Where to Start with Ben Aaronovitch
Ben Aaronovitch is the author of the Rivers of London series, which follows Peter Grant, a young police constable who becomes apprentice to the last officially sanctioned wizard in England. Before becoming a novelist, Aaronovitch wrote for BBC television, including two serials for Doctor Who. He brings a screenwriter’s ear for dialogue and a Londoner’s intimate knowledge of the city to a series that combines police procedural plotting with a magic system rooted in Newtonian physics. The result is urban fantasy at its most grounded, witty, and deeply rooted in place: a version of London where the rivers have goddesses, the ghosts have opinions, and the Metropolitan Police has a department for everything, including the uncanny.
Start here
Rivers of London
Ben Aaronovitch · 432 pages · 2011 · Easy
Themes: police procedural, magic, London, multiculturalism, apprenticeship
Peter Grant is a probationary constable in the Metropolitan Police, destined for a career in paperwork until the night he takes a witness statement from a ghost. This brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last officially sanctioned wizard in England, and Peter becomes his apprentice. Meanwhile, someone or something is possessing ordinary Londoners and driving them to commit horrifying acts of violence, and the investigation takes Peter from the back rooms of Covent Garden to the hidden tributaries of the Thames.
Why Start Here
Rivers of London is Aaronovitch’s debut novel and the only place to start. Peter Grant’s apprenticeship begins here, the rules of magic are established, and the central relationship between Peter and Nightingale is set in motion. The book is also a self-contained detective story with a satisfying resolution, so you can read it without committing to the series.
What makes it special is the voice. Peter narrates with a dry, observant wit that is distinctively British and distinctively his own. He notices things: the way different neighborhoods change character at different times of day, the social dynamics of a police station, the particular quality of light on the Thames at dawn. Aaronovitch uses Peter’s curiosity as a vehicle for world-building that never feels like exposition.
What to Expect
A police procedural that happens to involve magic. First-person narration with a conversational, often very funny tone. The pace is measured, with room for Peter’s digressions about architecture, music, and the history of London. 432 pages. Published as “Midnight Riot” in the United States.