A review by lilifane
The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

 
AAAAAH! I loved this so so so so so much! The setting was everything! Boy, did I enjoy it (and the story and the characters as well).

So, to explain something, I have this one pet peeve: When a native English speaker uses German language in a book/movie /TV show and it's bad. You always see when German actors were cast for German roles and when they weren't (and most of the time they aren't). But I can forgive this. What I am less likely to forgive is when an English speaking author uses German words or phrases in their book and they're all wrong. I mean, how difficult could it be to do some minor research for this one German sentence you are using?! Hint: Google is not a great translator!

Anyway, this book did everything right! The amount of research the author has done is amazing! Yes, there are lots of stereotypes but they are kind of true to be honest? I loved all the little references to German (pop) culture and brands and people. Just a word here, a name there, very very entertaining! Oh how often I laughed out loud. I also liked how the locations were described, the names, the translations of the magic terminology!!! I think they make even more sense and sound more magical AND scientific in German. :D And after reading in the acknowledgements that Ben Aaronovitch asked his German Twitter followers for help, it all makes sense!

I was also pleasantly surprised by some heavy topics that were mentioned (althought the overall tone is very lighthearted and fun... well... as fun as you can be with these disturbing murders) and how they were handled. For example how to deal with someone who tells you they experienced a rape attempt or how not to deal with magical minorities. And I like how many diverse characters as well as strong female characters were part of this short story.

Speaking of the story, it was perfect for me. I made the experience that I enjoy the novellas in this series more than the regular books lately (Maybe because I got frustrated ba a certain main plot... ). But I also liked the mystery in this one and the pacing and the explanations and... just everything. Did I mention the characters. Kelly is refreshing, Vanessa deserves the world, and I loved Tobi's PoV a LOT (the way he talks about his parents gave me life, I can totally picture their family life). And I secretly want him and Peter to meet some day and Peter saying something like "Hey, Tobi, big fan of your work in Trier." I would really like that. In fact I would love for more books taking place in Germany. It woud be such a waste of perfectly good characters if they don't get to solve more cases together. Even the minor characters like the Director or the pathologist were fascinating. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings