Midnight Riot - Ben Aaronovich
Meet Peter Grant, Constable (Probationary) in London’s Metro Police Department. There are two things he wants out of life: to be a detective and to get in the uniform trousers of fellow Constable (Probationary) Leslie Mays. Unfortunately, it looks like neither will happen. The detective part has been stymied by his assignment to a desk job in the department of paper shuffling, while Leslie apparently intends to remain just chums.
That’s before he meets his first ghost… and becomes apprenticed to the head wizard in MPD’s equivalent of the X-Files. Inspector Nightingale is also the only wizard in “The Folly,” but fortunately he’s a jolly good one.
Peter’s laden with hidden talents: Nightingale knows because Peter can sense the vestigium; and that’s how you tell magic is afoot. And so begins his training; a remarkably Hogwartian affair with those Vulgar Latin words uttered while casting spells and the unpredictable results of beginner’s magic gone awry. In the meantime, Peter and Nightingale spend their time tracking down the evil… whatever... that is, for reasons unknown, wreaking havoc on Central London in the form of messy magical murders – very messy.
In their spare time, Master and Apprentice are charged with forging an agreement between Mother Thames and Father Thames, the spirits of the River upstream and downstream, respectively, whose turf war is centuries old. Fortunately for Peter (maybe) one of Mother Thames daughters is a luscious lass who might be able to distract him from his thoughts of Leslie. Or perhaps not.
That’s before it all goes decidedly pear-shaped…
| Midnight Riot (2011) introduced Peter Grant in this tidy little series from Ben Aaronovich, which has since stretched to five novels (including the upcoming Foxglove Summer, due in October 2014). The series seems intended to capture the attention of young adults who came of age with a sexless Harry Potter series and introduce a bit of spice to the world of young British Wizards. While Grant doesn't actually do the nasty with anyone in Midnight Riot, it’s clear from about page six that he would like to do a little mattress dancing with Leslie (and later, Beverly). |
The adult themes also extend to drug use: Grant pere is a practitioner of heroin jazz, so Peter’s drug of choice isn't any stronger than beer. And there’s plenty of swearing, with various f- and s- and h-bombs rattling about the pages. And, of course, since the subject’s the supernatural and the year’s 2011, you can bet there are vampires about (none seem sparkly, however).
Other than that the novel is rather derivative of the Potter series, Midnight Riot is a bit of all right. It moves along nicely, there are plenty of little twists and turns, and Aaronovich spreads on just about the right amount of humor (errr, humour…). It ain't great literature, but it’s definitely worth a read – and worth a look at the next novel, Moon Over Soho, as well. Hmmm…. “moon” – whaddya wanna bet there’s lycanthropy involved. You know, werewolves?
ISBN: 034552425X
No comments:
Post a Comment