![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Reading: Lies Sleeping
Nov. 21st, 2018 07:25 pmI always think that pre-ordered Kindle books feel like surprise presents from Past Me to Present Me, and I was particularly pleased to have something I knew was going to be fun and entertaining, in the shape of Ben Aaronovitch's seventh Peter Grant novel, Lies Sleeping, to look forward to through the last few days of what felt like a Very Long Week last week.
It didn't disappoint; there were lots of humorous reflections on policing, magic and the relationship between the two, enjoyable character moments, digressions into the history of London and geeky references and in-jokes, all narrated in Peter Grant's distinctive voice, and I enjoyed it a lot. I also continue to love Aaronovitch's multi-ethnic cast of characters and really noticed in this one the way Grant's narrative always identifies white characters as white, refusing to accept the unmarked status of privileged groups in British society.
I did feel, though, that it was possibly a bit short on plot, and what there was suffered from some pacing issues, with an odd lull about three-quarters of the way through and then a rush to wrap things up (including one major ongoing plot being tied up in a somewhat anticlimactic way). I think this is largely because, like a lot of series, the longer this one goes on the more it becomes less a series of separate stories and more of a roman-fleuve, with much more of a focus on the interactions and development of the regular characters than on the plot, but I would have liked a bit more actual crime-solving. Also, I thought it could have done with better copy-editing as there seemed to be a lot of the kind of errors that creep in when a text is being rewritten and revised electronically (though this is not the only book I've had this problem with recently - are publishers cutting back on proof-readers?).
Mostly, though, I just thought it was fun, and definitely over too soon.
It didn't disappoint; there were lots of humorous reflections on policing, magic and the relationship between the two, enjoyable character moments, digressions into the history of London and geeky references and in-jokes, all narrated in Peter Grant's distinctive voice, and I enjoyed it a lot. I also continue to love Aaronovitch's multi-ethnic cast of characters and really noticed in this one the way Grant's narrative always identifies white characters as white, refusing to accept the unmarked status of privileged groups in British society.
I did feel, though, that it was possibly a bit short on plot, and what there was suffered from some pacing issues, with an odd lull about three-quarters of the way through and then a rush to wrap things up (including one major ongoing plot being tied up in a somewhat anticlimactic way). I think this is largely because, like a lot of series, the longer this one goes on the more it becomes less a series of separate stories and more of a roman-fleuve, with much more of a focus on the interactions and development of the regular characters than on the plot, but I would have liked a bit more actual crime-solving. Also, I thought it could have done with better copy-editing as there seemed to be a lot of the kind of errors that creep in when a text is being rewritten and revised electronically (though this is not the only book I've had this problem with recently - are publishers cutting back on proof-readers?).
Mostly, though, I just thought it was fun, and definitely over too soon.
