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Title: Moon Over Soho (#2 Rivers of London)
Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Published: 1st of January 2011 – Gollancz
Format: Paperback – 375 pages
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“For a terrifying moment I thought he was going to hug me, but fortunately we both remembered we were English just in time. Still, it was a close call.” – Moon Over Soho
Hello Hello! How are you?
I usually post a WWW Wednesday on Wednesdays but I was kind of a little lazy to get it written last night when I came home from work, so I decided to post a review that has been sitting in my drafts for a few months.
I have been reading the Rivers of London series with some buddies from the TWR Gang chat, and we have been having a great time. I’ve particularly been loving these books because they are so fun, unique, funny and just amazing! Moon Over Soho is still my favourite book of the series so far, and I can’t wait to revisit it once I read all the books!
Disclaimer: Moon Over Soho is the second book in the Rivers of London series, so I’m only going to do a mini-review for it and try to keep my review as short and spoiler-free as possible, while still giving my thoughts. If you want to read this series, you can check out my review for Rivers of London (#1) here. If you’ve already read the series, or up to this point, keep on reading for my thoughts!
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
The song. That’s what London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club. The notes of the old jazz standard are rising from the body—a sure sign that something about the man’s death was not at all natural but instead supernatural.
MY REVIEW
Trigger warnings: death, gore, violence, explosions, recovering from injury, sex, dead bodies, forensic investigations, morgues, grief for lost colleagues, stabbing, decapitated head, suicide.
Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch is the 2nd book in the Rivers of London series that I’ve been buddy reading with some buddies from the TWR Gang and this has been my favourite book so far.
There was just something special about this book that made me love it from the minute I opened it and started reading. I am loving this series and I particularly like the characters, the setting, the magic system, all the cases, the forensic investigations. Well, let’s be honest, I love it ALL!
I love that in this book, we get to see a lot more of Peter, his parents, their relationship and we learn a lot about his dad specifically, which I really enjoyed. I also loved seeing Lesley again, as well as being introduced to new characters such as Simone, Portmartin and the Faceless Man who is Peter’s nemesis.
Ben Aaronovitch has a way with words, he is such a talented writer and I think you can attest to that by how immersed into this book I was. I loved the setting of the book in Soho and how every book hops from one place to another through London. It is really like a virtual tour because of how amazingly well everything is described. I can picture all these places and I’ve never gone near them.
The case was very interesting and my favourite so far, as I mentioned. It revolves around Jazz, and I can’t say much more. I liked that we got more knowledge about London, the magic system – Peter learns what a signare is – and I felt like there were a lot of subplots that tied together at the end. The focus on music was great in my opinion and it made me want to go listen to all the songs mentioned.
In this book, Peter is still struggling with his magic and although he does have magic and is progressing, he is still slow, and he is still having difficulties with the forma and making them do what he wants and needs. I appreciate that he isn’t automatically an amazing wizard and for a change, it’s nice to have a more average person doing magic and not becoming the strongest wizard ever to be in just the second book. I also really like that Peter introduced the YAP system by which he measures the intensity of vestigia through Toby’s bark.
I just have to mention that the end of this book is now one of my favourite last lines. I can’t tell you what it is, but I can say that it was amazing and I loved it!
MY THOUGHTS AND RATING
Overall, this book was an amazing instalment in the Rivers of London series which has turned into one of my all-time favourites thanks to Fiona who introduced us to it. I just loved everything about this book, from the case, focusing on music and jazz-players, the developments with the magic system, the introduction of new characters and the trips around Soho.
The writing style and the pace are still just as good as they were in the first book, and I can tell that it is getting better and better with every book. The chapters are longer than I usually enjoy, but the pace and the writing are so immersive and good that I really don’t mind. The humour is still on point and I have been laughing at everything that Peter gets up to. This series is honestly so comforting to me, I love it.
I gave this book 4.5 stars (full ASPECTS rating below) and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. it was fun, fast-paced, funny and just a great instalment.
If you like urban fantasy mysteries with unique cases, a great atmosphere, complex characters that evolve in every book, interesting forensic investigations, a unique magic system and a villain, then this is the book for you. I highly recommend it.
That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this post, see you soon, stay safe,
Ellie xx
ASPECTS RATING
Atmosphere – 7.5
Start – 7.5
Pacing – 7.5
Ending – 8
Characters – 8.5
Theme – 8
Style – 8.5
Total = 55.5
This list includes some affiliate links. If you decide to purchase a book from one of my links, I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
If you would like to purchase this book, you can find it here: Amazon UK – Amazon FR – Amazon US – AbeBooks – The Book Depository – Audible FR – Waterstones – Barnes and Noble – Audible UK – Blackwell’s – BetterWorldBooks – Wordery