Reviews

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

pine's review against another edition

Generally put off by the "wants to be a cop on the streets" motivation of the main character. Thought a little about the introduction of an asian woman,

immediately described as creepy and off-putting, subservient, and never talking

, and figured I have better ways to spend my time. 

bek67's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

2.5 stars rounded up. I'd say this book started out very promising. I was intrigued by a copper getting details about a crime from a ghost. And Peter doesn't even believe in ghosts. So we were off to a great start. I was expecting a campy original read.

But I very early on got bored. Suddenly there were wizards, apprentices and Mama and Papa Thames. It started to feel like the Dresden Files. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Dresden Files, but I'd rather read Dresden and not some knock off. Wait, there is no Fae in this book? Well, there's not but insert the river people (Mama/Papa Thames) and there you go. And as this series continues I'm sure there will be. 

Peter had an appropriate level of snark (which I appreciated). But other than that, I did not really like him. So I'll pass on the sequels. 

morgani's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

jennyjava's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

emilio_breastevez's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

nigelbrown's review against another edition

3.0

Would like to have given this four, but the ending got messy and fizzled out.
Unusually, I did actually find this amusing, while it definitely is not laugh out loud, it did raise the corner of my mouth from time to time. 
I don’t normally read anything about spiritual nonsense, but this seems to have been written irreverently enough for it to be readable.
Finally, for those that found this sexist, I can only say that you probably have very limited knowledge of evolutionary biology, I have read some misogynistic BS and this doesn’t come close.

annabananarama's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

doc_bronze's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.5

beckalore's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

hjswinford's review against another edition

4.0

This book was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the tone of the narrative and the story itself. The personified rivers were very cool. The audiobook was an especial treat because the reader did such a great job with voices and really giving the main character the right attitude. I could have done without Peter's tendency to think with his penis, but I guess it was just part of his character. It wasn't such a problem that it stood in the way of my overall enjoyment. The magic system wasn't startlingly original, but it was cool enough and it worked with the overall tone of the story.