False Value: Book 8 in the #1 bestselling Rivers of London series (A Rivers of London novel)

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I’d encourage you to try the first book if you’re unfamiliar with the series, but I’m sad to say that I won’t be reading any more of Rivers of London. Now that he and Beverly are a permanent couple, it's inevitable that they make friends with other couples. And while the story is slightly different than our usual Rivers outing, it makes a lot of sense in Peter’s world. The magic that we know and love about the series is still as prominent as ever, and things from previous books make appearances, including demon traps, talking foxes, and the magic-erasing properties of Molly’s ‘cousin’ Foxglove.

His compassion, his protectiveness of the public, and his sense of humor are additional factors in his lovability. It makes sense; Aaronovitch tends to be light on descriptives, so a good actor can bring the character to life. As ever, start the series at the beginning with Rivers of London, inexplicably retitled in the US as Midnight Riot.There were so many things I enjoyed about this installment, and those things brought back all the good feelings I had when I first started the series all those years ago. There are lots of new players – Peter’s new boss, Tyrel Johnson (and his family), the company’s owner, Terrence Skinner, and a bunch of tech guys that work at Serious Cybernetics with Peter. But they'd rather confiscate it for safe keeping, not unlike Professor Postmartin, the great confiscator himself. 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.

Main investigation is interesting, unfortunately there is too much sidetracking and rather mundane stuff: dinners, family picnics, looking after pregnant girlfriend, mildly amusing conversations with random new people Peter meets. There’s a good chance this review–and my mind–will change with a re-listen, because that’s the kind of thing that can happen with this series, but this has a good chance for standing with Foxglove Summer as book I’m least likely to ever re-read (beyond the initial Kobna, naturally). Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's brand new London start up - the Serious Cybernetics Company. I would recommend False Value to anyone who enjoyed the earlier books in the series, but would suggest that fans of urban fantasy who have yet to try Rivers of London go back to the beginning, as it is not really a standalone tale. If he hadn‘t done it this way, but had told the story in a linear fashion, we would have know from the start that Peter — spoiler!

I also enjoyed hearing the trust that Aaronovitch puts in KHS to select the right voice, sometimes for characters that the author himself hasn't "thought through" far enough to have given a voice in his own imagination. JavaScript uses type conversion to coerce any value to a Boolean in contexts that require it, such as conditionals and loops. His inner monolgue still meanders into the obscure from time to time, but I find that I don't mind it much when these obscure trivia end up helping him solve the case.

Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner’s brand new London start up – the Serious Cybernetics Company. As Peter later discovers, the SCC’s big secret is an AI that’s so advanced that it passes the Turing Test multiple times, but of course it turns out to be too good to be true. The bonus interview at the end is fab and I really appreciate the insight, not to mention it’s a fun listen.In more general terms, Aaronovitch once more, presents a vision of London distilled and celebrated; beautifully multicultural in characters, food, and culture. The genii loci of the Thames river and their children, the gods and goddesses of the river’s tributaries, are especially great. But when Peter identifies the would-be thief, Stephen Higgins, he realizes that and he and Stephen crossed paths months before. As I said in my review of the last novel in the series, Lies Sleeping, I had gone through a slump with this series for a few in the middle.

Thank you to the publisher, Berkeley Publishing Group / DAW, for providing me with an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Aaronovitch is also a trustee on the board of Cityread London and is a long-time supporter of Nigeria's premiere arts and cultural festival, The Ake Festival. Aaronovitch has written a diverse cast of characters who all feel like real people with their own specific motivations. With his girlfriend Beverley’s pregnancy and the death of Martin Chorley, once known as the Faceless Man, Peter is entering a new chapter of life. The company employs a lot of nerds and has its quirks–floors with funny names, only in-house phones permitted on the premises, RPGs played while on break.This book also relies heavily on the reader being familiar with all of Aaronovitch’s novellas, short stories and graphic novels, particularly The Furthest Station, but I don’t think it’s realistic to expect novel readers to keep up with all these associated stories (personally, I gave up on the graphic novels after all the gratuitous female nudity in Black Mould). 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! False Values" follows Peter as he goes undercover to discover what tech genius Terrence Skinner is up to. Gallery images of our book boxes show an example of what may be included – treat and gift content may differ. Aaronovitch’s magnificent world and magic building is again center stage, Peter Grant is again investigating a crime and doing so amidst an attractive urban fantasy setting.