I’ve been following this series for a while (mainly the novels), and it’s pretty decent.

What to Expect

Another police-procedural case for Peter Grant, working for the “Special Assessment Unit” – London’s Met police unit for cases involving ‘strange bollocks’ (the occult). This time Grant is trying to vacation in Scotland, and we get many descriptions of Aberdeen. As is usual, the ‘procedural’ can fall by the way side as Grant and associates play a bit loose with regulations, though they do make it look better post factum on the paperwork. As with the previous novel, a few chapters are told form the POV of Abigail, and apprentice wizard at the SAU. (Both are in first-person, but Aaronovitch writes distinct voices and it’s not an issue).

What I liked

It’s a fun, fast read, for those familiar with the world and the setting. It’s not as dark as some mid-series novels had been. Aaronovitch presents us with a bit more exploration of the magical under-world across Grant’s UK, wrapped as a non-taxing thriller.

What to be aware of

Being the tenth novel, there’s a lot of baggage with established characters. There’s also a large corpus of comics and shorts in the canon, so it’s easy to lose some of the threads. But the novel is written well enough, so if you can just accept talking foxes and move on it’s not a problem.

Some of the charm of the earlier books (around Grant’s magical training days) isn’t quite there, and his family life have moved on from romance to raising children. We also get a lot of written Scottish slang and dialect, which is just as incomprehensible written down as when spoken (at least to non UK residents).

Felix’s and Jack’s Reviews

Felix had been following the series, and always appreciates it when there’s more action and less policing. He found the whole concept of the North Sea oil drilling platforms almost incomprehensible, but was on much firmer ground with the various mythological species living in the waters. For him, it was a nice adventure story.

Jack much enjoyed the adventures of his UK counterpart, as it were, but ultimately decided the novel felt too much like his day job. Mercifully Grant didn’t go into the paperwork associated with policework.

Summary

A fun read in this long-running urban fantasy series. Great if you want an light adventure without much commitment. If you want to start in beginning (or have missed a few in between) check my previous reviews or the series on Amazon.

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Enjoying the reviews, but wondering who the heck are those Felix and Jack fellows? Glad you asked! Felix is the protagonist of the Togas, Daggers, and Magic series, an historical-fantasy blend of a paranormal detective on the background of ancient Rome, and Jack is the police detective running the Unusual Crimes Squad, dealing in occult crimes in modern-day Australia.

Come meet Felix and Jack on the free short stories and novels!