Winter's Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch

[lightreads]

3/5. Novella connected to the main Rivers of London series. The one set in Wisconsin with the American FBI agent that he has been threatening us with for years. Distinctly less interesting than the main series, mostly because the protagonist here is comparatively dull and her voice is quite flat. I’ve never been interested in her from day one, but I hoped that, given her own story, her brand of cookie-cutter Christian fundy worldview would acquire some texture. It really could have – there’s lots of places you could go with her worldview engaging with/absorbing/rejecting the magic and the beings she meets. But nope, there’s basically none of that, and close to zero interesting character beats or even reflection.

Also, I have questions. Maybe this is my generation showing, but what reader of this book needs the narrator to explain to them what the X-Files are? Why did it take years and years for this book to come out? Why are they releasing a winter book in June, for God’s sake? What exactly is he trying to do here – please not a whole spinoff series.

Comments

[cathexys]

Agreed. It could have been so much better.

For what it's worth, I really liked the German one (as someone who's from that area and grew up surrounded by vineyards :), and I had hoped for more.

And I think there are many shows that most of us would know but need to be explained. The X-Files isn't one of them, you're right!

[cyprinella]

Huh, I didn't even know that was coming out.

[lightreads]

Yeah it just sort of ... appeared? Which is weird bc he's been posting about researching/writing it on social media since, like, before the pandemic?

[aella_irene]

I think there's a total of four: What Abigail Did That Summer (Summer), The October Man (Autumn), Winter Gifts (Winter) and then Nightingale in 1920s Harlem (Spring)

[lightreads]

Ahaha okay, I've read three out of four of those and did not notice that at all. Classic.