A review by anam_ali
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

4.0

So this was a really, really nice read. I just couldn't put it down. I am a sucker for a well-written urban fantasy and this hit all the spots I want in a book, basically:

-Well-written fantasy, check.
-A really amazing and organised system for magic, check.
-A great, solid cast of characters, check.
-A cheeky but also down-to-earth (much harder to do in first person, trust me; usually comes off as obnoxious and extremely pretentious) POC protagonist, check.
-Several three-dimensional characters of colour, check.
-A Muslim character in a positive and important role, check.
-A queer-positive universe, check.

There were just a couple of things:
-The climax at the theatre and the riot thereafter just didn't do it for me, I found it lacking. I think there should've been more to it. But I really loved the second bit though, with Peter traveling back in time in the ghost world, that was fascinating in itself, although I still don't think the stakes were high enough.
-I want Molly and Peter to be better friends.

But really, on the whole, absolutely amazing book, 10/10 would recommend.