Thanks to goodreads.com and looking at what a friend had read who seemed to like the books I was reading (sorry, strange sentence that), I downloaded the first of this series, "Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch.
From the get-go, I loved this author's style. It is unique and the story and characters build over the first few chapters - but all of these three books were wonderful reading. Set in London, a half-caste policeman learning to be a wizard, tackling the bureaucracy of London police and solving interesting magic-related murders.
I am definitely following a supernatural-mystery-single character development novel (is that a genre?!) theme for my latest book choices. In writing that, I dismay myself as this is so not my normal fare. However this series has all the elements of literature/books I like.
1) Funny. The one-liners in these books are laugh out loud funny. And some are so funny, you reread it just to get the second or third nuance on the joke. Apparently Aaronovitch is a London history aficionado as well as a complete Londonophobe. He depicts not only the feel of London in all her aspects, but also the English psyche in all its aspects. I love self-deprecating humour and Aaronovitch does it really well. The one-liners you don't see coming either, which makes for really funny reading.
2) Well-written. English written by the English.
3) Rollickin' Read. These books are exciting and not put downable. But not in the way that you want to skip the descriptive bits to get to the end - the descriptive bits contain the one-liners so you savour them! I loved the hint of the supernatural and how he juggles it with the protagonist's science background. Similar to how Dan Brown weaved the truth in and out of his books such that it all seemed quite plausible.
4) Thoughtful Character Development. The characters are not one-dimensional by any means. Also no trite romance bits.
These books have got to become movies for sure. They would be perfect as movies. I actually liked book one and three slightly more than two, though others have thought the opposite I notice in other books review. All good really.
A bit further investigation on my part showed that Aaronovitch first got his stripes writing Dr Who episodes/series. I wouldn't have guessed it, but not surprising. I loved Dr Who - the originals anyway. Haven't really got into the later shows.
I have already preordered on my Kindle the fourth book in the series, "Broken Homes" due out in June. Yes I am a convert. I predict that these books will hit the best seller lists very soon!
Labels: Reading
