Ben Aaronovitch's Broken Homes
Aug. 29th, 2013 01:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightJust finished this book this morning. Was late for work as a consequence.
Spoilers behind cut.
Hoo-boy, this was a good one (and not marred by typos like the last one). I honestly wasn't expecting the bombshell moment at the end. Looking back, I can see there were hints dropped throughout the book that Lesley was very much not okay with what had happened to her face (who would be?), and that Peter's discomfort with her unmasked had increased her not okay-ness tenfold.
I really didn't think she'd ever do that, though, or at least not when she saw what the consequences were (by which I mean the Faceless Man using other women to practise facial modification on and then killing them to hide the evidence).
I love these books so much. The characters are great, the depiction of London in all its cosmopolitan glory is even greater, and I adore the whole thing about the personifications of the rivers etc, in the same way I loved Neil Gaiman's personification of stations on the Underground in Neverwhere. London has such a deep, deep history and Aaronovitch is mining it brilliantly (despite the typos), not to mention making the Metropolitan police seem almost loveable without hiding their faults at all.
He's also very good at dropping intriguing ideas into the story (like Nightingale's role in WW2), but only revealing what they are very slowly, so you're tantalised and want to come back for more. Speaking of which...
More soon please.
Spoilers behind cut.
Hoo-boy, this was a good one (and not marred by typos like the last one). I honestly wasn't expecting the bombshell moment at the end. Looking back, I can see there were hints dropped throughout the book that Lesley was very much not okay with what had happened to her face (who would be?), and that Peter's discomfort with her unmasked had increased her not okay-ness tenfold.
I really didn't think she'd ever do that, though, or at least not when she saw what the consequences were (by which I mean the Faceless Man using other women to practise facial modification on and then killing them to hide the evidence).
I love these books so much. The characters are great, the depiction of London in all its cosmopolitan glory is even greater, and I adore the whole thing about the personifications of the rivers etc, in the same way I loved Neil Gaiman's personification of stations on the Underground in Neverwhere. London has such a deep, deep history and Aaronovitch is mining it brilliantly (despite the typos), not to mention making the Metropolitan police seem almost loveable without hiding their faults at all.
He's also very good at dropping intriguing ideas into the story (like Nightingale's role in WW2), but only revealing what they are very slowly, so you're tantalised and want to come back for more. Speaking of which...
More soon please.
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no subject
Date: 2013-08-30 05:01 am (UTC)And what gets me is that when it happened, I could remember those hints, so I must have registered them at the time. Particularly her demand to the nightwitch that she check with her boss before killing them.
And given the devastation she has suffered, I wasn't surprised, once I got over the shock.
I really like her, though, so I am looking forward to seeing where BA takes her next.
I also wonder if we will see more of Abigail, in future, to compensate. She is a very engaging character, with a lot of potential.
I am not normally a fan of first person POV, but in this series it is very well done. Seeing all the characters through Peter's eyes (including himself) means that we have his blindnesses, but we still have to work for his insights by paying the same attention to the clues as he does.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-30 10:00 am (UTC)Yes, I knew I should look at that Essex scene again. There had to be a clue there that Lesley wouldn't expect the Faceless Man to just kill her.
I really like her, though, so I am looking forward to seeing where BA takes her next.
Me too.
Regarding Peter's first person POV, I think Aaronovitch is very good at hinting at his blindnesses through the medium of other characters. For instance, to me it's plain that he's actually in love with Lesley, but doesn't realise it, or that what has happened to her face has made him un-realise it. It's plain as plain in his scene with Beverley Brook, where he asks if she knows some way to help Lesley.
Wonder if there'll be a Peter/Beverley interlude now? Possibly not. Beverley won't want to be rebound girl, especially not when Peter won't acknowledge even to himself that there's something to rebound from.