I mention in my last post that I normally don’t re-read books. There are just too many books I want to read (seriously, my TBR pile is easily over 100 books). But this year I revisited several favorites. Of the 60 books I will have read this year, 16 of them were books I’ve already read. This post contains 12 of those I reread and two new books to this year.

First up, let’s talk about The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. This has been one of our favorite series and my wife and I eagerly await each new release. This year, book nine in the series, Amongst our Weapons was released. Yes there are nine books in the series, plus three novellas, a slew of short stories, a series of comic books, and now a role playing game from the same publisher that brought us The Call of Cthulhu. It’s probably the most popular series most people in the States don’t seem to know about. Nick Frost and Simon Pegg opted the series for TV, but that was in 2019 and then the pandemic hit, and that hasn’t gone anywhere. But I know Nick Frost his a huge fan of the series.

Like The Rivers of London, The Checquy Files (written by Daniel O'Malley) falls squarely in that urban fantasy genre and also takes place in London. Whereas The Rivers of London was, ‘If Harry Potter grew up and joined the fuzz,’ I’d describe The Checquy Files more like 'If The X-Men joined MI5.’

The Rook was turned into a short-lived series on Starz, that was originally being adapted by Stephenie Meyer (yes, the Twilight author), but she left as soon as filming started over creative differences. The series drifted pretty far from the source material, from what I understand, and was cancelled after one season.

I also find it interesting that Daniel O'Malley was born in Australia, went to college in the States (both for his undergrad and his Masters), and then moved back to Australia, but still set his book in London. I’m not sure if he ever lived in London, but having lived in London myself, I can safely say that it really lends itself to urban fantasy.

I love all three of these series, but The Murderbot Diaries has a special place in my heart. The main character is a non-gendered, humanoid construct, cyborg - person. Basically a brain, skin, muscle, and something that’s not blood, combined with a supercomputer and the insides of the Terminator. But it’s the most relatable human character, that’s not technically a human, you’ll ever read. Imagine someone that hates their job, is annoyed at having to deal with people and just wants to watch TV all day. That’s Murderbot.

Martha Wells is primarily a fantasy author, but I think this sci-fi series is her most highly rated. A good example of why authors should be willing to experiment.