Whispers Under Ground

From Amazon: Whispers Under Ground

One of the main test for a writer who embarks on a series of books is whether or not s/he can sustain things beyond the second or third volume. Possibly my favourite series is Terry Goodkind's fantasy epic, spanning I've-forgotten-how-many books. My brother bought me the first one, "Wizard's First Rule", for Christmas an age ago. I'm dreadfully conservative with unfamiliar authors, but equally I can't leave a book unread, so ploughed into it and was swept through it with amazing speed.

I read what I thought was the final book a couple of years ago, but spotted two (two!) in an airport bookstore recently that have come out since. Roll on Christmas!

So, it was with mild trepidation that I approached "Whispers Under Ground". Ben Aaronovitch had nicely pulled off two books in his 'Peter Grant' series of novels where the London Metropolitan Police have a small specialist division dedicated to magical crime.

I shouldn't have worried. Apart from my previous gripe about ungrammatical writing, the book's great. The London Underground is a lovely place for storytelling: there's something about tunnels and darkness and things you can't quite see that really works for me as a reader.

Aaronovitch continues to expand his magical world. The follow-on from the end of the previous book, which is a bit of a cliffhanger, is perhaps a little weak, with too smooth a transition given that it does shake things up considerably; but that's a minor niggle. Overall it's another funny, well-researched, well-paced book. If you haven't already started on the first one, buy the lot, turn off the television, lock the door, lay in a quantity of chocolate, and enjoy.