This is the second of Ben Aaronovitch's books about a magical and hidden London. It is obviously a sequel, picking up as it does just weeks after the events in Rivers of London, but it takes a significantly different direction. The same brightness and creativity is apparent but Moon over Soho is more focussed (and narrower in scope) than Rivers of London and I think probably suffers for it too.
Also, one minor quibble, for a novel that revels in Zeitgeist and post modern self referentiality there are a couple of painful factual errors that, although they don't impact the story, jar precisely because Aaronovitch spends so much time referring to The Real World (tm).
The story is solid enough but I think he could slow down a little and spend more time dwelling on people and the social webs they live in - sometimes the story moves so rapidly that major events (such as the fate of three sisters) don't carry the weight that they should given the set up and consequences of peoples' decisions.
More conventionally it's clear he's setting the scene for more to come, not least with the introduction of a 'Big Bad' who will no doubt turn up again in future and I actually felt, at the end of the story, pretty interested in seeing where he takes the series. Moon over Soho is interesting and London certainly feels alive, as puzzling as she does in real life, and full of intrigue and secrets.
No comments:
Post a Comment