Han, in London

I found the Google docs I mentioned when I posted about my fic! Well done me.

Having finally posted a Rivers of London fic (which took forever to write), I thought I would talk a bit about a) the bits of London I used in the fic and b) London-based UF/horror book series I love.

I’ve been meaning to do a post or seven about Rivers of London for ages but never quite managed it because I could never quite get to a stage where I was able to be objective about the books (I think writing this fic finally did it for me because it was such a slog).

The books, by Ben Aaronovitch, focus on PC Peter Grant, a mixed race copper from North London (it shows) who accidentally finds out about magic and starts training to become a wizard under the tutelage of the only wizard police officer left in the UK (DCI Thomas Nightingale).

The mythology of the books is that after WW2 magic faded away, more or less, leaving just Nightingale (who is a lot older than he looks) and a few scattered practitioners, but it is gradually starting to come back.

Peter is an entertaining narrator, easily-distracted but funny and quick with a pop-culture reference. The supporting characters are usually intriguing with a big chunk of mystery in their backgrounds.

The main draw for me is that the author is really really good at portraying London, even if there is a bias towards everything North of the river (says someone just as biased towards SE London). The city in the books is very close to the city I know, and the way Peter feels and thinks about the city is pretty close to the way I feel about it (and London trivia spotters will have a great time reading the books and thinking ‘well yes but I already knew about Leinster Gardens’ etc etc).

There are currently five books in the series (I have yet to read the fifth), and apparently the fifth book takes Peter out of London, not that I know why you’d want to /only half joking.

The ROL series is not quite my favourite London-based urban fantasy series, however. That would be the Matthew Swift series of books by Kate Griffin. In this series, most of the sorcerers in London were killed two years before the series starts, and Matthew Swift (a sorcerer, which is apparently a bit different to a wizard) starts the series being brought back to life by the blue electric angels who live in the telephone lines.

Everything in Kate Griffin’s London has some sort of magic to it, from the magic of routine and rules (such as escaping from something chasing you by going through the ticket machines on the tube when it doesn’t have a valid ticket) to pulling power from the streetlights and everything upwards.

(where dryads in Rivers of London still live inside trees, in the Matthew Swift series they have moved to lampposts)

( cut for brief spoilers )
The reason I ended up liking Griffin’s series more is probably that she really covers all of London, having Matthew venture out over the sprawling suburbs instead of mostly sticking to the central boroughs. 

There are currently six books featuring Matthew, four where he is the central character and two in the Magicals Anonymous spin-off series, which focus on Sharon Li, a woman who finds out she’s a shaman who can become one with the city, and the group of people/supernatural beings who come to meetings after she puts a post up on Facebook.

Most recently I’ve read London Falling by Paul Cornell, which I think is due to become a series. I meant to write a review but never got round to it so I might as well do one here.

I didn’t like the book when I first started it - I had been saving it for months and had been expecting an instant love the same as I’d felt for ROL/Matthew Swift. I persevered, however, and by the end of the book I was really enjoying myself.

The characters in London Falling (three police officers and a data person) initially don’t get on with each other, which was one of the reasons I didn’t get on with it - I don’t expect everything to be sunshine and rainbows in my UF books, obviously, but I couldn’t work out why they seemed so reluctant to work together. By the end, though, the characters had been developed well enough that this didn’t bother me any more.

The characters in LF were all prickly and complicated in different ways, which I really liked. They only find out about/get involved with magic by accident and I thought that the ways they each dealt with this were interesting. ROL only really has to deal with Peter finding out about magic (and anyone else we hear about through him) so Cornell had quite a bit more work to do.

The plot of the book was nicely creepy, and the villian did some pretty horrific things - I think possibly this book is a bit closer to the horror end of things rather than urban fantasy (actually I’m not sure where the division would be). Sometimes the other series are a bit meandering without being particularly scary or creepy, but this book had some properly tense moments. I am looking forward to reading others in the series.

As a glancing final mention, there is of course the Felix Castor series by Mike Carey which predate all of these, but it’s been ages since I read them so all I can say is that I enjoyed those too and I’ve been meaning to do a reread (iirc they were also more down the horror end of the spectrum).

I’m sure there are others (lucky me, there’s always someone writing something magical set in London) so do let me know if I’ve missed anything.

So we have a book club at work, which has had some *cough* variable results (anti-rec: The Husband's Secret, AVOID) and the last meeting was to discuss Ben Okri's The Famished Road, which I found dense and monotone and which I could not finish (ditto most of the group).

By contrast, I read the latest book - Slated by Teri Terry - in about two hours flat. I was going to make a list of the things I like versus the things I didn't, but really I basically loved all of it. So here's a very positive review, hurrah!

( Cut for plot spoilers )

ETA: I have no idea why half this entry is in bold, I can't even see the relevant tag in the html. Might try to fix it again later but having no luck rn. Fixed thanks to delgaserasca.

…It isn’t Thursday night, obviously. It’s a Monday morning, and I’ve had no sleep, thanks to my idiot neighbour (the nice one, not Downstairs Man, he is a prick) who went out and left his computer game on pause, playing the same short piece of music over and over and over and over ALL NIGHT.

ALL. NIGHT.

I am going to have a word with him later and if that does not include me screaming in his face, he should count himself lucky. Presuming I go home tonight – tempted to go over to my parents’ but I am already going over there for two nights this week so probably best if I do go home. Also I have stuff to do (photos).

[NB: I am posting this on Wednesday morning, and I have spoken to him, and turns out a few people were annoyed by this music, FANCY THAT. Turned out to be his computer screensaver, but I don’t think he’s going to be leaving it on again in a hurry. Also I’ve now had two good nights’ sleep, so am feeling a bit more like myself now]

So, in other news, I went to Hastings with the parents and Pudding a couple of weeks ago, but that’s a separate post (posted last night). Since getting back I have been working like a loon, reading, trying to catch up on TV and occasionally going out for things that are not food, but mostly not (by which I mean supermarkets, not restaurants).

Cut for spoilers (books/film):

( Broken Homes, London Calling, Dandy Gilver and A Deadly Measure of Brimstone, The Killing Moon )( Blancanieves )

I haven’t finished Top of the Lake yet, but it’s nice to watch a show where if something doesn’t quite make sense, there’s a fair chance it’s not just me, it’s the show.

Haven’t watched that thing on BBC One on Sunday nights atm (What Remains? Something like that) but am intending to get to it soon.

Currently watching Vera, which I am enjoying as ever. Last night’s was particularly heartbreaking in various places, and featured Saskia Reeves and Hugh Simon (!). Joe continues to be lovely.

Can’t think of what else has been on. Emmerdale is super annoying, I haaaaaate one of the new doctors on Holby (even more so after the most recent episode) and Casualty is pretty good. I have seen a few episodes of Coronation Street and I saw one episode of Eastenders and would like to know what happened in Devon, but other than that I don’t care. I’ve been watching quite a lot of CSI New York (ideal background show for me) and a few episodes of The Mindy Project here and there.

I need to rewatch Luther so I can do a proper entry about the series. And also work out if 303 & 304 actually do hang together at all (based on one viewing I’m veering towards no).

I'm going to try to catch up on TOTL tonight, while I do various boring things that need sorting now I've had enough sleep to deal with them.

In other exciting news, I am getting a haircut on Friday. WOOHOO! Going to go quite short this time, although I haven't decided how short.

The more I think about this book, the more disappointing it gets. Not because it was bad or boring, but because there’s only one sodding book and it’s YA so it’s far too bloody short.

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Interlude: a handy tip

If you see a book in a library that has a) a brightly-coloured sticker on the spine (in this case, fluorescent orange with a black Z) and b) is pretty short, and then c) when you read it the main characters are all teenagers, you’ve probably picked up a YA novel.

--

So, the premise of this book: London is now Pastworld, a giant Victorian theme park, staffed with permanent residents (some of whom live their whole lives in Pastworld with varying degrees of awareness of the artificial nature of their home) and more temporary employees. They’re watched over with a very modern security system, and everything about their environment can be controlled – the residents don’t even get to see the sky).

The story focuses on two people (I say people because I also didn’t realise one of them was supposed to be a teenager until fairly late on – basically the book is not the only one at fault here) with mysterious pasts and futures (as well as a large cast of mostly male supporting characters). Their stories don’t play out entirely satisfactorily, but I think this is mostly down to the amount of time given to them – I really do think this book had plenty of scope to be longer.

The characters in the book are, as I mentioned, mostly male (which makes sense given the faux-Victorian setting and the jobs of the modern characters) and fairly broadly drawn. The star of the show, to be honest, is the world building (which suits me just fine). Somehow, the idea that London has been bought up and turned into a giant theme park seems plausible in this book.

The book is set in the run up to an anniversary party (can’t remember which one now) which will be marked with the destruction of the last remaining modern building in Pastworld. Oddly enough, this is Tower 42 (NatWest tower). This is probably going too far off into territory that only interests me, but I’m not sure why Tower 42 was the last one standing? I presume it was mostly to do with practicalities – it provides a space for scenes from the book that you couldn’t have done at something like the Gherkin, even if that would have been more familiar to a YA audience.

The book ends slightly disappointingly (for me) but with the possibility of a sequel – I really hope there is one. I would happily read a whole book of short stories just following residents and visitors in Pastworld. I think there’s plenty of ways the author could return to the premise. I’d like to see something similar as a full-length novel as well, but to be honest I’d read it if it was just world building so maybe I’m not the most representative audience...

Still, I would recommend it for YA readers, or readers who like London as a setting and like it even more when something creative is done with that setting.

http://www.past-world.com/