Stone and Sky

IN A NUTSHELL
Above average Rivers Of London novel with an engaging plot made more enjoyable by having the storytelling swap between Peter and Abigail, giving Beverley a more active role, setting the story in Aberdeen and, of course, by having talking foxes.

'Stone & Sky' was the Rivers Of London novel that I've been waiting for since I finished 'Amongst Our Weapons' three years ago. This time, Peter Grant goes even further north, all the way to Aberdeen, and he takes his whole family: mum, dad, his river goddess wife Beverly, their toddler twins and his magically gifted niece, Abigail Kamara, with him. It's not entirely a holiday as Nightingale and Dr Walid initiated the trip to look into reports of a black panther ravaging Scottish show more sheep.

It was fun seeing Peter dealing with the chaos his almost always active and much more mobile than you might expect twins create. It was also good to see Peter outside of London again. To me, he seems more likeable when he loses the home ground advantage and has to put some effort into figuring out who's who and what's up.

The plot takes place not just in the granite streets of Aberdeen but on a North Sea Gas Platform. There's a nicely judged level of menace and mystery that kept me engaged without taking the gloss off the humour. The plot had a strong local flavour and a few unexpected twists. There were a couple of hanging plot threads at the end, for example, what was the final outcome for the marine biologist? But I was sufficiently entertained by all the other things going on that I didn't notice the loose ends until well after I'd finished the book.

One of the things that made the book such fun is that about half the chapters are told from Abigail's point of view. She's my favourite Rivers Of London character. I love her independence and the level of strategic and scientific thought she brings to the use of magic. She was, of course, accompanied by one of her talking foxes who connected her to the local fox operations team. Abigail has come a long way in the four years since the events of 'What Abigail Did That Summer'. Her confidence and her knowledge of magic have both grown. She's embedded herself in the Folly. She's even taught Nightingale how to use emojis. In this book, we get to see her connect with her first girlfriend.

I liked the changing dynamic between Beverley and Peter. Beverley isn't in the background any more. She plays an active, risky and important part in what happens on the gas platform. Not only was it good to see her in action, but it was a clever way of pushing Peter to reassess his attitude to risk now that he's a husband and father.

'Stone & Sky' worked well as an audiobook, especially with Kobna Holdbrook-Smith voicing Peter's chapters nd Shvorne Marks voicing Abigail's chapters. Click on the YouTube link below to hear a sample.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Q4oP_aB_I show less

I really enjoyed the switching between the first-person perspectives of both Folly apprentices in this book—I think a first for a Rivers of London novel or novella, which are usually from a single character perspective. Both Peter and Abigail were great, distinct POV characters, with their own concerns and thus very different focuses on the mysterious happenings on both land and sea in Aberdeen. A good mystery with very good baddies, and great additional characters as well, both old and new (and human and otherwise). I especially enjoyed learning more about Dr. Walid.

The first Rivers of London novel set in Scotland.

I had a very good time with this, as I am contractually bound to at this point in the series. You certainly don't stick around for book 10 unless you are enjoying yourself.

Definitely some food for thought in the thorniness of my unabashed love for the series and my mixed feelings about the institution of policing itself. Really interesting that Peter Grant is seemingly rigidly duty bound in respects to his wizard-hood but his obligations to the job mean that he is able to be flexible with the law, in that I recall that he occasionally deceives or outright lies to various criminal suspects. Strangely seems like these might not actually be reconcilable?

Looking forward to book 11!

This is likely where I'm going to break up with Rivers of London. Unless I hear about a dramatic injection of energy in future books—and given that this is book ten in the series, not counting the various short stories and graphic novels, that seems unlikely—I won't be picking up future books. It's one thing to feel like the money you spent on a new hardback was a mistake; it's another to feel like the couple of weeks you felt waiting for your library hold to come in was a mistake. This was dull. Ben Aaronovitch seems like he's just writing for the sake of writing at this point. There's no direction, no verve, no hint that he's got a clear sense of where he's going with these characters. I'm still very fond of many of the show more characters, but the law of diminishing returns applies. show less

Finally, all the elements together in one place -- Abigail, Peter, Beverly, the Twins, the parents, the foxes, the Nightingale and Abdul go for a vacation in Scotland. Very entertaining, and just as snarky and chaotic as one could hope. Summonings, oil extraction and the powers of the Sea. Good times.

advanced readers copy provided by edelweiss.

At certain point in a long-running series one has to start asking one's self whether what you're reading is holding up a candle to what has come before, and there were some diminishing returns for me in this book. This is as there were points in this installment where I'm wondering if Aaronovitch, in an effort to keep up with current marketing trends, was trying to make a seriocomic police procedural have elements of coziness and romantasy. In the end I was satisfied, and there are more hints that there is a sharp inflection point is to come, but we're not there yet. The saving grace is that the characters continue to change over time, and don't feel as though they're living the same day over and over again.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/stone-and-sky-by-ben-aaronovitch/

Latest in the successful Rivers of London sequence, this takes Peter Grant and his cousin Abigail, along with Indigo the talking fox, to Aberdeen rather than their usual haunts, to investigate the disappearance of a human scientist and the discovery of a mysterious dead humanoid with gills. By about half way through, it becomes clear what the story is really about, but the whole thing has very enjoyable attention to detail and some great character moments, and sometimes a bit of entertainment is all that is needed.