The Folly Irregulars discussion

Welcome! I thought we needed a spot to be fans and share our reads, and when I saw there wasn't any Grant groups out there, well, that needed fixing!

Yay! I'm jumping up and down because I get to just be happy about these characters, and be incoherent about the books

Right?

So, if we haven't me, I'm carol, live in Wisconsin, a middle-of the midwest of the U.S. I've always read fantasy and jumped on the UF bandwagon early on, but became very tired of the paranormal romance aspects of it. Peter Grant combines police detective with magic in our world--how can I not love it? Even better, it rarely sets off my -ism detector.

Hi, I'm Lata, I live in Canada, more specifically in Ontario. I've read scifi and fantasy since a young age, and still do, loving complex, complicated stories in these genres. I hadn't really gotten into urban fantasy till relatively recently, and don't generally read much of it. Except the Peter Grant stories -- I love these!

Hi, Carol! Hello, Lata.

I've been wanting to try this series for a while!

Fred from the CLE, OH area. I've read fantasy, murder mysteries, all sorts of things. I discovered Rivers of London when the first paperback edition came out in the US (and I like the newer cover designs much better!)

Nyssa, glad you joined.
Lata--glad you are loving the audio too.
Hi, Fred! Glad you joined up. I love the UK Edition covers.

Thank you for invitation, Carol!

My name's Caro and I live in Vilnius, Lithuania. I was exposed to sci-fi virus at a very tender age and it didn't end well, because now I spend most of my free time reading forementioned sci-fi or fantasy, which I came to appreciate a bit later. Also a huge fan of manga and anime.
Milda the Page Runner lured me into Peter Grant's London and that I will be eternally grateful for. ;) So far I've read all the books, haven't yet started with graphic novels though.

Can anyone join this festival of life?

Name's Mikhail (it's Russian), but I am a resident of Lovecraft Country (New England). Obsessive reader, active gamer (Tabletop RPG -- D&D and the like), history nerd (putting it mildly), and person with an interest in occult, forteana, and the like (not a believer, but fascinated by what people *do* believe).

I do not, by this point, remember how I ran across the Rivers of London first. Might've been from one of Carol's reviews, actually. But I love the style, the characters, and the incredible creativity with which Aaronovitch reimagines classic folkloric elements.

Can't believe there isn't already a group like this, but better late than never, Carol.

I might be the only one here who's only read the first book (still working on a review), so I'm clicking on things here and there with extreme caution, lest spoilers be ahead. It was thanks to the recent batch of status updates on my news feed from a group read between a lot of my Goodreads friends, both old and new, whose collective enthusiasm for this series gave me the final push headfirst into this great, imaginative world Aaronovitch's gifted us.

Urban fantasy-wise, the Dresden Files books were the only ones I half-seriously got into, and even then, I never made it past the second book for some reason. Since Harry Potter, I've been hankering for another similar series, of the fish-out-of-the-water sort with magic, but what'll make me stay with Aaronovitch and not drift away like I did from Butcher is Peter Grant's character, whose general humour-sense and non-cynicism I'm loving. Very excited to read the second book soon.

Also, about me: I'm James, who's from Sydney, and a soon-to-be-third-year uni student majoring in English, also based in Sydney with a main building that looks like Hogwarts. Also work at a bookstore. My book interests are all over the place, though with an eye towards postmodern stuff. Looking forward to getting to know all y'all.

Hi there, nice to meet you all in the amazing world of Peter Grant :)

My name is Orient, I'm from Lithuania. I mostly read UF or some historical fiction, sometimes taste Epic Fantasy, thrillers, detectives and humor genre. Like Caro, I'm grateful to my awesome recs provider, Milda, for inviting me to have adventures with Peter Grant. Also it is super duper great that Carol made one of my wishes come true :) To have a proper place to drool and squeal with joy while chatting about Peter Grant.

Thank you, Carol, for remedying the lack of Peter Grant groups on GR!

I'm Wanda, I live in Calgary, Canada, where I work in a university library. I've been a sci fi and fantasy fan ever since I can remember, but only really got into urban fantasy in the last couple of years. Just finished the third Peter Grant novel and enjoyed it so much!

I look forward to chatting with all of you!

Wanda wrote: "Thank you, Carol, for remedying the lack of Peter Grant groups on GR!

I'm Wanda, I live in Calgary, Canada, where I work in a university library. I've been a sci fi and fantasy fan ever since I ca..."

Welcome aboard, Wanda :)

I'm so glad you all joined. Mikhail, you are certainly welcome--I was going to send an invite but got distracted. So much time on the computer yesterday--bought a new laptop bc of cyber-Monday deals and because my current one is 6 years old and the screen is held together with electrical tape.

I know I wax pretty enthusiastic about the series, but I understand there are some problematic things, so we should all feel free to disagree. Personally, like James mentioned, I love Peter's character, which embodies both the interest/fascination and the scientific method. Plus love of all things geek, a running joke through the series.

Hm, James, out of respect for the newness of your enjoyment and the only-ness of the group, I think I'll put a request to mark spoilers for the first post. I tend to be a tad sloppy, but I'll try and monitor. Usually for group reads, I tend to prefer a 'no spoilers' and 'spoilers' kind of thread.

First of all, thank you for creating this group, Carol.

Secondly, I think a "no spoilers" thread and a "spoilers" thread might be best since people are coming in at different times.

Nyssa wrote: "First of all, thank you for creating this group, Carol.

Secondly, I think a "no spoilers" thread and a "spoilers" thread might be best since people are coming in at different times."

I agree. I don't want to know what's coming up yet, or surprise those behind me, but still want to be able to discuss features of the books I've read.

May I join in?

My name is Miriam and I'm from Germany. Though English is not my native language (that would be German) I haven't read a non-english book in ages. I'm a big fan of fantasy and urban fantasy in particular, steampunk, cyberpunk, science fiction, crime and historic fiction. And I like reading good children and young adult books from said genres.

I came across the Rivers of London series when I was looking for an urban fantasy hero or heroine that would not be best described as an "immature brat withe severe anger management issues". I think I read the first book in one night, but when I started with the second life got in the way, namely three kids and a new job. I decided to start over with the series in January 2017, so when I found this little group I was delighted.

Miriam wrote: "May I join in?

My name is Miriam and I'm from Germany. Though English is not my native language (that would be German) I haven't read a non-english book in ages. I'm a big fan of fantasy and urba..."

Hi Miriam! Nice to meet you!

Miriam! Glad to meet you. Language issues are so interesting, aren't they? Someone else was recently saying that although German is their native language, they tend to read fantasy/sci fi in English. Feel free to jump into the thread that suits where you are in your reading.

Miriam wrote: "May I join in?

My name is Miriam and I'm from Germany. Though English is not my native language (that would be German) I haven't read a non-english book in ages. I'm a big fan of fantasy and urba..."

Welcome aboard :)

Carol. wrote: "Hm, James, out of respect for the newness of your enjoyment and the only-ness of the group, I think I'll put a request to mark spoilers for the first post. I tend to be a tad sloppy, but I'll try and monitor. Usually for group reads, I tend to prefer a 'no spoilers' and 'spoilers' kind of thread."

Many thanks, Carol. Soon enough, other newcomers besides me will appreciate this lack of ambiguity about which threads allow for spoilers and which don't. Also, if Harry Dresden can get a show, Peter Grant will, sooner or later, which will definitely open the floodgates, newbies-wise.

Miriam wrote: "May I join in?

My name is Miriam and I'm from Germany. Though English is not my native language (that would be German) I haven't read a non-english book in ages. I'm a big fan of fantasy and urba..."

Big welcome!

I'm Philip, I live in the Salt Lake valley of UT. I started getting into fantasy with Harry Potter obviously and have read it sporadically since then, and read a few different UF series including a few Dresden books. I've become a much more active reader within the past couple years and started reading this series earlier this year. I just finished #3 earlier this month!

Welcome! Do glad you are enjoying this series, especially since it sounds like you are more recently diving into the UF world.

Hey Philip! Nice to see you here! I just finished book 3 also.

Welcome aboard, Philip :)

Thanks for the invite, Carol, and "hi" to all! I'm Melora, and I live in a very rural area in western North Carolina, but I only moved here ten years ago and I'm really a Floridian.

I'm not even half through Midnight Riot/Rivers of London, but I'm really enjoying it and expect I'll continue with the series! I'm not a huge urban fantasy reader, but I've read quite a few of the Dresden books and this series certainly gets off to a much stronger start than that one does. Or is that a bad thing to say? I like the Harry Dresden books, and this has some similarities (I cringed when we immediately met the perky blond officer our hero is always lusting after, but otherwise this doesn't feel derivative. At least not yet.). Anyway, I'm enjoying the London setting, and there are some intriguing characters. Seems very promising, and comments I've read (probably yours, Carol!) suggest that the series just gets stronger as it goes along, which is nice!

Hi Melora. Welcome!

Glad you are enjoying the book, Melora~ I feel like it'll depart fairly quickly from the Dresden experience :)

Hi everyone, I'm Charlotte and I live in Edinburgh, Scotland. Love all kinds of UF, though Peter is my favourite, of course ;D I started on the books more or less when Rivers of London was published, being in the UK means it hit the bookshops sooner - though it's shocking they're so hard to come by in the US! And just to really knark you all off, I managed to go to a talk with Mr Aaronovitch himself at last year's Book Festival - and he was brilliant and very funny, as you'd expect. Among other things, he talked about how the series is very popular with middle-aged women (of which I am one;D) which had come as a bit of a surprise to him - he'd written the first book thinking it was going to be the usual teen+ audience. I think it's cos every mum would like a son like Peter ROFLOL! Anyway, nice to have a corner to waffle on about all things Folly - thank you :)

CharlotteK--welcome! How fun that you were able to see Aaronovitch at a book festival. I saw he had a couple of larger engagements, but of course, too far away for me. Funny that he thought teen boys, because I think his work is so smart and funny that it would definitely appeal to people who enjoy UF but are looking for something a bit above the norm.

HI Charlotte! So nice to meet a fellow lover of this series. And yes, I'm jealous you got a chance to hear the author speak ! : )
And as a middle-aged woman, I keep thinking, what a good job Peter's mum did.

Welcome!

Welcome, Juniper! Absolutely okay to join, as I wanted anyone to stop by and share enthusiasm, thoughts and questions. Glad you joined!

Hi Juniper! Nice to meet you! And you're in for a treat with each succeeding Peter Grant story.

Hi, Hank from Denver-ish, CO. I can't get enough of Rivers of London although I am not a fan of the graphic novels.

I have listened to all of them(regular series) and the partnership between Holdbrook-Smith and Aaronovitch is amazing.

Hello, Hank! I absolutely agree, Holdbrook-Smith reading Aaronovitch's work is incredible. I'm not much of an audio person, but these are an exception!

Hi Hank! Kobna Holdbook-Smith is amazing as Peter and the rest of the cast!

Ooh, my Peter Grant family is growing - hello everybody! I'm on book 3 currently and having a blast :) Recently I've started to write short reviews for everything I read.

Thanks, Orient, for the invite to our own little Folly! Yay! I hope Molly doesn't mind one more of us moving in - but as she tends to lay out all the tables in the dining room anyways... I also promise to take out Toby for a walk regularly.

I'm Stephan from Germany. I've always loved fantasy and currently started reading the urban variety. Scifi is great, in general I like the more contemporary form. Speculative fiction, I guess is the name of my favorite genre. And on a side note, my heart definitely also beats for techno thrillers.

Also, thanks Carol and Miriam for keeping it so warm and cozy here ;)

Cheers!

Hi Stephan! Welcome, and don't forget Toby loves a bite or two of sausage!

Welcome Stephan. Where in Germany if u don't mind the ask. Lived there as a boy. Loved it!

Thanks, Stephen :) Don't mind at all. Rather far south, in Bavaria's Munich. I think I actually quite like it here, just the rents could be lower.. I like the location as in green, mountains, lakes and near to places like Austria and Switzerland.

Bavaria is beautiful. Used to go skiing in Garmisch and Berchtesgaden every winter with occasional pop over the border to Salzburg.

Stephan wrote: "Ooh, my Peter Grant family is growing - hello everybody! I'm on book 3 currently and having a blast :) Recently I've started to write short reviews for everything I read.

Thanks, Orient, for the i..."

Hi. Welcome to our little group. I hope you'll enjoy it. May I ask if you read the books in original or in translation?

Welcome, Stephen! Glad to have another enthusiast in the house :)

Miriam wrote: "May I ask if you read the books in original or in translation? "

I am very grateful to be able to read in original :) Now you got me wondering how much would be lost by reading the british humour in German. I actually only read books by german authors in German.

Stephan wrote: I am very grateful to be able to read in original :) Now you got me wondering how much would be lost by reading the ..."

Same here. I think I haven't read a German book in a long while since I never found one that interested me and was not a translation from the original English. And yeah, I too always wondered if RoL would actually work when translated to German. I considered trying it once or twice but then I thought that might be like translating Monty Python.

I think that's a great comparison!

Hello. I've just joined. A friend spotted this group and pointed me in its direction.

Welcome, Margaret. We've got lots of threads for which ever book in the Grant series you are on!

Thanks Carol. I've read them all at least twice each. Still need two of the graphic novels. I think I'll pop in and out of threads as I do more rereads.