Ben Aaronovitch has written a delightful series of novels about magic and crime in modern London. Amongst Our Weapons is the ninth book in the series (there are also some novellas and some graphic novels) and a reader new to these stories should really start with the first one, Rivers of London.
The hero of these stories is Peter Grant, a man of mixed white and African heritage who is a police officer. In the early books of the series he becomes aware that magic and evil forces are present in the city of London. The Metropolitan Police are well aware of this and have a special section called Falcon which deals with these matters – Peter is part of Falcon and learning to use his own magic powers alongside the usual policing methods.
Peter is an entertaining narrator who is continually surprised and challenged by magic but who has his own idiosyncratic ways of melding modern technology with the supernatural. His partner, Beverley, is a personification of one of the many rivers in London as are her sisters. In this book Beverley is pregnant and she and Peter are awaiting the birth of twins.
This story starts with a murder at a silver vault. The murderer should not be able to escape because of the security but as they have disappeared it is obvious that this is a Falcon case and Peter and his boss, Nightingale, are called in to assist. When Peter becomes involved he begins to uncover a story which reaches back into the past and as far as the North of England (a place where Peter feels very much out of his depth). Some characters from previous books appear which is fun for the reader and the author develops the story about Peter’s ex-partner Lesley further. There are also talking, magical foxes.
These books are amusing as Peter has an irreverent attitude and many of the characters are larger than life but sometimes they are sad too because they deal with real life situations and the author is not afraid to let consequences happen to his characters. Characters who use magic often use it for ill. The stories are also highly entertaining as the author includes modern policing, magic and the history of London and makes them work well together. This instalment in the series is a page turner and I read it in one evening – I look forward to more.
Anne Is Reading 