Books: Stone and Sky (Rivers of London 10) by Ben Aaronovitch (2025)

“If mores the merrier, then Peter’s ecstatic as his partner Beverly, their young twins, his Mum and Dad, his dad’s band, and their dodgy manager, all tag along on a holiday to Scotland. Even his boss, DCI Thomas Nightingale, takes in the coastal airs as he trains Peter’s cousin Abigail in the arcane arts. And they’ll need them too, because Scotland’s Granite City has more than its fair share of history and mystery, myth, and murder. When a body is found in a bus stop, fresh from the sea, the case smells fishy from the start. Something may be stirring beyond the bay, but there is something far stranger in the sky.” 

After nine novels set within London and the surrounding area, the tenth volume in The Rivers of London series takes a page from every other long-running series (TV, films, books), by going on the road. With now Peter settled down with Bev, had the twins, and has been told by Nightingale he plans to retire, the next adventure awaits. So what’s that? You go on holiday –well, in the end, a sort of working holiday. So from the magic filled city of London, our heroes venture up north, up to Scotland and the Granite city of Aberdeen –a place that apparently has some supernatural hijinks going on. 

Not that this is a bad thing. 

Anyways, Stone and Sky removes the familiar London surroundings and Aaronvitch gives us a deep dive into Aberdeen and its myths and legends – and plenty architectural information to make anyone who loves that stuff very happy (according to his Technical Notes at the end, he spent seven months up in Scotland, or Scot Land as some of the locals call it, researching the book).

I mentioned in the last book, 2022’s Amongst Your Weapons, how the series was sort of flagging. At the time, nine volumes were maybe enough. Plus, he seemed happy to be working on the graphic novels (which are seemly moving the story forwards at a faster pace) and the occasional novella. 

So maybe here, he’s attempting to shift the series more towards Abigail (she is more prominent here than any of the previous novels), with Peter eventually taking in the teacher role that Nightingale has (no mention of his retirement here), though he appears to be mentoring Abigail. Also, not sure, but this book is appears to set in 2017 or 2018, as Aaronvitch mentions The Felon in office here in the United States. This may also be because of the relationship Abigail gets herself into in this book. 

But while she takes up part of the narrative here, it becomes a bit confusing at times, especially since Aaronovitch drops a large volume of characters here – most who don’t impact the story or are there only to move the story forward. Still, the biggest issue with this novel is how much the author ignores the overreaching arcs of the previous nine books, making Stone and Sky feel like – in the parlance of TV vocabulary- a “bottle episode” (despite what would be an expensive location shoot). 

There is also a lot of Scottish slang and language used here. It gives it some local flair, I guess, but can be distracting as the reader may need to go over a sentence several times before the brain can translate it properly. 

In the end, a worthy read for fans – but those invested in Peter maybe disappointed how much he becomes secondary to Abigail. Clearly, for me, Aaronovitch has decided there was a need to expand his universe (another issue with long-running series) by introducing new characters that will appear, probably, in other tales of The Folly. 

Books: Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch (2022)

“There is a world hidden underneath this great city. The London Silver Vaults—for well over a century, the largest collection of silver for sale in the world. It has more locks than the Bank of England and more cameras than a paparazzi convention. Not somewhere you can murder someone and vanish without a trace—only that’s what happened. The disappearing act, the reports of a blinding flash of light, and memory loss amongst the witnesses all take this a case for Detective Constable Peter Grant and the Special Assessment Unit. Alongside their boss DCI Thomas Nightingale, the SAU find themselves embroiled in a mystery that encompasses London’s tangled history, foreign lands and, most terrifying of all, the North! And Peter must solve this case soon, because back home his partner Beverley is expecting twins any day now. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s about to encounter something—and somebody—that nobody ever expects.” 

After nine books dealing with wizards and magic, Amongst Our Weapons settles down into legends of religion, specifically the Inquisition (which nobody suspects, obviously). What works well for this series remains the familiarity of it, with old characters popping up, introducing new ones (which hopefully will stay a bit), Aaronovitch’s love of architecture, both ancient and obscure and Peter Grant’s one-liners and continued DOCTOR WHO references are good things to rely on. The other thing about reading this series –well the last eight spread over several months- is that the consistencies and continuity aspects are really great. But, alas, since I’m now caught up, I may end forgetting some stuff as we await a tenth book (though another novella, called Winter’s Gift, is due out in the UK in June. Gawd knows when the US edition will be released, but I’m guessing not until 2024).

Anyways, this was a good book, filled with a lot of historical aspects of religion and the puns and jokes hit remarkably well. Still, the pacing issues remain and unending battle between Lesley and Peter is starting to take on a Doctor/Master aspect –were the Master (AKA, Lesley) gets involved in some sort of supernatural high jinks only to get away when no one is looking.  

Which brings me to the thought that while this book was well written, it also seems that Aaronovtich has no idea where to go next. This was obvious with the last book, and this makes it a bit more. Like any long running, successful series, there comes a time when ending it on a high note is more important that just pumping out titles because the books are successful.

Maybe it’s time to close out Peter’s adventures and move onto something else?

Books: The Furthest Station By Ben Aaronovtich (2017)

“There have been ghosts on the London Underground, sad, harmless spectres whose presence does little more than give a frisson to traveling and boost tourism. But now there’s a rash of sightings on the Metropolitan Line and these ghosts are frightening, aggressive and seem to be looking for something. Enter PC Peter Grant, junior member of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Assessment unit a.k.a. The Folly a.k.a. the only police officers whose official duties include ghost hunting. Together with Jaget Kumar, his counterpart at the British Transport Police, he must brave the terrifying crush of London’s rush hour to find the source of the ghosts. Joined by Peter’s wannabe wizard cousin, a preschool river god and Toby the ghost hunting dog, their investigation takes a darker tone as they realize that a real person’s life might just be on the line.”

Technically, The Furthest Station was the first novella-length story to be published in Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series and chronologically, it is set somewhere between 2014’s Foxglove Summer and 2017’s The Hanging Tree. Still, 2021’s novella, What Abigail Did That Summer, leap frogs over this tale (and there is even a mention, of sorts, of that event here) to be the “first” tale set between the main series. Once again, we get hints at how Peter’s cousin, Abigail, is fitting in with all things magical in London.

Based on an interview at the end of this release, I get the impression that this novella was more or less designed (as probably the short story collection I’ve yet to acquire) to broaden the franchise out a bit by not really interfering with the main series. It gives Aaronvitch a chance to explore other ideas, add more dimensions to side characters, and give more information about the early days of the Folly.

While I’ve found great enjoyment with the series, for those who might not like books about magic, I would still highly suggest this one, if only because the procedural element sometimes is more the thrust of the story than the magic. In a sense, Aaronvitch fools the reader in believing your reading a tale about magic and wizards, when, in the end, the story has a more conventional policing methods. As for The Furthest Station, the story is tight, and like Foxglove Summer, focused on one through line. There are still plenty of loose ends here, which I hope will be further explored in the main series, but altogether a fun time is had.

Book: Whispers Underground By Ben Arronovitch (2012)

"It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher—and the victim’s wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom—if it exists at all—is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects . . . except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant. With Inspector Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, tied up in the hunt for the rogue magician known as “the Faceless Man,” it’s up to Peter to plumb the haunted depths of the oldest, largest, and—as of now—deadliest subway system in the world. At least he won’t be alone. No, the FBI has sent over a crack agent to help. She’s young, ambitious, beautiful . . . and a born-again Christian apt to view any magic as the work of the devil. Oh yeah—that’s going to go well." 

With the third book in this Rivers of London (or Peter Grant) series, Ben Aaronvitch continues to explore the magical world that exists –mostly unnoticed- in the United Kingdom. Yes, it can be a dull procedural that mixes in Harry Potter magic (something that gets dropped a lot here), but Peter remains a witty, droll apprentice wizard and cop. Aaronovitch’s love of history is also on display, as well as his wry observation on the architecture of London. While the tales starts with a murder –the son of an American senator- most of the novel is about the what exits under the streets of London, where Aaronovitch can expand his universe by taking on fables, with a nod to the Linda Hamilton/Ron Pearlman TV series Beauty and the Beast, The Lord of the Rings, and other fantasy tales that include fairies, trolls, goblins, and even an earth bender. Whispers Underground also as the world of art, graffitist, the Underground, Raves, Portobello Road markets,  the history of the urbanization of London, and hints at Chinese sorcery to the mix. I was also pleasantly surprised to see the lone FBI agent not become an American caricature, here. She is intelligent and capable of handling herself, including the idea that magic exists. The whole Christian part is barely acknowledged. 

Much like Peter Grant, though, who’s lack of focus as a wizard-in-training, can be distracting, Aaronovitch does go off on tangents which can appear to slow the story down. I mean, in the end, the murder of an American student becomes less and less important as the story progresses. Still, I enjoyed it and will probably now continue to read the six other books currently in the series in the months ahead.