As ever, start the series at the beginning with Rivers of London, inexplicably retitled in the US as Midnight Riot. It’s just like old times again, but this time, Peter isn’t a bumbling rookie and Nightingale is beginning to treat him more like a colleague and less like a student, possibly easing him into the role as head of the Folly one of these days. There’s a few humorous observations along the way, and some waxing emotional over Bev, but for the most part, I found the tone straight-forward and serious. From first-day employees wearing a towel around their heads to Vogon management to a dozen other great London High-Tech Field goodies. If you asked what was my favorite, I’d have to say Rivers of London since it got this amazing world building started.

I was tempted to tell her that we had a book in our library that had to be restrained from roaming around the Folly on its own, but I didn’t trust her enough to be giving away state secrets just to big up my ends. It's revealed later in the plot that the Mary Engine's purpose is either to create or generate magic and it can open a portal to another, darker dimension. As I mentioned earlier, most of the characters we have come to know and love barely have more than a few lines in this outing.But then the job grows complicated when he uncovers a fellow magic practitioner during his investigation of the recent break-ins, and realizes the two of them have a hist This swirling inconsistency and feeling of time being stretched, squished, smooshed, and otherwise manipulated, suited the theme very nicely once I stopped feeling like I was grappling with an Infinite Improbability Drive. If you’re a fan of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams – don’t panic – you will love Ben Aaronovitch’s imaginative, irreverent and all-round incredible novels.

His background in law enforcement and subsequent suspension makes him the ideal candidate for an investigator job in the private sector, at a tech company run by an Elon Musk type of character, to be precise. Having nonchalantly skipped a re-read of the previous book in the Peter Grant arc of the Rivers of London series, Lies Sleeping, I was at a bit of a loss when this audiobook began with Peter starting work at a tech company having been suspended from his job with the Metropolitan Police, and The Folly. Which version of this is true is something that Peter is finding hard to manage as well as the reader.I’ve been looking forward to this for ages, wanting to know what was next for Peter and the wider world of the Folly after the end of the last novel. This swirling inconsistency and feeling of time being stretched, squished, and manipulated, suited the theme very nicely once I stopped feeling like I was grappling with an Infinite Improbability Drive! Speaking of combat magic, there’s a scene in which Nightingale goes full combat mode on another equally skilled practitioner (Mrs.