its female characters both in descriptions and Peter’s longing gaze. On one hand it is fine if the internal thoughts are appropriate to the characterization or events unfolding, but the description of women’s assets, actions (loose coworker Leslie shares a bed with him naked for literally no reason randomly just for kicks?) and Peter’s horny thoughts are just thrown in haphazardly. Their sudden appearances constantly interrupted the flow and my interest in the story and had me eye-rolling “really?” when it frequently came up. The sexual maturity and writing feels like that of an adolescent teenager rather than a strapping young adult which conflicts with the otherwise straight-laced narrative.
Ultimately, I do plan to at least read the next book before making a call on this series. On paper there are so many great things in Midnight Riot and the mystery investigation is interesting, the pacing is just slow and narrative disjointed and loose. The lore and setting is great but the plot is all over the place and random. I’ve heard that subsequent books in this procedural series are more focused so we’ll if Moon Over Soho and keep me interested.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder