REVIEW: Whispers Under Ground (Rivers of London, #3) by Ben Aaronovitch (3-stars)

This was also a fun book - and honestly, I keep reading these and thinking that they are really written with a screenplay in mind, and I sure would look forward to watching this as a TV series!

The protagonist, Peter Grant, is funny, self effacing and bright but not always quick on the uptake with certain things. He's also got a huge hangup about his friend Lesley's magic-related injury to her face (despite one of the other characters in this story referring to her as "sex on legs").

He's doing his best to maintain a level of professionalism ("I took the wine but avoided the smile, what with me being on duty and everything." but disaster seems to follow him everywhere.

I now know that grapes are de rigeur when visiting someone in hospital in England.

There's an interesting bit of overlap with a concept from American Gods:

any system, such as an underground railway or indeed the telephone network, could develop a genius loci in the same fashion as the rivers and other sacred sites.

if a Scotsman introduced himself to me as the god of telephones I’d be inclined to take him at his word.

This is really similar to the idea that belief creates reality -- and I also thoroughly enjoy the references to other stories of time travel and fantasy (such as the Morlock) sprinkled throughout.

A COUPLE NITS

• Now that I'm into the 3rd book in this world - I'm finding there's a bit more backstory than I need. I'd like the "read straight through" version -- can we have all the books in the series together with the backstory repeats cut out of each tale?
• I keep reading this "urban fantasy" tag with these books and I can't figure out what on earth it is supposed to mean: are most "fantasy" or supernatural books in some sort of rural or wild setting? Like the hobbits charming rural English village setting or the True Blood rural Louisiana swamp setting with alligators and werewolves running around? Or is it "urban fantasy" because the chief protagonist is black? What's the deal with such a meaningless genre name?

ONE MORE NIT

How awful is Lesley's face? Seriously? Is it so awful that Peter really can't see past it and see the real Lesley who he lusted for and spooned with for so long? Is he really that shallow?

Facial reconstruction has come a long way - just look up face transplants (this one is safe for work) - and even Bonnie Culp looks way better than she did before her crazy ex husband shot off her face AND she's got a partner who loves her (unlike poor Lesley!).

Is Lesley's injury worse than any of those people you can see on the internet?

REVIEW: Whispers Under Ground (Rivers of London, #3) by Ben Aaronovitch  

RATING: 3-stars

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