Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch, Book 7 in the Peter Grant / Rivers of London Series

I think I'm going to have to start taking notes when I read this series.  Peter Grant is one busy guy, between all his magical friends of the rivers, the faes, underground people, his work, and his family, I don't see how he finds time to search for the Faceless Man.  But that's what this book is about, the scheming of the Faceless Man and Peter Grant's attempt to bring him to justice.

I'm not into spoilers, so that's why my reviews are short, plus this book has been out a while and lots of reviews have already been written on Lies Sleeping.  Also, this isn't the type of book that makes you reflect on your life or make you stronger.  It's just an entertaining read.  Other than that all I can say is that for Urban Fantasy, this is one of the best going right now.  With this book, I've caught up with the series and all 7 books in this series were great reads.  Now I have to wait for November for the next book to be released.  It looks like the next book in Urban Fantasy I'm waiting on is Fallen in the Alex Veras series by Benedict Jacka.

I'm open for suggestions on anybody else's favorite Urban Fantasy series they enjoy.

I rate this 8 of 10.

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch

Book 7 in the Peter Grant / Rivers of London Series

The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch, Book 6 in the Peter Grant / Rivers of London Series

In the sixth installment of Peter Grant / Rivers of London series, we find Peter a busy guy.  First, he's looking into an overdose that is connected to one of the River's of London's family, Lady Tyburn, next he's looking for a stolen book penned by Sir Isaac Newton himself, and then his hunt for The Faceless Man.  I really enjoy his new partner, Sahra Guhleed.  She brings a non-magical presence to the series, even tho this is not the first book she's been in, she does play a bigger part.  One thing we've found out about Peter is that wherever he goes, destruction is sure to follow, even if it's Harrod's.

Aaronovitch is giving Peter more and more, with less Thomas NIghtingale's supervision, which makes for more action, mistakes, and destruction.  Okay, maybe not mistakes but lots of damage.  All the key players are back and the search for all the baddies is growing.

I'm rating this 3-1/2 stars, but it's still a great read.

The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch,

Book 6 in the Peter Grant / Rivers of London Series.

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch, Book 5 of the Peter Grant (Rivers of London) Series

This has been the best of the series for me as of late.  Peter Grant is on his own, with the exception of Beverly Brooke, his new girlfriend.  Peter has been sent on assignment from Falcon to help search the disappearance of you pre-teen girls and since this has the Falcon call sign attached to it, that means the Folly is involved and magic is in play.

Peter is now in a small village surrounded by cleared woodlands and is tasked with being attached to one of the families of the missing girls and has the help of Dominic, one of the local policemen assigned to watch over him.  Nobody wants magic around, and with the media coverage that meant Peter had to be at his best at concealing the magic.

The book is great, it really starts to define Peter, as a man, as his job as a policeman, and as his position as an apprentice at the Folly.   Aaronovitch doesn't disappoint us with his storytelling, the research he does of the area and the history of the area the book takes place in.  Aaronovitch pulls out a lot of probably his personal tastes and adding knitting them into his books.  I love Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's storytelling of the audio-book.  He really is the voice of Peter in this first-person magical mystery tour.  I've said before, if Urban Fantasy is one of your likes then this must be added to your TBR list.  But I know a lot of you have already read these.  So now onto The Hanging Tree.

I give this 9 of 10

stars, but of the first 5, this is the best so far!

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch,

Book 5 of the Peter Grant (Rivers of London) Series

"Stranger Things 3" Behind-The-Scenes Facts That'll Blow Your Mind

It looks like BuzzFeed wet to a Comic-Con panel and put the answers on a nice little facts page.  I like the last little fact, that 40 million people watched Stranger Things 3 in 4 days. I was one of those.  How many people would sit and watch a basically an 8-hour movie in one day?  Well, it's nice to be able to pause and take breaks while watching, 'cause it was worth every minute of it.

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch, Book 4 of the Peter Grant (Rivers of London) Series

Broken Homes takes our special task force members into the 1960's concrete architecture of London, putting Peter and Leslie 20 plus stories up doing undercover work to find "The Faceless Man".  The architect of this particular building turns out to be a suspected magician that fled Germany before WWII and designed this building with a special feature that nobody knew about. 

Aaronovitch does a lot of good research for his books so he can tackle his subjects and themes of his books with strong knowledge.  All I can say without spoilers is that this book leaves you like a batter facing that aging pitcher that puts a 100+ fastball over the plate and the batter just watches it with his mouth wide open.  Not that slow curveball but a fastball that just makes you wonder where that came from.  Really a great ending and a what will surely be a great subject for the 5th book, Foxglove Summer,

I rate this 4 out of 5 stars.

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch,

Book 4 of the Peter Grant (Rivers of London) Series

Stranger Things Season 3 Easter Egg

Want to call Murray Bauman?  Remember Joyce Byers giving Murray's phone number to the FBI?  (618) 625-8313?  Give it a call and you get this;

Hi! You have reached the residence of Murray Bauman. Mom, if this is you, please hang up and call me between the hours of 5 and 6 PM as previously discussed. Okay?! If this is Joyce, Joyce, thank you for calling, I have been trying to reach ya. I have an update. It’s about, well, its probably best if we speak in person. It’s not good or bad, but it’s something. If this is anyone but my mother or Joyce, well…  you think you’re real clever, getting my number, don’t ya? Well, here’s some breaking news for you. You’re not clever. You’re not special. You are just simply one of the many, many nimwits to have called here, and the closest you will ever get to me is this prerecorded message. So, at the beep, do me a favor and hang up, and never call here again. You are a parasite. Thank you and good day!

One of the small things that make lie more fun. 

I can't wait for season 4! 

I also see books out now for Stranger things.  I don't know if these are new or not but I gotta at least try one.

Whispering Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch, Book 3 in the Peter May Series

AFTER you read the book, you REALLY get the title.  Whispers Under Ground starts up with young Abigail making Peter Grant take her out to look at a ghost.  Peter brings along his friend and fellow Constable Leslie May with him to be led to the train tunnels from his home neighborhood to see the ghost and watches it get run over by what they can only describe as the Hogwart's Express thus the start of our underground adventure.  Next, we get a dead American student found on the tracks of the Tube, which the murder weapon has the vestigium, or the trace imprint that magic leaves, and that brings Constable Peter May and his master of magic DCI Thomas Nightingale into the case.  We also get Constable Lesley May back into the book after her unfortunate attack in the first book.

The Peter Grant series a really magical, witty series about the many different magical societies in London and features a young Constable that is assigned to a magical detail as an apprentice.  Peter doesn't always get it right and having Lesley there, now also an apprentice to remind him when he's wrong brings another dynamic to this series that makes it that much better.  Also, the elusive villain from Moon Over Soho, book 2 in the series, is still making his mark.

I rated this 4 of 5 stars, a really good series to get into if urban fantasy is your taste.

Whispering Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch,

Book 3 in the Peter May Series.

Peter Grant Series Book Binge

Better late than never.  I guess I'm sold on reading the Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch.  I've just started book 3, Whispers Under Ground.  The series started in 2011 and is now at book 7, or 7.5 if you go for the novellas.

Heck, this series has its own wiki, https://follypedia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Follypedia_Wiki

Pretty awesome.

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch Book 2 In the Peter Grant Series

This series is hitting me like the Dresden series by Jim Butcher and the Iron Druid series by Keven Hearne.  On these two series, I couldn't make it through the first book.  I picked each up about 6 months later and just couldn't get enough of them.  Now that's the way I feel about the Peter Grant series (or Rivers of London).  After reading the first book I didn't know exactly if I wanted to go through with reading more in the series but since I had the ebook and the audiobook on my reader I thought I would read "Moon Over Soho".

Aaronovitch's Peter Grant is a smart, sometimes too smart constable in London that just happens to be an apprentice magician to DCI Nightingale.  Because of this, he has to live in the "Folly" with Nightingale which leaves Grant with a lot of research time between his police duties and his magic lessons.  After investigating the death of a Jazz musician he starts seeing that Jazz musicians are dying off at an alarming rate when compared to other types of musicians.  Grant discovers the reason being "Jazz Vampires".

This is why I am loving this series (thanks Mike Finn) because of Aaronovitch's unexhausted originality and the storytelling by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, who else can come up with Jazz Vampires and who else could sell like Kobna.  One phrase does not make a book, but the originality of this book really makes it a good read.

I rate this an 8 of 10.

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
Book 2 in the Peter Grant series

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, Book 1 in the Rivers of London Series

Rivers of London is billed as "What would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the fuzz".  I disagree.  When Harry Potter grew up he knew there was magic.  PC Peter Grant did not know or believe in magic until he was left by himself while protecting a murder scene while his partner goes for coffee.  While alone he is greeted by what he believes is a ghost.  After the ghost leaves a man walks by and identifies himself as a DCI Thomas Nightingale.

At the same time, he and a fellow PC Lesley May are reaching the end of their probation and pondering and hoping for an exciting assignment.  Lesly gets the job she dreams of, joining a major crime department while Peter finds out he going to be pushing paper for his career. 

Enter DCI Thomas Nightingale, and PC Grant finds himself in a secret investigation department, which consists of DCI Nightingale and now himself.  Their department basically investigates things that go bump in the night.  As Peter is introduced to magic and begins his lessons he learns there is a lot more to Nightingale than meets the eye.

Rivers of London introduces us to a new magical story and Ben Aaronovitch's imagination is magical in its own self.  Aaronovitch takes Peter through modern England and its history to tell this story.  Some parts get a little long but all in all, this is a very solid book and a very good lead-in for a brand new series.  While I am late getting into this series, I will probably catch up with it by the end of the year.

I rate this a 7, and I bet this series gets better as time goes on.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Book 1 in the Rivers of London Series

Gone Haunting in Deadwood by Ann Charles Book 9 of the Deadwood Mysteries

This has been the best of the Deadwood Mysteries that I've read yet.  Violet Parker really becomes the "Scharfrichter" in this book and takes her crew to Slagtown to take on the Hunter and is scouts, to try to become the Queen of Slagtown.  Violet starts getting comfortable with her new powers, well comfortable might be generous but she finds she can draw from her power easier than before.  This book has a lot going for it and has more action than any of the other books in this series.  Okay, maybe action as in fighting, not action as in time spent with Doc, her boyfriend, but there is that action too.

I give this a solid 8 of 10.

Gone Haunting in Deadwood by Ann Charles
Book 9 of the Deadwood Mysteries

Rattling the Heat in Deadwood By Ann Charles, Book 8 in the Deadwood Mysteries

Short review.  In keeping in the Violet Parker fashion of the paranormal, we find our Scharfrichter, trying to learn about becoming an executioner and being a Time Keeper in her own, reluctant way.  Between being a single mother of twins, her job, being chased and hounded by the local police version of Rockford, and fantasizing and actually having coitus with her boyfriend, Violet actually does chase some ghosts and demons.

This is a fun little series, it's easy to read, and Ann Charles has proven that she can be unpredictable as the story keeps stretching out to what will be the 11th book coming out around Christmas 2019.

Now it's on to book 9.  Why, because it's there.

I rate this 6 out of 10, it's a good series.

Rattling the Heat in Deadwood By Ann Charles
Book 8 in the Deadwood Mysteries

God Touched by John Conroe, The Demon Accords Series, Book 1

After reading the two books in the series of 'Tales of Pell' narrated by Luke Daniels, I was really not enjoying the book.  After about 40% in it start coming in to be a good read.  I'm doing the audiobook at the same time just like the aforementioned series, but James Patrick Cronin's rendition of God Touched took me a while to get into it.  I don't want to say Luke is better or compare the two because these are two-way different types of books.  I bet Cronin could do his multiple characters in crazy voices just like Daniels, so I got over it.

God Touched was released back in 2010 and has been successful in Conroe's Demon Accord series.  The main protagonist is Christian Gordon, who has been a demon hunter for the last few years of his young life.  Now he has just passed his probational period with the NYPD and learns there are other supernatural things in life, like vampires, werewolves, werebears, wereweazils, and were-anything-carnivorous to go along with Demons.

Not much reason to really give a detailed review or throw spoilers in.  Like I said earlier it was released in 2009 and reviewed probably over 1000 times.

If you like Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Demons, were-whatevers, and other things supernatural with a light dash of romantics then you should enjoy this.

For me, this is a 7 of 10, really worth reading.

God Touched by John Conroe

The Demon Accords series, book 1

Books Vs. Movies - Part 3 (update)

I've finished the 2nd book, Catching Fire and halfway through Mockingjay, the 3rd book and past where the 3rd movie ends and the 4th movie begins.  The books are really good, with lots of action but really sappy, which makes them hard to put down to write my reviews so I guess I'll do them all when I've finished the book series.  I get compulsive and just keep going sometimes and don't want to stop what I'm doing to do what I should be doing.  But it's really not like anybody is really reading this.  If anybody does, then thank you.

Book vs. Movies, Part 3 (1st in a Series of 6)

The Hunger Games

Most everybody has seen the movies and probably a quarter of those that have seen it, if not lower have read the books. I've read them once (and the 1st 2 books twice) and now I plan to read them again.

It's funny how things trigger your mind.  I walked into a room where my wife was watching TV and the 1st Hunger Games movie was on and it reminded me of how much a fan I was of the movies and of Suzanne Collins trilogy.  To me, this was the first really successful adaptation of a modern YA book to movie.  I could never get into the Twilight series, it just seemed over-acted.  I think the movies stayed true to the books, with a little deviation and were very entertaining.  A great list of actors was on this movie project and some were big names, like Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore, Stanley Tucci, and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. It made the career of Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth.  When I read the books I see the actors acting out what you are reading, adding faces to the words.  The movies had great CGI, bringing life to the books and color to the scenes.  At this time Wikipedia has The Hunger Games Listed as the 20th highest-grossing film series of all time.  All four movies won major awards in various categories.  

What I will be doing is just a comparison and probably not any real review because you can find them all over IMDB and Goodreads and my favorite site, Booklikes.

So in this post, I'll just list the movies and link them over to Wikipedia.  Descriptions are plagiarized from Wikipedia The Hunger Games Film Series site, also.

The Hunger Games (2012)

Every year, in the ruins of what was once North America, the Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its 12 districts to send a teenage boy and girl, between the ages of 12 and 18, to compete in the Hunger Games: a nationally televised event in which 'tributes' fight each other within an arena, until one survivor remains. When Primrose Everdeen is 'reaped', her older sister Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her place to enter the games and is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts when she's pitted against highly-trained tributes.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

Along with fellow District 12 victor Peeta Mellark, Katniss Everdeen returns home safely after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Winning means that they must leave their loved ones behind and embark on a Victory Tour throughout the districts. Along the way Katniss senses a rebellion simmering - one that she and Peeta may have sparked - but the Capitol is still in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Hunger Games - the Quarter Quell - that could change Panem forever.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)

Katniss Everdeen finds herself in District 13 after she destroys the games forever. Under the leadership of President Alma Coin and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta, along with other victors and a nation moved by her courage.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)

Realizing the stakes are no longer just for survival, Katniss Everdeen teams up with her closest friends and allies, including Peeta, Gale, and Finnick, for the ultimate mission. Together, they leave District 13 to liberate the citizens of war-torn Panem and assassinate President Snow.

So pick up your reader and download the books with your Kindle Unlimited account, which at this time is free to borrow and enjoy your read.  The books are written in a simple YA style, easy to read and since they are YA they are written for teens but us adults can enjoy them too.

A Late Christmas Present from Jim Butcher

I saw a post on Reddit that gives us an update on Jim Butcher and where he is in his writing career. To see it go to his website or click here.  He has resumed work on Peace Talks. Unfortunately, there is still no release date, but he has posted an update on where he is, well what chapter he is on and mentions that he will start on book 2 in the Cinder Spires 2 called The Olympian Affair.

Jm also left us with a Christmas Story called Christmas Eve, which takes place between Changes and Cold Days.  No grading system required since it is a very short story.  Go to the link to his page for the short story.

Read January 1st, 2019)