This reads to me like the skeleton of a Ben Aaronovitch book. I've read all the others in this series, and they're written in depth, with each character clearly delineated, with their own back story, and developing as the series goes on. A casual reader could pick up any one of them and find enough exposition seamlessly woven into the narrative to give them a grasp of what it's all about and thus enjoy the story as a stand-alone. There's none of that here. Yes, familiar characters appear, but familiar only if you've read the other books.
It's as if there's a presumption that the reader has done so and therefore we meet the protagonists only as a series of names with little to distinguish one from the other. Even when you know who they are, everything still feels a bit thin and unsatisfactory. If I were his editor, I'd set Aaronovitch on an extensive rewrite to bulk the book up and give the narrative and characters more depth. A pity, because I love the rest of the series and was looking forward to reading this one.

Another fantastic entry in Rivers of London series - it has a compelling and sympathetic mystery that widens out the world of magic in London, the Rivers themselves, and Folly history, is very funny (to be expected), and gives the Mr. Aaronovitch a chance to explore a few, up to this point, relatively tertiary characters that will likely be important in the future. For my money this is one of the best urban fantasy series around and this novella does not disappoint. One caveat; I think new reader will enjoy this very much but its length doesn't really allow for the sort of "catching up" chat that the novels provide, so be prepared for some mild brow furrowing if this is your first introduction to these characters. Highly recommend.

Having just finished 'Rivers of London' the first in the Peter Grant series, and courtesy of Netgalley, I was able to fast forward straight to 'The Furthest Station', the sixth Peter Grant novel. As before, it's part urban fantasy and part police procedural, a combination that has understandably found an enthusiastic and committed audience of readers.

'The Furthest Station' is actually a novella and can be read in a hour or two, it is also a lot of fun. Another London-centric plot, here concerning ghosts harassing passengers on London Underground's Metropolitan Line, who almost immediately forget the experience has happened. The sense of place is spot on and the interactions between the characters remain amusing and charming.

This series of stories has the potential to run and run.

3/5

https://tvgeekingout.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/the-furthest-station-by-ben-aaronovitch/?frame-nonce=cce8a5a86d

Enjoyable and Light-hearted

This is an enjoyable 144 page novella, part of the PC Peter Grant series set in the world of "Rivers of London".
There are ghost-sightings in the subway, more than normal, and Peter as a member of the Folly has to handle it.
This starts a light-hearted romp in which we meet some of the cast from the novels, like Jaget from the BTP, learn that even rivergoods have a childhood and especially see, how Abigail, his cousin, develops to an asset of the Folly.
There could be more of Beverly, and there is nothing to advance the main plot line with the Faceless Man and Lesley, but in my opinion it is ok, that the author reservs those for the novels.
Nevertheless I do not think, that any fan of the series will miss on the opportunity to get a view at the things that happen outside the main plot line.
I really liked the book and would recommend it to everyone, but I think, you should know the characters already from the novels to get the most of it.

5/5 stars

* I got an e-arc for review from the publisher via netgalley *

This novella is number 5.7 in the Peter Grant series. This book doesn't further the themes that are developing in the series so it's not necessary to have read all of the previous books. However you'll probably enjoy this one a lot more if you've read at least "Rivers of London". In this book, ghosts have begun interacting with passengers on the Metropolitan Line and the Special Assessment unit (the Folly) of the London police has been called in to investigate. It turns out that the ghosts have an important mission. With the usual combination of wit and police procedure, Peter and his teenaged cousin Abigail encounter not only ghosts but a new river god and a kidnapping.

This is the first book of the series that I didn't listen to in audiobook format. I highly recommend the audiobooks because their narrator is brilliant, but by this time I'm so used to his voice that I could hear him in my head as I read. This book will tide me over until the author releases his next full length book.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

I always love the Peter Grant series and this addition was not an exception. Peter and friends kept me entertained and I was very sad to see the story end. Looking forward to further installments in the series. Five stars!

This novella joins Peter Grant and (some of) the usual suspects for a new investigation. Present: Peter, Abigail, Nightingale, Jaget, and briefly, Beverley. I was a bit thrown by the total absence of any mention at all of Leslie; it feels like it's set in some weird time bubble where there's nothing going on with her at all, where she didn't even exist. I don't know if it's set before or after The Hanging Tree, which I haven't read yet; possibly that'll resolve my slight confusion.

It's a fun story, which feels very much like the full-length novels, although it resolves faster (of course) and doesn't involve any of the larger threads like the Faceless Man -- though it does advance Abigail's story, showing her interest in and aptitude for the work of the Folly, whether Peter thinks she's ready or not. We get some more ghosts and ghostly phenomena, and Peter's ongoing attempts at rationalising them.

All in all, I rather enjoyed it, perhaps especially because it's just Peter and business as usual. No heartwrenching personal storylines for him in this novella, and thank goodness for that.

[Link goes live 23rd April.]

I received a copy of this from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

All of the books in the Peter Grant series are fun to read, and The Furthest Station is no exception. This book focuses on the London Underground and its trains, and many of the events take place there.

Having just read The Hanging Tree, I had to jump back just a little, reminding myself that this, 5.7 in the series, presumably takes place between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree. If you're hesitating about reading this because you haven't read them, don't - this stands nicely on its own, without the events of those novels.

I've grown quite fond of some of the recurring characters in the series, and you won't find much of Beverly here. And, nothing here advances the ongoing plot line with the Faceless Man and Lesley. On the other hand, we now get to read more about Abigail, Peter Grant's teenage cousin, which is great. When she was introduced earlier in the series, I thought she'd be an interesting addition, and this novella certainly shows that.

A fast and fun read!

The Furthest Station starts off with the same flair we’ve seen in previous installments to the Peter Grant series and I’ll tell you, it’s good to be back with Peter.

Though short at only 144 pages The Furthest Station is packed with enough information to give you an insight into the trouble peter can get into when left to his own devices.

This novella is about ghosts predominantly and we experience Toby the wonder dog in his element. The same characters from the previous books star with a special mention to Jaget and Abigail – Abigail in particular was brilliant – incredibly smart and up on all thing supernatural.

Ben Aaronovitch’s typical descriptive monologing through Peter is as always brilliant. My favourite is below:

…it is the cry of the guilty middle-class homeowner.

This sort of thing always creates a dilemma since the scale of guilt you’re dealing with ranges from using a hosepipe during a ban to having just finished cementing your abusive husband into the patio.

The ghosts eventually give Peter the information he needs to locate a crime happening and in true Folly flair it’s filled with supernatural hijinks and Nightingale at his best. The magic was few and far between but the ghosts made up for it and the relationship between Peter, Nightingale and Abigail as well as Abigail and Molly were written very well. I look forward to seeing where the growing friendship between Abigail and Molly goes in the next books.

It was a touch odd reading book 5.7 after reading book 6 but there were no crossed boundaries that made things seem complicated so great news there. Overall, very well written.

The Furthest Station is a novella in David Aaronovitch’s “Peter Grant” series, centred around a young policeman who has to investigate supernatural crimes whilst getting a handle on his own magic.

In this instance, that means investigating the appearance of ghosts on the Tube. Aaronovitch has always had a good eye for environments, and the London he constructs is at once familiar and accented with the deeply strange. The Tube is its usual bustling space, filled with throngs of humanity, happy to overlook a line of police tape on a platform if they can get on with their commutes. There’s some lovely asides as well – such as a visit to a train depot, where the Tube trains are stored overnight. It feels dark, claustrophobic, and safety conscious – and real enough to serve as an insight into how the Tube system works.

There’s more here of course; worn suburban towns on the limits of the London network, their bucolic entropy a sharp contrast to the energy and enthusiasm coming from the nearby metropolis. But they’re familiar as well – larger houses, more space, torn between being something smaller or a “commuter barn”. The casual asides which help identify these places – the lack of a coffee shop in the train station, for example – are both wryly humourous and devastatingly accurate.
This is all well and good, and it’s always enjoyable following Aaronovitch’s fluid prose as he exposes some interesting areas of London, but it helps that he can sell the supernatural as well. Sitting in the interstices of our reality are the strange, the troubled, and the dangerous. Previous books have given us magic-users who happen to be policemen, tasked to defend the populae and ensure the peace with little in the way of manpower or funding. They’re still there, and the fusion of the mystical with the humdrum-yet-compelling reality of modern policework is as delightful as ever. This time though, we’re exploring ghosts – what they are, how they work, and potentially, whether they can commit crimes. The supernatureal elements here felt natural, if that makes sense – they had their place in the narrative, and it seemed eminently sensible that a ghost might ride a Tube train, or that a dog might be able to track the echoes of magic that they give off.

In any event, Aaronovitch has done well here. This is a corner of London it now feels as if I’ve explored, despite never having ventured down the tracks of the Tube after dark, and his ghosts and monsters are vividly convincing.

Most of the focus here is on Peter Grant; he’s a policeman who happens to be a wizard, part of a large family originally from Sierra Leone, and his relationship with a river goddess can probably be described as ‘complicated’. Peter is pleasantly cynical, his wry, sharp observations on the small futilities and triumphs of life in the Metropolitan Police helping make the whole thing more convincing. He’s intelligent and incisive, but has an aura of the everyman, even this far into the series – and that helps draw the reader in, and get us to feel Peter’s struggles as our own.

In this instance, he’s joined by his boss, DCI Nightingale, a man who bored a hole through several inches of Tiger tank with a magical projectile. Nightingale is suave, old fashioned, and implacable. His mentoring of Peter is always enjoyable, the gentle student-teacher relationship surrounded by quips about Peter’s terrible Latin, and the occasional fireball. I’m always happy to see Nightingale get some time on the page, and he’s still an absolutely fascinating character.

Peter’s teenage relative, Abigail, gets some time here too. She’s clearly intelligent, with a penchant for long-suffering looks when dealing with Peter’s apparent obtuseness. Their relationship almost mirrors Peter’s with Nightingale, though there’s some wonderfully entertaining banter injected as well. If Peter and Nithingale worry about letting Abigail into the magical world, she’s…well, she’s probably already there, critiquing old traditions, and trying not to get into too much trouble (or at least, trying not to end up having someone else bail her out). Abigail has turned up before now in minor scenes, but she grows on the page in this novella; there’s clearly hidden depths there, and it’s great to see her efforts, having decided what she wants to be a magic user, to grap her goal as quickly as possible. Where Peter is wiser, and occasionally more cautious, she’s likely to grasp the flaming, gravity defying nettle – which may or may not be a bad thing.

The plot – well, our protagonists spend a fair bit of time trying to work out why ghosts are appearing on the tube, and looking into possibly connected mundane crimes. The blend of the familiar and the bizarre works really well here; the central mystery is dark, worrying and intriguing – and would probably be so without the icing of magic. There’s some nice twists and turns here, and the investigation is tense and tightly written. It’s a cracking mystery, one that let me brood over it for a while before an intriguing, if troubling, conclusion.

If you’re coming to this after catching up on Peter Grant novels, it’s more of what you’ve probably enjoyed up to now – magic, mystery and mayhem, with a side order of cynicism, social observation and pitch-perfect British charm. If you’ve never read one of the Peter Grant series before, this is a decent entry point, and gets across the central themes of the world very well – though I’d still advise you start back at the beginning.

Either way, I had a lot of fun reading this; it’s thoroughly enjoyable, and thoroughly recommended.

This is a lovely bite sized helping of Rivers of London to tide you over until the next full novel.

Against a backdrop of ghosts on the underground that takes Peter Grant out to the far suburbs, big things are happening in the background of the series. This novella is going to have ramifications down the line for everyone at the Folly, as Peter and Nightingale satisfyingly chew over what to do about Peter's inquisitive, apparently genius level niece Abigail, and Peter discovers a four year old child who, if I know this story, is going to raise some questions in future books.

The mystery underpinning all this is a satisfying one: there's a kidnapping, some very 'Rivers of London' clues and some interesting background on ghosts, which have been important to the setting from the first book.

It seems like Aaronovitch is using this novel to highlight and create unanswered questions: Peter Grant's scientific mind lets him highlight everything he can't pin down precisely, and it's going to be interesting to see if the author intends to answer these questions, or use them to show the limits of rational enquiry when it runsup against magic. After all, the kidnapping plot is resolved with as much emphasis on Peter's gut instincts as on solid police work.

I'm eagerly awaiting the next novel now: a new Rivers of London can never come soon enough.

In this fairly short and light story, ghosts are harassing morning commuters on the Tube, and Peter has been deputized to put a stop to it. Abigail is a major character, with Jaget and Toby playing important supporting roles along with Nightingale and Molly. Pretty much no one else appears, unfortunately, though that's what happens when you only have 144 pages to fill. I was so glad to see more of Abigail, who is totally my favorite part of this novella, and I love how her role is developing: her Latin (now better than Peter's), her odd relationship with foxes, her pseudo-job as the Folly's intern, and of course the question looming ever closer: how to (or if to) teach her magic. A subplot about a new river is adorable, and I can't wait to see where it goes in the future.

The writing is, as always, funny and clever and full of odd little facts about architecture and history, with a few moments of surprising emotion. I absolutely love the way the mystery developed – which is why I'm trying not to spoil it here – but my one complaint with the book is that I wish there'd been just a little bit more resolution at the end. I wanted that last thread tied up, even if it is probably more realistic to leave a few dangling.

And again: only 144 pages.

Overall it's a charming and memorable story, even if it doesn't advance the series's overall plot arc any. Highly recommended, though I'm sure all the Rivers of London fans plan to read it already. :D I'm not sure how well it would work as an introduction to the series – on the one hand, there is that fairly small cast, but on the other there's plenty of unexplained backstory and worldbuilding. It could go either way, I suppose. But if you're not familiar with Rivers of London, get on that!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1969755669

I felt that this was a really focused little story that gave the readers an insight into general policing issues that the Folly and Peter deal with outside of the main ark.

it also allowed readers to re-meet some old characters and see how they are doing (mainly Jaget) but also see the development of Abigail.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. It was well written and to the point. I would recommend it to any fan of the Peter Grant series.

I read the first book in this series a few years ago, but didn't end up continuing it event though it was enjoyable. This novella brought me back into this urban fantasy in a big way. Peter is an excellent narrator and main character. He plays a great straight man to all the chaos around him. Some of my favorite character's from the first book make appearances. There were some helpful footnotes for non Brit readers, which was helpful.

Despite the none-more-London topic of ghosts on the Tube, Aaronovitch's latest Peter Grant story is available to the Yanks* in June, three months before the Britons get it. Because the world is a crazy and unfair place, I suppose. But equally, because the world is a crazy and unfair place which does have Netgalley, I get it two months before the US, so there's that. It's billed as a novella, which for me is a definition that gives out some way before 144 pages, though given what quick reads the Folly books are anyway, it's true to say it only lasted me the morning commute and my lunchbreak, and that with the help of a 2000AD. So yes, such brevity might affect purchasing decisions - but given the lateness to which Aaronovitch's novels have been prone for a good two decades now, I can certainly see the sense in a quick stopgap.

In terms of moving the series' overall plot on, The Furthest Station feels closer to the short stories and comics than the novels proper. But I don't mind that; not everything has to be about the arc, and often I'm happy just to enjoy a setting rather than have it constantly straining to evolve. The set-up here is sound (why are ghosts harassing Metropolitan Line commuters, who then forget the experience within minutes?); the character interaction is as charming as ever (perhaps it's a little light on Beverley and family, but it's good to see something substantial of Peter's cousin Abigail again); and as ever, if there are any cracks, the charm of Grant's narration always serves to carry the reader through. Plus, a wonderfully mischievous aside about Nightingale's old school. All in all, a lovely little morsel to tide us over.

*I'm not sure if this is standard, because I've never read the American editions before, but this one at least appends each of the more peculiarly British details with a 'Note for Reynolds', Reynolds being Grant's US contact. I had occasionally wondered how the readership elsewhere coped.