The October Man
by Ben Aaronovitch
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Pub Date May 31 2019 | Archive Date Jun 01 2019
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Description
With this long new novella, bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch has crafted yet another wickedly funny and surprisingly affecting chapter in his beloved Rivers of London series.
If you thought magic was confined to one country—think again.
Trier: famous for wine, Romans and being Germany’s oldest city.
When a man is found dead with his body impossibly covered in a fungal rot, the local authorities know they are out of their depth. But fortunately this is Germany, where there are procedures for everything.
Enter Tobias Winter, an investigator for the Abteilung KDA, the branch of the German Federal Criminal Police which handles the supernatural. His aim is to get in, deal with the problem, and get out with the minimum of fuss, personal danger and paperwork.
Together with frighteningly enthusiastic local cop, Vanessa Sommer, he quickly links the first victim to a group of ordinary middle aged men whose novel approach to their mid-life crisis may have reawakened a bloody conflict from a previous century.
As the rot spreads, literally, and the suspect list extends to people born before Frederick the Great, Tobias and Vanessa will need to find allies in some unexpected places.
And to solve the case they’ll have to unearth the secret magical history of a city that goes back two thousand years.
Presuming that history doesn’t kill them first.
Advance Praise
Publishers Weekly:
“In this enjoyable spin-off from the Rivers of London urban fantasy series, Aaronovitch successfully transfers his blend of the supernatural and humor from England to the Continent as he introduces Tobias Winter, a German police officer who practices magic… Supernatural mystery fans who enjoy more whimsical takes on the paranormal will hope for more of Winter and Sommer.”
Booklist:
“Aaronovitch expands the universe of his Rivers of London series (Broken Homes, 2014) to include new characters operating in different countries with ties to supernatural crimes and detective work. The October Man introduces Tobias Winter, a sanctioned magic practitioner who investigates the supernatural angles of crimes for the Abteilung KDA (which fans will recognize as the German extension of the British Folly)… Aaronovitch delivers yet another classic detective novel rich with the magical world building accomplished in his previous work.”
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781596069084 |
| PRICE | $40.00 (USD) |
Links
Featured Reviews
John M, Reviewer
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Police Procedural, Peter Grant, Rivers of London
Similar books: Dresden Files, Felix Castor
Rating: Solidly Recommended Urban Fantasy Police Procedural Novella
Here's the TL;DR for my review (SPOILERS!):
Pros
Ancient German mythos meets modern day detective work
This is set in the same universe as the Rivers of London series. If you're not familiar with the series up-to-now, this is a good place to start. I liked that this fleshed out the setting in a much-needed way.
I liked the murder-weapon. Someone's using wine-making fungus to kill people in a magical ritualized fashion.
I liked the length of the novella. It was short enough that there was basically no filler content. It was action-and-plot packed from cover to cover.
Mixed
I liked the blank slate of Tobias. He's a new protagonist who hasn't had 7+ books written about him. However I thought his personality could have been developed a little more.
Cons
I wanted a bit more exposition and worldbuilding about magic in Germany. The author gave the reader enough to understand what was going in in the novel, but never as much to sate my curiosity.
I got this book for free for the purpose of an honest review.
This novella is book 7.5 in the 'Rivers of London' series- though truth be told this book felt more like a side-branch of a new series. This is set in Germany and not London, and stars a brand new character. In fact there are no returning characters from the prior series. While there are numerous homages to the previous 'Rivers of London' books, this book doesn't depend on those previous book. As a result, this book does stand entirely alone.
I liked this book quite a bit, more than some of the more recent 'Rivers of London' books. When a body is discovered covered in wine-fungus mold, Tobias Winter is called in to investigate. Toby is the German equivalent of Peter Grant- a young apprentice wizard who solves magical crimes for the government. And this wine-fungus murder is most certainly magical, meaning poor Toby has his vacation called off so he can solve the case.
Plot: I liked it. This is a tightly-plotted story of murder and mayhem in German wine-country. Winter and Sommer are two cops who must team up to discover who is behind the strange deaths, researching not only local criminals but also local folklore. The author does a good job of keeping the tension up by constantly throwing curve balls and bringing in new evidence.
Pacing: the book doesn't have any noticeable slow points. This is a Police Procedural genre novel pacing wise: body is discovered, talk with suspects, find evidence, expand suspect pool, find more evidence, reduce suspect pool, chase the murderer, the end. The author does a satisfactory job of following genre conventions in this way.
Characterization: While I like Toby as a new POV character, I think he could have used more characterization. His father got more characterization in this novel, and his father never actually appeared in this book. If this gets more books in this sub-series, I would like the author to flesh his protagonist out more.
My biggest piece of constructive criticism overall is that I wanted more details about Nazi-era magic use in this setting. It hung over like a cloud over the entire story, but the author never actually said what it was they did.
Net total, I enjoyed it quite a bit. If you're interested in reading a Police Procedural Fantasy, check this out.
Librarian 248434
This was delightful and doesn't require reading the Rivers of London series, but it does help inform what's going on and who some of the players/beings are in this book. In the October Man, the location has moved to Germany and their division of the magic/supernatural shenanigan police. The characters are fantastic and the mystery surrounding a winery is intriguing. I enjoyed meeting the rivers of Germany, too. This is a short tale, so I'm hoping this turns into a full series!
Lisa S, Librarian
This is a spin-off of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London. Set in Germany we follow detective and magic practitioner Tobias Winter. I do prefer the Peter Grant series, but this is well worth the read. Somewhere someone called Aaronovitch's books CSI Hogwarts. I also really enjoy the graphic novels created from the Rivers series.
Reviewer 492564
A delicious entry in the Rivers of London series, this novella introduces readers to the German equivalent of Nightingale, Grant, and the Folly denizens. Tobias Winter, one of Germany's only two practitioners, is paired with Vanessa Sommer to investigate the supernatural death of first one man, and later several, near a vineyard struggling to make a comeback. Readers get to learn about German magic traditions, werewolves, river goddesses of Germany, noble rot, and more. It's a fantastic treat for fans of this series and can be an introduction to the series for newcomers.
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