A Conversation for The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Peer Review: A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 1

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

Entry: The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch - A87889595
Author: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor - U1314679

I just decided that this is finished. I re-read the books during the last weeks and am about to finish the last one. Malabarista recommended the first book to me a few years ago and I really like them.

I tried to keep this as spoiler-free as possible so people can actually read the books after reading this Entry.


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 2

coelacanth

I love these books! First comment is that it's Russell Square not Russel.
smiley - bluefish


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 3

coelacanth

I've just skimmed it at the moment, and will comment when I have more time, but it's peppered with spelling mistakes, which a sub-ed can pick up (or I can go through and list them).

Could you give a mention, perhaps at the end, to the marvellous audio book versions, read perfectly by the wonderful Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, a Ghanaian-born, British Shakespearean actor. He works closely with Ben Aaronovitch, who gives him advanced warning on Twitter of accents to practice eg:
http://twitter.com/Ben_Aaronovitch/status/760961813236375552
smiley - bluefish


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 4

coelacanth

Moon Over Soho
smiley - spacesmiley - space"The titles of the chapters of this book seem to be all song titles."

Some are, some aren't. For example, "One Tenth of my Ashes" is part of a Groucho Marx quote (about what his agent should get when he is cremated) since Peter starts this chapter off in the Groucho club in Soho.
smiley - bluefish


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 5

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

I corrected Russell Square, delted the sentence about chapter titles and added one about audio books.

By the way, I find calling my Entry 'peppered with spelling mistakes' not very nice. I really don't mind to be corrected but saying it like that is not very encouraging. If you say something like that to a newbie they may just leave.smiley - erm


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 6

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

There were some comments in a different thread: https://h2g2.com/entry/A87889595/conversation/view/F22151115/T8318207/page/last#P111046926 I will answer everything here when I have time later. I want to keep stuff to a single thread.


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 7

Zarquon's Singing Fish!

OK, my comments from the other thread are here - for ease of reference.

You might want to do a brief introduction to Peter Grant at the beginning of the entry. Even for someone who is familiar with the books, the start seems to me to be a bit of a steep dive into the material. It might be good to say a bit about how Peter, a new police constable, stumbled into the world of the magic by discovering he could see ghosts and discovered that there is a magical world hidden largely below ground which necessitates a special police division, that the mainstream police hardly acknowledge and are somewhat embarrassed about.

As the Rivers aren't mentioned until well in the entry, I would also mention them in the introduction. You could say that he meets an array of supernatural folk, including the Rivers that present a variety of challenges as he becomes a detective and apprentice wizard.

I would also do a spell check, as, although the sub-editors should sort them out, it makes their job easier when they come to sub the entry. (I note that Coelacanth - Hi Coelacanth! - said much the same thing. Before I added this comment, I checked to see if you were a newbie, and you're not. She may have done the same thing. Like Coelacanth's mine was a quick skim.)

In the second paragraph under the heading "The Folly at Russell Square", it would be good to mention that Peter's spells are multi-layered, unlike, say the Harry Potter type spells, and have to be learned meticulously one by one, so that they can be combined into more complex ones.

smiley - fishsmiley - musicalnote


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 8

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

Just to make this clear, I did not complain about being told that I made spelling mistakes. What I wanted to say is that the way it was done was not quite ok.

I am thinking about the things you said but I'm not sure I manage to work on this this evening. smiley - ok


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 9

bobstafford

Never mind the spelling writing in a second language is a rare talent, the spelling is a minor issue!

Well done Tav very good entrysmiley - ok


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 10

bobstafford

the term fae needs a footnote smiley - smiley


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 11

Zarquon's Singing Fish!

Definitely kudos to Tav for writing so well in a second language. My German used to be good, but I don't think I would have been able to have done as well as this – and I hadn't realised that this was the case when I made my initial comment.

smiley - fishsmiley - musicalnote


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 12

bobstafford

smiley - cheers well said smiley - ale


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 13

Bluebottle

You might want to include a footnote to say that Aaranovich wrote two Doctor Who serials, 'Remembrance of the Daleks' (1988) and 'Battlefield') (1989). 'Remembrance of the Daleks' in particular is considered to be an all-time classic. In 1998 for the 35th anniversary of 'Doctor Who' it was voted the 6th best story ever, in 2003 for the 40th anniversary it was voted the 7th best ever, in 2009 around the time of the 45th anniversary it was voted the 14th best and following the 50th anniversary in 2013 it was voted the 10th best. In the last 25 years, it has consistently been considered top-notch.

I've not read the books but as 'Remembrance of the Daleks' is set in London and deals with themes of racism, xenophobia and betrayal, I wonder whether there are any parallels between them?

<BB<


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 14

Zarquon's Singing Fish!

It might be good to mention that the special Police division Nightingale heads is known to the rest of the force as 'Falcon Division' and magic-related cases are known as Falcon-related or 'weird bollocks'.

smiley - fishsmiley - musicalnote


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 15

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

Thanks a lot bob and Zarquon! smiley - smiley

I think some of the things you mention go a bit too deep into the books for this Entry. Also I think it is not true that most of the demi-monde live underground. In fact it seems to me only the Quiet People really do.

I did not manage to work on this yet, but I hope to make some additions tomorrow.smiley - ok


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 16

Zarquon's Singing Fish!

I look forward to seeing the amendments, Tav,

I also wondered whether more something might be said about the 'diversity' issues in the series. Peter is mixed race, as are the Rivers and when he sees a white person, he almost always refers to him or her as a 'White woman' or a 'white man'. The indigenous rivers, as you say, almost died out because of pollution, and were revitalised because of the admixture of Sierra Leonian blood. (In fact, Father Thames isn't even native British - he's represented as being Roman. I wonder if Ben Aaronovich is trying to imply that the English are all immigrants, rather than being indigenous?)

smiley - fishsmiley - musicalnote (ZSF)


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 17

Zarquon's Singing Fish!

Hmm, I'm obviously a bit tired this morning. 'more something '' should read 'something more'.

If you want to put a quote in from the book, there's a good one here: https://www.thefandomentals.com/rivers-of-london-diverse-urban-fantasy/

smiley - fishsmiley - musicalnote


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 18

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

Sooo... I added another sentence to the introduction but without directly mentioning the Rivers because I would have needed more space for them and I wanted to keep it rather short.

I added two more sentences about magic but left out the multi-layered thing as I thought it goes too far.

Added a footnote to 'fae'.

BB, sorry for having missed you up there. Unfortunately I can't answer your question as I hardly watched any Dr Who at all and only some of the newer series. I can say that racism and betrayal are definitely present in the books. Thanks for your comments. I added a footnote.

I thought about adding the term 'Falcon' when I wrote this Entry but decided against it as it doesn't really seem relevant.

I added two sentences about diversity in the last section. I had already thought about it before and I think you are right. The whole cast seems a bit like the Ankh-Moerport City Watch.smiley - winkeye
I am not sure about Father Thames in fact. To me it sounded like he was there before the Romans because when Peter arrives at the river with Punch the Roman city is also gone, but Father Thames is still there.

Thanks for the link, I'll read it as soon as I can. smiley - ok


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 19

Zarquon's Singing Fish!

The amendments improve the entry.

Good that you've beefed up the reference to diversity. As this link mentions: http://www.tor.com/2017/01/30/book-reviews-the-hanging-tree-by-ben-aaronovitch/comment-page-1/ - "In Aaronovitch’s narrative, *not-white is the default state*, and attention is most often drawn to characters’ skin colours or ethnicities where that is white or white British. In the Peter Grant novels, white is the marked state: everyone else is normal."

There is also a series of graphic novels under the "Rivers of London" umbrella, eg Night Witch, Body Work, Black Mould and Detective Stories. You may wish to add a line mentioning these, and stating that your entry does not cover them. There's also a further novel due out at the end of September 2017 called "The Furthest Station" - details on Amazon.

smiley - fishsmiley - musicalnote


A87889595 - The Rivers of London - the book series by Ben Aaronovitch

Post 20

Zarquon's Singing Fish!

A further thought. I know you want to keep this short, but there are three characters who might deserve a separate section, Peter's family.

I know you've mentioned his mum and dad, but if you put all the stuff together in a separate section entitled Peter's Family, you could include his cousin Abigail, who is one of the fun characters in the books, because of her attitude - and she does become Peter's apprentice.

smiley - fishsmiley - musicalnote


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