My name is Peter Grant, and until January, I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluble, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.

Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in 50 years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden...and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious, vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.

The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying.

Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

Listening Length

10 hours and 37 minutes
Author

Ben Aaronovitch
Narrator

Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Audible release date

8 April 2011
Language

English
Publisher

Orion Publishing Group Limited
ASIN

B01N55SH8N
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	10 hours and 37 minutes
Author	Ben Aaronovitch
Narrator	Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	08 April 2011
Publisher	Orion Publishing Group Limited
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B01N55SH8N
Best Sellers Rank	1,348 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 10 in Supernatural Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals) 38 in Police Procedural Mysteries 41 in Supernatural Thrillers (Books)

Customer reviews

5 star		53%
4 star		32%
3 star		10%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Australia

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Kindle Customer

Fun, but disappointingly sexist.

Reviewed in Australia on 12 February 2019

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This is a fun book, and a great concept. But it's also quite derogatory about women, which was really disappointing. All female characters are sex objects for the main character, providing titillation but little complexity or influence on the narrative. I really wanted to love this book, but I wont be reading the rest of the series.

5 people found this helpful

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Lyn Haines

There was no part of this book I didn't love!

Reviewed in Australia on 21 July 2020

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There was no part of this book I didn't love!

Every sentence was a joy to read and the characters managed to be both believable yet extraordinary. There were laugh out loud moments that complemented the engaging plot which was set against the backdrop of London - both past and present.

I'm looking forward to reading more from Ben Aaronovitch :-)

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Tania M C Lewis

Beautiful blend of fantasy and reality

Reviewed in Australia on 11 January 2021

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Ben Aaronovitch plays a masterly hand with this heady romp through London. Otherworldly characters blend seamlessly into the 21st Capital and the plot line will leave you guessing right up until the end. Stylish, funny and clever, I look forward to seeing the main players develop as I make my way through the succeeding novels.

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psychopoesie

Rereading again. Still love it. Great urban fantasy.

Reviewed in Australia on 18 May 2019

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If you’re expecting something Harry Potterish - it’s not. Too gritty maybe? No upper class boarding school? It’s a different take on magic and England. A policeman who becomes a magician’s apprentice, a cleverly imagined system of magic, old gods and goddesses, and a ghostly villain with real world power. All this with a strong evocation of London and its people. The only thing that slowed me down was not wanting the bad things to happen that i knew were coming (because it was the second or third time I’d read it.

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Amanda

Too many overwhelming details

Reviewed in Australia on 19 April 2017

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I really wanted to enjoy this book, as it was highly recommended by a friend. Unfortunately, it didn't hook me in due to overwhelming details of London history. I feel this storyline would be appreciated more by historians, who like ghost stories. Although, even the ghosts weren't particularly interesting, and I usually love ghost and paranormal books.

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Hyperion

A promising start

Reviewed in Australia on 8 December 2020

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This was so much fun. It has witty and engaging characters, a great storyline, and is well written. Definitely interested in reading more from this author.

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Andrew Edgley

Terry Pratchett meets J K Rolling

Reviewed in Australia on 15 September 2020

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I loved the casual but detailed style that Ben uses in this series.
I followed all the London pathways on Google Maps and his detail is excellent
The story line allows us to be introduced to a new (old) World with a dry humor and Pratchett like allusions
I read the whole 8 books (yes, the 2020 book as well) and I can hardly wait for the 9th in the series.

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Maria

4 stars

Reviewed in Australia on 18 July 2018

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Enjoyed reading this book.

Loved the London setting, interesting magical being’s, great story line. Would recommend for anyone interested in a mystery/magical read.

Will be looking forward to reading book 2 which is ‘Moon Over Soho’.

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Top reviews from other countries

Joanne

So disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 June 2019

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What started off on a high with a really intriguing premise and displays of the sarcastic, witty humour that I love to read, I'm disappointed to say I really didn't enjoy it all that much in the end. It was described as a mix between police detective work and magic but there wasn't enough magic in it and what magic there was didn't seem very relevant to the story, more like an add-on.

The main character just went along with things far too easily making the whole story unbelievable - yes fantasy is supposed to be made up, but the story should feel as if it could be real and I really didn't get that with this book. I didn't think much of the main character, Peter Grant, either for he seemed far too preoccupied with the shape of a woman's hips or breasts than anything else; there was too much unnecessary mentioning of breasts brushing against him and it was so annoying to read again and again and again.

I feel as though the story got lost and a bit too off-topic with lots of different characters involved that in the end, I lost where we were and what was happening. But by then I didn't really care much so I just went along with it. There was lots of detail about London and random facts interwoven into the story but unfortunately it didn't feel as though much attention was given to creating a page-turning plot and I just carried on in the hope it would pick up.

This book wasn't for me and I won't be continuing with the series.

48 people found this helpful

J. Ang

Wizard Detective

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 August 2018

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This first book in the PC Peter Grant series starts off in quite a riotous manner, what with a headless corpse, a spectral eye-witness to the grisly murder off Covent Garden, and an elusive suspect who seems able to change his clothes (and face) with supernatural speed to escape detection by CCTV cameras.

Throw in the warring gods, Father and Mama Thames, and the latter’s bewitching daughters, who rule over their respective tributaries, an officially-sanctioned detective-wizard, Thomas Nightingale, who heads his own investigative department of supernatural crime of sorts, and at the heart of it, the hapless police constable Peter Grant, who is roped in as his apprentice right after his probationary stint to solve the case of the headless corpse, and we have a supernatural urban fantasy mystery thriller. The writing is humorous and Grant’s bumbling, everyman character, makes for an entertaining read.

The magic in the novel is also dealt with in a logical manner, and it is believable how Grant struggles to form a werelight as his induction into wizardry by picturing a “forma” in his head, and his hyperawareness of supernatural presence, or their afterimage, through “vestigial”, also makes the juxtaposition between the supernatural and the normal environs quite palpable. It is however in the Folly, Nightingale’s abode and headquarters, that I felt the book gave way to sketchy caricature. There is the requisite otherworldly housekeeper with questionable culinary skills, who is not unlike a ghost/vampire out of a Japanese horror film/anime, complete with long black hair, togged out in Edwardian maid uniform, hisses rather than speaks, and who practically glides around the cavernous halls at incredible speed.

The novel seems a promising start to a light and entertaining series, but if the Kindle version which I read from is anything to go by, it is in desperate need of better editing and proofreading, because the typos were just too glaring to be ignored, and marred much of my enjoyment of the book.

49 people found this helpful

FallenGrace

Well paced, funny and imaginitive urban fantasy.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 May 2018

Verified Purchase

I was recommended this by a work colleague of mine as we were both fans of the Harry Dresden series and this, in concept anyway, is a bit similar. Enter Peter Grant, a Police Constable for the London Metropolitan Police. One dreary night while standing guard at a crime scene a witness approaches him to give a testomony on the murder that happened there the night before. Unfortunately for Peter that witness is himself, also dead, a ghost. Not sure if he's going crazy or not until a detective approaches him and asks him to join his divison, a part of the Police the Met know about and do their best to forget exits that look into such things...

The story is great and the characters are all a mixture of the weird and wonderful as Peter slowly finds out about ghosts, wizards and various things he didn't think were real as the case unfolds. Ben Aaronovitch the author used to write for Doctor Who and it shows as not only are many aspects of it very imaginitive but often it's also very funny. The humour is very British, not just in it's style but the many cultural references and satire that would I think be lost on a lot of people who hadn't lived here. That's not say the book is a comedy, just it has great moments and one liners. The actual tone of the plot is pretty dark with some pretty horrible things happening to people during the case. I enjoyed it immensely and went onto read the next five books currently out.

If I had to say anything negative about the book it's that at times the lead character has a bit of a lack of emotional reactions to situations that you would expect. One instance in particular felt really jarring, it doesn't ruin the book but stood out to me because the rest of it is so well done.

Recommended.

+ Great story and characters
+ Genuinely funny in places.
+ Great pacing.

- Some of Grants reactions seem a little detatched at times.

48 people found this helpful

Luke

Just something about this book didn't blow me away

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 October 2019

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I'd been hearing a lot of positive things about this series for a while and after some high fantasy reads, I thought I'd bring myself down to something a little more realistic (based in a real place at least). I thoroughly enjoyed the way in which Ben Aaronovitch wrote, if a little sexist and perverted, it was poetic and well thought out throughout. However, there was a lot of descriptions and background writing that drew me away from the story a little. Almost like he's trying to teach us about the history of London, which I understand he likely was and is possibly the book's semi-intention, but it just didn't flow with me.

The main character was probably a 3/5, he wasn't funny, he wasn't witty, he just seemed to go through the motions and end up doing the right thing. Play, as previously mentioned, nearly all the women were described by the size of their breasts and it just took away from any real picture of what any female characters looked like.

It may sound like I didn't like this book, I did! I thoroughly enjoyed the unique magic system, the clever references to London and how grounded the fantasy elements were. It would make a fantastic dark version of Harry Potter. I would still recommend this book to anyone who enjoys London or city-based books with a slight fantastical twist.

12 people found this helpful

Hatts

Couldn't bear it :(

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 December 2018

Verified Purchase

I like a fantasy novel and was looking for a light read. These books rate so highly - and are so cheap! - I was keen to see what all the fuss was about. I read the first few chapters and gave up. Something I do very rarely. My problem wasn't so much quality of writing or plot as the author's general style and turn of phrase which I found quite offensive at times. Sorry, I just didn't get it!

15 people found this helpful

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