Rivers of London, Vol. 5: Cry Fox

Given all the sly references to Abigail and the foxes in the Peter Grant books, I had my hopes up for the story of Cry Fox. Not, of course, for the graphics; I’m not wired that way. But I was hoping for a fun little side adventure of our favorite Junior Magician. Alas; no.

Cry Fox directly draws upon the events in the graphic novel Night Witch, and relies on a similar plot. Abigail is brought in through very naive actions which I felt didn’t fit for a generally skeptical teen. But okay, suspension of disbelief; perhaps she was trusting of talking animals. She’s not the direct target, so as this continued to evolve, it felt less and less like Abigail’s story. The Met and the Folly are brought into the case early on, for which I show more was thankful. I loathe that faffing about waiting for the police to catch up to nefarious events.

However, in a major eye-rolling plot twist--perhaps because someone in the writers’ room thought it might be ultra-metaphorical--we go from kidnapping to something even worse. I mean, I think it’s a little like Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: once a mind-blowing mystery/thriller concept has been done, it probably just doesn’t seem inventive anymore. Maybe kids now don’t grow up with the original short story in English class?

At any rate, the graphics were fine. I liked the people, and even liked Abigail's look, although in one picture I’ll note she definitely looked an older teen (making her naivetee even more questionable). The only one I had a bit of meh reaction to was Reynard, who looked a lot like the bastard child of Wolverine and a firecracker. He’s skanky enough that I felt like it’d be hard to see the allure he might have for a girl hanging around a spring fete.



The extras at the end–the bonus covers and the one-page ‘stories’ are fun. The longer piece on foxes, are a solid 'meh.' There’s a four page spread on the end on foxes in mythological literature, and then another academic-feeling three pages on Reynard as a trickster in French/English literature.

As a side note, with the exception of the talking fox, there is virtually no actual magic in this story. Additionally, it doesn’t flesh out Abigail’s character any further although Guhleed’s surprise appearance gives fans another chance to appreciate her skills.

Overall, the completionist in me is glad that I’ve read it, but the minimalist in me is underwhelmed enough that I’m not sure they deserve space. I’ve been seriously contemplating donating them all to the library system, as they don’t seem to have a copy. show less

This is pretty average for the Rivers of London comics. It’s good fun, with a kind of kooky story and over-the-top villains, and nods to both the greater ‘verse and to British lore. Most of the action is Abigail and Guleed, who get to be awesome in the foreground instead of the background for once. The ransom plot and the villains’ master plan are also somewhat different from the norm, though it’s about where my suspension of disbelief seems to tap out for this series. The obsession just felt fictional, y’know?

It’s a pretty fast read and even though I largely enjoyed it and liked that Aaronvitch is still pulling from all over for his stories, it still felt reasonably predictable. Like, nobody was really in danger, the folks show more at the Folly would save the day if the women didn’t get there first, and at least one of the reveals wasn’t. I’ve read more exciting volumes, but I’ve also read weaker. I do hope we see the foxes and that bit of the world again, though. That’s got some good potential.

Warnings: Kidnapping and imprisonment of humans and animals. Evil Russians and British aristocrats. Allusions to fox hunting. Attempted murder.

6/10 show less

Ah yes back to the story at hand! Much better than than the last volume. In this one, two girls are kidnapped and one is for ransom and the other is for sport. Our brave detectives must find the girls before it's too late. Love the characters, especially the bad buy that kinda looks like a fox! Awesome graphics and cool ending.

As usual, a very short story stretched out by appearing in graphic form. Nice to see talking foxes, and Abigail; interesting to see (this interpretation of) Reynard, it's not at all how I'd seen him. Behavior, yes, but the muttonchops don't fit my image at all. The ostensible villains are...pretty flabby, actually. Why do the others cater to his obsession? Overall, kind of pointless, though interesting. Nice to see Maxsim (here spelled Maxim, more English-style) taking a hand. The one-pagers are interesting...actually, given Nightingale's comment to Abigail after the rescue, his one-pager is slightly hypocritical. "After the police surgeon deals with him", hmmph. I like the graphic novels, but they're no substitute for text works - even show more The Farthest Station is...denser, fuller...more complete than these. show less

These graphic novel additions to the Grant/Nightingale world continue to be consistently good. It was fun to see Abigail in action in this installment.

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3.5 Stars

It is no secret I'm a fan of the Rivers of London series and one of the things I like is the multiple ways in which the story is told, e.g. here the graphic novel. Like its predecessors it is good in keeping you entertained while waiting for the next novel in the series.

Cry Fox only contained four issues so it was a very fast read. It was a take on a very well known tale which was maybe not the most surprising or original but the nice cast of characters make up a lot. As one of the characters plays a role in the sixth book, The Hanging Tree, it is best read after it. At the

Fun & a good if predictable read.