peggykelly95's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
katy_bee's review against another edition
4.0
I love the Rivers of London series and I enjoyed having a different main character in this one. If you know the series, you know what to expect here- a mix of supernatural and a touch of police procedural (although necessarily a bit less as Abigail is a 13 year old rather than an officer).
I really enjoyed Simon as a character and the way he and Paul showed different sides of children with additional needs.
Abigail rocks and the foxes are a lot of fun.
Some of the slang feels a bit cringe to me, although I appreciate the way that's mitigated a bit with the footnotes...
I really enjoyed Simon as a character and the way he and Paul showed different sides of children with additional needs.
Abigail rocks and the foxes are a lot of fun.
Some of the slang feels a bit cringe to me, although I appreciate the way that's mitigated a bit with the footnotes...
munchkindad's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
tulip0803's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
jhews's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
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
3.5
ubalstecha's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I really liked this entry in the series. Abigail is a different protagonist than Peter, but she's as good.
sri_savita's review against another edition
5.0
Abigail and the foxes are the BEST part of this series for me and I loved this story most out of all the books I've read so far. I think Abigail's firmly my favorite character now, and I hope we get to have a lot more of her in future books - either sharing the spotlight with Peter, or as the central character of her own spinoff adventures.
I think she's got a gotta-do-it-alone approach that seems to soften a bit by the end, and I love that she warms up to the foxes more. I also really liked Indigo's character and learning about why the foxes lost their voices and then got them back. This is more of the kind of magic I want from this series! It feels very fresh and original. False Value had themes that were a little too rooted in the real world of tech and AI for me at the moment.
I think she's got a gotta-do-it-alone approach that seems to soften a bit by the end, and I love that she warms up to the foxes more. I also really liked Indigo's character and learning about why the foxes lost their voices and then got them back. This is more of the kind of magic I want from this series! It feels very fresh and original. False Value had themes that were a little too rooted in the real world of tech and AI for me at the moment.
fluffy_piggy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
holocene10's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
annieb123's review against another edition
5.0
Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
What Abigail Did That Summmer is a spin-off novella in the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. Released 18th March 2021 by Subterranean Press, it's 232 page (print edition) and available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This series (and indeed the author's oeuvre full stop) is permanently on my must-read list. He's hysterically funny, often profound, clever, and always an engaging read. Since it occurs outside the main series, this novel doesn't have the same continuity as the others, but by the same token, it makes a fine standalone read. Because it's set in Great Britain (London environs), the slang, spelling, and language constructions are British English. I'm not entirely sure if it's because I was provided the North American advance copy for review, but it's full of asides and footnotes for American English explanations and equivalent phrases. I found some of them clever and tongue-in-cheek, but overall they got quite annoying fairly quickly and broke up the flow of the narrative without adding much.
Main character Abigail Kamara (Peter Grant's young cousin and a burgeoning adept at magic - real magic) is funny, wickedly sarcastic, brilliantly intelligent, precocious, and pretty much fed up with the world's rules. I love her attitude from my safe vantage point away from the fallout which follows her every move. Even in the main series, she's always been one of my favourite characters.
This book reads like a young adult novel and doesn't have the same tone as the main series. I'm admittedly in awe of how the author manages to build a really creepy tension at sub-audible levels without resorting to jump-scares. Despite it feeling discontinuous re: the main series, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to Aaronovitch's staunch fans, fans of urban fantasy, and lovers of non-fuzzy anthropomorphic foxes.
Four and a half stars. Brilliant execution, clean language, very entertaining read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
What Abigail Did That Summmer is a spin-off novella in the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. Released 18th March 2021 by Subterranean Press, it's 232 page (print edition) and available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This series (and indeed the author's oeuvre full stop) is permanently on my must-read list. He's hysterically funny, often profound, clever, and always an engaging read. Since it occurs outside the main series, this novel doesn't have the same continuity as the others, but by the same token, it makes a fine standalone read. Because it's set in Great Britain (London environs), the slang, spelling, and language constructions are British English. I'm not entirely sure if it's because I was provided the North American advance copy for review, but it's full of asides and footnotes for American English explanations and equivalent phrases. I found some of them clever and tongue-in-cheek, but overall they got quite annoying fairly quickly and broke up the flow of the narrative without adding much.
Main character Abigail Kamara (Peter Grant's young cousin and a burgeoning adept at magic - real magic) is funny, wickedly sarcastic, brilliantly intelligent, precocious, and pretty much fed up with the world's rules. I love her attitude from my safe vantage point away from the fallout which follows her every move. Even in the main series, she's always been one of my favourite characters.
This book reads like a young adult novel and doesn't have the same tone as the main series. I'm admittedly in awe of how the author manages to build a really creepy tension at sub-audible levels without resorting to jump-scares. Despite it feeling discontinuous re: the main series, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to Aaronovitch's staunch fans, fans of urban fantasy, and lovers of non-fuzzy anthropomorphic foxes.
Four and a half stars. Brilliant execution, clean language, very entertaining read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.