A review by lastbraincell
Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

4.0

Police magicians, a Japanese snake/spider she-demon for a housekeeper, anthropomorphic rivers (one of which is a outwardly sullen young woman), ghost hobos, suburban vampires, and a series of murders where people's heads are magically being blown up from the inside... Count me in. The narrator hits the right note of not-too-smart but still competent, the common observation about him being he'd be such a better cop/magician if only he weren't too easily distracted. But then maybe it's because he notices these little things, and later is able to pull back and muse about them, and because he isn't stupid, connect the dots, that he comes up with the crazy plans that just might work. There are hints of a latent power that others seem to see in him which he has no idea about, and I look forward to seeing this unfold in the next books. He's also likable and unselfconsciously makes funny-wry observations. Later on when *spoiler* his mentor gets confined to a hospital bed, he does an impressive amount of work at intermediate magical levels, considering his short period of training. It's like watching Watson do the legwork and come to his own not-too-shabby solutions.

If you loved stuff like Jonathan Strange, The Bartimaeus trilogy, and Parasol Protectorate, you'll fall head into this world. I recently stopped watching the TV series Grimm because the plot turned into a mess, and this first Rivers of London book is filling the void of fantasy police procedural. BRB have to binge read the rest of what's available.