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Book Review of The October Man: A Rivers of London Novella

The October Man: A Rivers of London Novella
cyndij avatar reviewed on + 1031 more book reviews


A novella from Aaronovitch. It's a return to the theme of the first Rivers of London book, where there is a crime to be solved instead of chasing a supervillain. We also have the young policeman who's fairly new to magic and a female police who is a potential recruit into the magic-using ranks. I liked it a lot, just the right length for a novella and a different setting. Tobias Winter is not as fun and distinctive as Peter Grant, and doesn't attract as much trouble - buildings do not implode or cars get smashed in his wake. I found the long German names helped set the scene but at the same time they made the sentence sort of "stop" for me while my eye tried to make sense of it. I also liked how this runs in parallel with his other novels - the glimpse that magic is re-appearing in different countries - I wonder if this is a setup for further stories? All in all, worth reading, a fun stop in Aaronovitch's world, and possibly an intro to more.