The October Man

A Rivers of London Novella

192 pages

Published June 12, 2019 by Gollancz.

ISBN:
978-1-4732-2431-5
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4 stars (1 review)

With this long new novella, bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch has crafted yet another wickedly funny and surprisingly affecting chapter in his beloved Rivers of London series. If you thought magic was confined to one country—think again. Trier: famous for wine, Romans and being Germany’s oldest city. When a man is found dead with his body impossibly covered in a fungal rot, the local authorities know they are out of their depth. But fortunately this is Germany, where there are procedures for everything. Enter Tobias Winter, an investigator for the Abteilung KDA , the branch of the German Federal Criminal Police which handles the supernatural. His aim is to get in, deal with the problem, and get out with the minimum of fuss, personal danger and paperwork. Together with frighteningly enthusiastic local cop, Vanessa Sommer, he quickly links the first victim to a group of ordinary middle aged men whose novel …

1 edition

Great Entry with the German Flavor

4 stars

My two criticisms of this novella: resolved too easily and too short. Otherwise, I thought it was excellent, and I like the expansion of The Rivers universe, seeing the magical police from another country, Germany.

I found a review/summary on TrackOfWords.com (www.trackofwords.com/2019/07/...). It encapsulates my thoughts quite well: basically, this is a fresh, quick-paced magical adventure in a familiar world but with a unique German take.

Tobias is both familiar and unique as a character, and his mentions of Peter Grant and Nightingale deepen the familiarity. I do hope that we see more connections like this in future Rivers books. Tobias implies that Peter doesn’t have the same knowledge of the KDA that he has of the Folly, at least in personnel, which makes me wonder how these worlds might collide.