Audible is great. If you like audiobooks, I can’t recommend
them enough. They seem to always have sales, and you can pick up good books on
the cheap. I was able to pick up Midnight Riot through an Audible editor sale
for 4.95. It was well worth the 4.95 price tag, and it would have been worthy
of my precious monthly audible credit. Midnight riot is an urban fantasy novel
set in London. It has the unique twist of our main character actually being a
policeman, instead of an outsider. The higher ups in the government seem to
also sanction and approve of the special “sorcerer division” within the metropolitan
police department. They may not like it, but they know things that go bump in
the night exist, and magic users are needed.
Enter Peter Cline, probationary copper. He’s just about to be
placed on assignment, when while guarding a crime scene he is approached by an
eye witness to the murder. The only issue is this witness is a ghost. Thus
Peter is introduced into the magical world. It isn’t quite as grandiose a
reveal as in Harry Potter, nor is he an already seasoned wizard like Harry
Dresden, jeez what is it with wizards named Harry? He is just a beat cop who
had dreams of being a detective. Instead he gets to train to be a wizardJ.
Aaronovitch does a great job of setting the scene. London
comes alive in his story. I have never been to the UK, but I feel like I could
find places based on his descriptions in the book. The city is part of the
magic. It holds vestigia, or magical radar. Peter can since the vestigia from
other magical creatures, along with structures in the city. Stone holds vestigia,
and ghost can imprint on locations. Old historical
sites, as in London are rich in magic and vestigia. It’s an interesting twist,
and I enjoyed Aaronovitch magical world. It has a more scientific approach.
Newton is not only the founder of science, but practical magic as well. Peter,
the main character, tries to experiment himself and figure out why magic
affects technology, like ruining his new cellphones.
Peter is an interesting main character. We only see from his
perspective, which adds to the noir aspect of the novel. Peter is absentminded,
easily distracted. During his assignments he will look at the historical
plaques on the buildings, and not pay attention to the group of youth who could
cause issues. It doesn’t make him a bad cop, just not the best. Honestly, he is
extremely relatable, at least to me. I can be absentminded, shocker, and want
to investigate the why and how to a problem, rather than just solving it. His magical
mentor, Thomas Nightingale, keeps wondering why he wants to find out how
technology is affected by magic. He thinks he should just focus on creating the
limited spells he has told him to practice. Sensible, but Peter wants to
continue to focus on his problems. He is also a nerd, which automatically
endears him to me. Making jokes and references to Star Wars and Dr. Who others
around him don’t understand. Aaronovitch has created an interesting world with
a good main character and supporting cast.
The villain is a little lacking, and because of this the
story falls a little flat. The first 2/3 is really good, and I was flying
through. The last 1/3 just didn’t quite do it for me. The villain once revealed
was an interesting take, but just didn’t suck me in. It was a tad abstract,
which pulled away from the story and main plot. There is also a side story that
gets integrated towards the end, but it seemed forced. The magic and other
aspects are also obscure at this point. We don’t get a ton of explanations on
certain aspects of the world, but I assume later novels will expand. It’s what made the book go from excellent to
good. I want to continue the series, just for the character and world. I’m
hoping the writing style and plots get a tad better.
I got my money’s worth with Midnight Riot. Can’t beat a new interesting
world, with a character who gets to explore the world with new eyes. Even though the villain is a bit of a letdown,
I am looking forward to continuing Peter Brown’s story and finding out how he
becomes a wizarding policeman.
My Rating: Solid
Start to a series
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