Book Review: The Rivers of London graphic novel series by Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel and Lee Sullivan

The Rivers of London graphic novel series (9 volumes to date)
by Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel and artist Lee Sullivan (741.5 Aar + Hoopla Comics)

Having previously reviewed Body Work, the first Rivers of London graphic novel, a few months ago here in the libraries’ Staff Recommendations, I’ve subsequently managed to catch up on the first 7 of the 8 graphic novels in this series that the libraries own (there’s a 9th we don’t have yet).

 

The quality of these graphic novels remains consistently high. The same writing and art team have stayed with them for the entire multi-year run, so the look of the main characters, Detective Constable Peter Grant, Thomas Nightingale, Molly the Maid, PC Guleed and many other supporting figures, remains the same from volume to volume. Each volume compiles 4 to 5 issues of a serialized comic book, though most of these graphic novel compilations tidily cut out the unnecessary extra pages that began each new “comic book issue” and make it look like a single uninterrupted story.

 

The humor, British flavor, and deep dive into both British/World history, and the world of what the Rivers of London series calls “the demi-monde” (the world of a paranormal) make this series particularly appealing. What I particularly appreciate about these graphic novels is that the creators consider the stories told in graphical form to be just as legitimate to the overall continuity of the storytelling as the prose novels. so, these 9 graphic novels fit in between the events of the 9 novels and 5 novellas (and one short story collection), and anyone interested in this witty paranormal police procedural series should be reading them in all the formats!

 

The Rivers of London series is one of the absolute best contemporary mixes of detective fiction and paranormal. It’s like Law & Order meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with a heavy emphasis on British flavor. While individual graphic novel installments vary in how compelling they are, on the whole, overall, I’d rate the first 8 an average of “9” on our Staff Recommendations 1-10 rating scale. I particularly enjoyed Volumes 4 Detective Stories (a bunch of short tales interconnected as Peter Grant’s actual policing skills are being studied, outside of his wizarding skills), 5 Cry Fox (a very crafty and wily little story that introduces a potential new adversary, and 7 Action at a Distance, which is one of the first chances we’ve had to explore the background history of the mysterious Thomas Nightingale. Later graphic novels in this series have included detailed essays on some of the historical topics touched on by each issue’s plot — fascinating reading. Enjoy!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try everything else in the Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. Also the novels about The Vinyl Detective by graphic novels co-author Andrew Cartmel are also highly entertaining and capture much the same feel and tone as the Rivers of London stories, just with less emphasis on paranormal proceedings.)

 

( Wikipedia page about the Rivers of London series including the graphic novels ) | ( official Ben Aaronovitch web site )

 

Read Scott C.’s review of Midnight Riot, the first Rivers of London novel, in the February 2012 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
Read Scott C.’s review of Body Work, the first Rivers of London graphic novel, in the May 2023 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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