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Lois Bujold's Reviews > Moon Over Soho
Moon Over Soho (Rivers of London, #2)
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Sequel to Rivers of London aka (in the US) Midnight Riot, which I read and reviewed here last week, and which I would link if I could figure out how. Start with that one, not this one, but you may as well pick up all three while you're at it. It will save steps. (#3, now in my library queue, is titled Whispers Underground.)
No sophomore slump here, I'm happy to report. Upon longer consideration, what the prior book and this one also remind me of is the movie Men in Black -- the good first one, not the weirdly inferior sequel -- except, being Old World instead of American, with magic instead of sci-fi aliens. (Although the latter have not been ruled out, I suppose, if the series wends on. But it's apparent Aaronovitch hasn't run out of material yet.) The central relationship between the hero (who is not an orphan! yay!) and his mentor has some lovely inter-generational stuff, and not just the jokes about older people's sometimes-adversarial relationship with advancing technology.
I like what the storyline is doing with PC Leslie May, so far (medical background, here), and the fact that being shot through the lung also has actual appropriate lingering consequences. (It's also a plot convenience, but I'll give the author that one. I also have a soft spot for hurt/comfort.) I am less thrilled with the one-book lifespan of the love interest -- becoming the girlfriend of the hero in a men's action series is an even more ill-advised lifestyle choice than becoming his mentor -- but there were enough other active female characters with enough other fates that I'll spot the author this one, too, as long as he doesn't make it a habit. Because "screw 'em and slay 'em" appears as enough of a repeating trope in the genre to make me really worry about guys, sometimes.
Recommended. Ignore the unappealing covers, which appear to be doing their level best to conceal the fact that there is any humor at all in these volumes, but if you are long-time genre readers, you already know to do that.
More Chief Inspector Nightingale, please!
Ta, L.
No sophomore slump here, I'm happy to report. Upon longer consideration, what the prior book and this one also remind me of is the movie Men in Black -- the good first one, not the weirdly inferior sequel -- except, being Old World instead of American, with magic instead of sci-fi aliens. (Although the latter have not been ruled out, I suppose, if the series wends on. But it's apparent Aaronovitch hasn't run out of material yet.) The central relationship between the hero (who is not an orphan! yay!) and his mentor has some lovely inter-generational stuff, and not just the jokes about older people's sometimes-adversarial relationship with advancing technology.
I like what the storyline is doing with PC Leslie May, so far (medical background, here), and the fact that being shot through the lung also has actual appropriate lingering consequences. (It's also a plot convenience, but I'll give the author that one. I also have a soft spot for hurt/comfort.) I am less thrilled with the one-book lifespan of the love interest -- becoming the girlfriend of the hero in a men's action series is an even more ill-advised lifestyle choice than becoming his mentor -- but there were enough other active female characters with enough other fates that I'll spot the author this one, too, as long as he doesn't make it a habit. Because "screw 'em and slay 'em" appears as enough of a repeating trope in the genre to make me really worry about guys, sometimes.
Recommended. Ignore the unappealing covers, which appear to be doing their level best to conceal the fact that there is any humor at all in these volumes, but if you are long-time genre readers, you already know to do that.
More Chief Inspector Nightingale, please!
Ta, L.
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Started Reading
December 26, 2012
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December 26, 2012
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Indeed. One such death may be romantic; five or ten or a dozen says "serial killer".Ta, L.
Lois wrote: "Indeed. One such death may be romantic; five or ten or a dozen says "serial killer".Ta, L."
To paraphrase Lady Bracknell: "To lose one [partner] may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose [multiple] looks like carelessness." The Importance of Being Earnest.
"Hero" =/= Peter Pandemic.
Why has America changed the covers? The English title and covers make so much sense. I actually couldn't find the book to review because I was looking for the beautiful covers of the ribbon river, that is my Thames. Yes I'm from London!Beautiful review, thank you.
Edith wrote: "Why has America changed the covers? The English title and covers make so much sense. I actually couldn't find the book to review because I was looking for the beautiful covers of the ribbon river, ..."I can only guess, but as the victim-and-survivor of many bad covers myself, I suppose it was a misapprehension about just what audience the book was expected to appeal to. Because the books appeal deeply to me, but the (first) American covers actively repel. (And changing the title, when the books have now acquired the original one as a main identifier, was just bad marketing strategy.)
Someone seems to have finally realized this, because the third book has the UK cover. (And title.) Having the first book in the series be disguised by an alternate title and "look" is no help, however.
On the other hand, I'm not sure just how one would convey, "This book has a great voice!" in cover art. I was not attracted by the original British cover either.
But I know from long experience that word-of-mouth can triumph over cover treatments, so -- keep calm and carry on, I guess. (And mention both the first titles together at every opportunity, to give US readers a fighting chance of finding it.)
Ta, L.
I wonder if the US marketing changed the covers and titles for that unwritten but sadly true rule that seems to say " if it doesn't happen in the US it doesn't happen at all".Hard to believe in this time and age, but it looks like a clear reference to London Would have Looked like kriptonite for the US. Market.
Still
I don't understand Why...
Seriously, that's how I developed an aversion to male authors oh, so many, years ago. I primarily read male-written works in my formative years, but as an adult I eschew them.
The women authors whose works I prefer to read are satisfied with having relationships end, and yet leaving survivors.
Men seem to need to think (or at least write) that it's romantic that only death can part their Hero from his heroine ... but speaking from the woman's POV, it's a rather alarming, disturbing and even depressing convention IN A SERIES.