The fifth in the Peter Grant series was a quick and fun read, without having a great deal of impact. I enjoyed it but found other books in the series more memorable, so after hesitating between three and four stars chose the former. In part this was due to the slightly risky conceit of displacing Peter from London and the Folly to rural Herefordshire. To be fair, the villages and countryside are vividly evoked and distinctive. I also liked the team-up between Peter and a local PC named Dominic, as their working friendship was entertaining. It was a pity to have Nightingale, Molly, and Dr. Walid off-screen, though Beverly’s presence was fun. I like that she cares about Peter while also having a lot of her own stuff going on, very little of which she is willing to explain to him. There was also a bit more world-building in this instalment, including further detail regarding Ettersburg. The business with bees reminded me of ‘Jupiter Rising’ (what a film) and there were a number of very funny moments. Overall, I am emotionally invested in this series and find each book a good diversion, however some of them ([b:Whispers Under Ground|9970042|Whispers Under Ground (Peter Grant, #3)|Ben Aaronovitch|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1341006340s/9970042.jpg|14864236], [b:Midnight Riot|8680417|Midnight Riot (Peter Grant, #1)|Ben Aaronovitch|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389055317s/8680417.jpg|13552476]) work better for me than others ([b:Moon Over Soho|8680418|Moon Over Soho (Peter Grant, #2)|Ben Aaronovitch|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320411169s/8680418.jpg|13552477], this one). They are all well worth reading, though, for their excellent sense of place. And I do appreciate Peter’s perennial fixations on architecture and tailoring.

Finally, although the giant terrifying unicorns were brilliant, the fairy kidnap plot was not really explained sufficiently. Why were the two little girls taken in the first place? It was good that the emotional impact of Lesley’s defection came up, but her motives remained cloudy and her mysterious threats to expect trouble in a year just seemed like teasers for the next in the series. On the other hand, Peter’s faith that Nightingale would rescue him from fairies was adorable and there were some intriguing glimpses of rural magic. ( )

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/foxglove-summer-by-ben-aaronovitch/

I’ve read the previous installments of the Rivers of London series before and enjoyed them. In this volume, our protagonist, a London detective who has found himself sucked into magical investigations, is called to Herefordshire with his goddess girlfriend to investigate the disappearance of two girls. There’s lots of rural/urban tension, some glorious but not explicit erotic moments, and a look at how the boundary between our world and Faerie might manifest in the twenty-first century. There’s also a really good sense of place within Herefordshire’s geography. I think you could enjoy this book without having read the previous five books, but you’d enjoy it more if you had. ( )

My husband and I are currently listening our way through this series, of which which he has read all and I have read some. Kobna Holbrook-Smith's narration is spot-on and it's just a really enjoyable way to consume these stories. ( )

I listened to this as an audiobook because that didn't have a wait list.

Pro: I was able to listen on my commute, and tore through it.

Con: I wasn't wild about some of the voices the actor did, and I feel like i missed a lot of Aaronovitch's fun writing because it goes by too fast spoken. I ended it feeling like I needed to reread the book in print, and I probably will. ( )

Others have described the storyline of this book and series, so I'll just fuss a bit. I love the Rivers of London (PC Peter Grant) books; but I'm less satisfied with this 5th installment of the series. I was hoping for continuation, exploration and perhaps some resolution, of the (character-wise) paradigm shifting events at the end of book 5, Broken Homes. Instead, we wander off in a different direction, during which, the major character revelation of the previous book almost comes across as incidental.

It feels rather as it does when, a on a TV series, a secondary-lead actor goes away on maternity leave or to make a film. Then the writing staff has to pivot heavily to sub-plots within the Meta-plot in order to work around the extended absence. Ben Aaronovitch has TV scripts to his credit; but as this is a book series, perhaps he just wanted to keep things fresh or take Peter out of his element, or develop a different character dynamic or something else... writerly. As a reader, I just bloody well wanted to know what the devil is going on with that grenade he dropped on the mantelpiece ending Broken Homes! Grump! Crank! Grump!


- now that I've got that out of my system... My fussing really is a testament to the author's skills. I'm thoroughly invested in his characters and story.
I had suppositions as to where this book would go, and it didn't go there. (Hurumph!) Still, if FoxGlove Summer, is literally off the beaten trail, it is yet a really good Peter Grant read. It also opens the cabinets on some of the other character's goods, consummates a serious point of tension, and yields hints to coming conflict. It just didn't delve in to, and advance the Faceless Man Metaplot as much as I would have liked. (...and now I've got to wait another writing/publishing cycle to get more!) So, I fuss;. As will continue to fuss whilst I purchase the the Foxglove Summer audiobook, (Kobna Holbrook Smith's voice IS Peter Grant's), search for more news blurbs on a future Rivers of London TV series, and wait, very impatiently, for the Sixth installment. :-) ( )