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Peter Grant was just a cynical probationary constable in London’s Metropolitan Police Service until he was approached by a ghost with important information on a murder investigation. Now everything’s changed. Somehow he’s become an apprentice wizard, the first in fifty years, and has been charged with keeping the Queen’s peace.
Easier said than done when there are nests of vampires in Purley, the God and Goddess of the river Thames have started a turf war, and some supernatural force is twisting the good citizens of the city into violent mindless marionettes, intent on bashing each other’s heads in for its own amusement.
Now PC Grant and his boss have stumbled onto something big. Something’s very wrong at the heart of the city he loves, and it’s up to them to unravel the whole rotten mess before London tears itself apart.
With a laudable level of precision Aaronovitch paints a convincingly accurate depiction of London’s architecture and inhabitants. His use of language is impressive, capturing not only an authentic vernacular for the city, but also presenting a near flawless rendition of the Metropolitan Police Service’s vocabulary. All these elements come together to create an immersive and extremely funny fantasy that is as believable as it is entertaining.
Better known for adaptations like Doctor Who’s Remembrance of the Daleks, this is Ben Aaronovitch’s first step into an urban fantasy of his own creation. A wry witty blend of old folklore, London history, and magic, makes Rivers of London a worthy and unique read. With a distinctive voice and narrative style that is reminiscent of Neil Gaiman or China Miéville's Un Lun Dun this will appeal to fans of Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files, and Mike Carey’s Felix Castor novels.
The first of a series, Rivers of London had me laughing within the first couple of pages, and promises to be the beginning of an entertaining journey for London’s very own Detective Constable Grant, copper-turned-trainee-wizard.
Recommended by Matthew Humpage
Ben has just turned thirteen, and he’s trying to build himself a new life. His parents have just moved the family away from Toronto, out west to Victoria, he’s starting in a new school, trying to make new friends, and to attract the attention of the gorgeous Jennifer. Everything is new and difficult. His grades at the posh private school where he’s been sent aren’t shining, and he isn’t naturally the class alpha-male, either.
So it doesn’t help matters that his university professor father has just decided to adopt a new baby for the family, and that the baby – Ben’s sort-of-brother – is a chimp. His name is Zan. Ben’s parents hope to be the first to raise a chimp as though he were a human and teach him to communicate in sign language. Not surprisingly, many people are excited at the idea of this experiment – some (scientists, the media) are very enthusiastic, some (animal rights protesters) are very critical; and everyone is watching closely to see how the experiment goes…
But for Ben it’s more than just an experiment. At a time when he is learning about life, trying to learn his own way in the world, he’s faced with a situation where he and his family and friends are forced to question what it means to be human, and what’s really best for the little chimp he has come to love almost like a real brother. Is this strange set-up of theirs giving Zan a real home and a real family, or would he be happier if he were to be sent away somewhere to live with other chimps – or has Project Zan made him too human for that now?
It’s a really good premise for a book, but in the execution so much more than just that. It’s gripping storytelling by a really good writer at the top of his game – sometimes deeply touching (Ben and Zan’s relationship is extraordinary and extraordinarily drawn) and always thoughtful and thought-provoking – this is one I’m sure I won’t forget in a hurry.
Recommended by Daniel Hahn
This powerful fable of an extraordinary, mysterious giant metal man still haunts me from childhood, and is now brought to resonant and compelling life by Laura Carlin. Rarely has the artwork in a book become so integral to the reading. This edition celebrates the book as artefact, with all kinds of unexpected openings and surprises as we inhabit the perspective of the characters within the book, especially the young hero, Hogarth. I developed an anticipatory pleasure about turning the next page that had as much to do with the beauty of this book as the compelling story it describes. My young son was similarly transfixed, returning several times to key sections, such as the flaps that allow the iron man to literally burst out of a hill. Carlin is equally assured handling the truly menacing space bat angel dragon, focusing on aspects of it as if the whole were too terrible to grasp, and the panoramic chaos of humanity’s attempts to stop it. The poetic rhythm of the prose is captured and accentuated, as the images dominate or comment on the narrative in a carefully controlled rhythmic dance, culminating in the surprisingly moving transformation of terror into beauty at the story’s close. If children’s books, and science fiction in particular, are about evoking a sense of wonder, this book succeeds wholeheartedly. A work of art that stimulates the imagination, and, in our household, brought adults and children together in a celebration of the pure joy of reading, looking, experiencing.Recommended by Ariel Kahn
Jack Brenin is just an ordinary boy living with his Granddad in the country. One day he finds a golden acorn lying in the grass, and is thrust into an extraordinary world of magic, witchcraft, sinister creatures, and talking animals.There is a vital task to be completed, but the raven doesn’t think Jack is strong enough. But they have no other choice - Jack is ‘The One’ from ancient prophecy and everyone expects him to help. He is not sure he can. He’s not very brave and what they are asking is dangerous and scary.Can he find the strength to embrace the world of magic and legend? Can he conquer his fears? Time is running out and Jack doesn’t know if he can save his friends.Rooted firmly in British mythology and history, Catherine Cooper’s world of Glasruhen is vivid, humorous, and entrancing. The combination of loveable characters, mischievous creatures, noble quest, and humour gives the magical genre back the sense of heart-warming innocence that has been missing for years.With a feel akin to the tales of Hans Christian Andersen or the Grimm brothers, The Golden Acorn is highly deserving of the Brit Writers’ Awards 2010 for unpublished writers, and I for one cannot wait to see what happens in the following books.Recommended by Matthew Humpage
While Daniel Pennac’s School Blues is not a book for children or teenagers it deals with core issues that confront today’s youth each day they battle through the education system. So we thought it appropriate to give it mention here, to spread its message to as many teachers, parents or educational professionals possible.
School Blues is not a book about school, but about dunces – those children failing to engage with education, written from the perspective of a schoolboy dunce with an aversion to capital letters, who took a year to learn the letter A, and simultaneously from the perspective of experienced teacher aka dunce rescuer. It’s an insightful tightrope Pennac walks as he recalls school days dominated by shame and failure alongside later years as a passionate teacher of literature and language.
It only takes one teacher to tap in and resuscitate a flailing pupil. A teacher with the passion and determination to find a way to engage the individual in education; for Pennac there was the teacher who set him the task of writing a novel – to deliver one chapter a week, with accurate spelling throughout. The teacher recognised the narrator within and gave him a voice. His other inspirational teachers were those that somehow communicated a thirst for knowledge and the desire to pass it on. On a base level, it requires someone, other than parents, to believe the child capable of learning and to show the child their ability.
Historical memories of ignorance battle his current educational knowledge as his old dunce voice pipes in from time to time to remind us of his roots, his self-doubt, his expertise in all things dunce. Ignorance versus knowledge – a battle core to any classroom. Teachers think ‘I wasn’t trained for this’, while children think ‘I’m not made for this’. Pennac takes ‘this’ and dissects it, both within classrooms exploring its grammatical vagueness in children’s statements, uncovering the fear it attempts to disguise, and within this book concluding ‘this’ to be the violent clash between knowledge and ignorance for which teachers are little prepared. He wills new teachers to consider their own prior ignorance, to explore their failures at school in any subject, to remember how it feels to not understand when all others do.
School Blues is a delightful mix of personal anecdote and professional commentary on the educational system, and unavoidably thought-provoking. A book to be considered by all those taking their first doubting, stumbling steps into teaching as well as experienced teachers, for parents of dunces, for dunces, for educational ministers. In short for anyone who encounters the educational system from any angle – this book should be read.
Recommended by Tessa Brechin
[PS - Anyone who likes the sound of this might also be interested to read the interview a friend and I did with Daniel Pennac about this book The Independent a few months back. You can find it here. - D.H.]
Sorry for the lack of Books of the Weeks lately ; we've all just been occupied with other things and had to let the blog lapse temporarily - but back now. BotW (80) will be posted shortly...D.
Halloween has been and gone, but it is never too late for a creepy read, and White Crow is one of the creepiest I've read for quite a while. With the success of Twilight many authors tried on the Gothic mode, but most of them simply copy the ‘new girl in town falls for sexy supernatural boy’ formula. Sedgwick has a different, more sophisticated, take on this popular genre as the ‘love story’ is between two girls, city girl Rebecca, forced into rural exile, and the haunting, enigmatic Ferelith. This is not a romantic relationship, however, but rather a mind game between manipulator and victim in which the roles subtly progress and shift. Rebecca and Ferelith's story is set in a dormant cliff-top village which is gradually being eaten away by the sea, and is intertwined with journal entries written by a local priest in the 18th century. Slowly, the two narratives move towards each other, united by the common theme of an eternal question – is there life after death? The quest for an answer leads to truly terrifying places. White Crow is a well written, disturbing horror thriller with more psychological depth than what is usually on offer in this genre, which only adds to its creepy factor. Not to be read at bedtime.
Recommended by Noga Applebaum
Peter Grant was just a cynical probationary constable in London’s Metropolitan Police Service until he was approached by a ghost with important information on a murder investigation. Now everything’s changed. Somehow he’s become an apprentice wizard, the first in fifty years, and has been charged with keeping the Queen’s peace.
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