The Folly Irregulars discussion

This is our discussion thread for Midnight Riot. It will likely start during the third week of June. Stay tuned. All readers welcome to join when we get under way.

Participants thus far: Lata, Wanda, Natalie aka Tannat, carol., Patricia.

Woo hoo! Looking forward to this! :)

Yay!

I'll try to join in!

Patricia wrote: "I'll try to join in!"

That's great, Patricia. The more the merrier!

One of today's tasks is to find my copy of Midnight Riot. Is everybody ready? I'm aiming to start on Monday!

Maybe! I got to re-listening to Whispers Underground. I just love it.

I have some other library audiobooks I have to finish over the next week and a bit, before I can get to this.

Are we starting this week? I was going to listen to my audiobook.

I think so, Natalie.

Wanda, new thread, or resurrect the old?

My vote is to resurrect the old, I'd say. Then we can add to the existing buddy read.

This is the week! I had thought we could discuss here? Or would you prefer to return to the general Rivers of London discussion thread?

Here is fine.

So, it is hotter than Hades here today and the perfect day to hide indoors and start Midnight Riot. It's part of my summer reading theme, the Dog Days of Summer, because Toby. 😁

Is it wrong that I want a Toby novella?

"The Amazing Adventures of Toby the Wonder Dog (and his human, Peter)"

So, do you think Ben's son is part of his Peter Grant inspiration?



(I do hope they got a nicer grad photo somewhere along the way.)

Ronnie wrote: "Is it wrong that I want a Toby novella?

"The Amazing Adventures of Toby the Wonder Dog (and his human, Peter)""

Ronnie, that would be AMAZING!

Wanda wrote: "So, do you think Ben's son is part of his Peter Grant inspiration?



(I do hope they got a nicer grad photo somewhere along the way.)"
Oh yeah, no question.

Ben has said in interviews that he wanted to create a character/protagonist that his son could identify with - bearing in mind that the series is ten years old, so his son would still have been quite young at the time "Rivers" was first published.

A Toby novella is something I’ve always wanted! 🙂🙂

Then we might find out a bit more about what Molly is up to, too!

That’s a cute shot of father and son.

And I’d definitely agree that his son was an impetus for Peter.

It's been 5 years since I read this and I'd forgotten how Peter was worried about getting stuck in a paperwork job and how he first met Nightingale. This re-read was a good idea.

Ronnie wrote: "Is it wrong that I want a Toby novella?

"The Amazing Adventures of Toby the Wonder Dog (and his human, Peter)""


That'd be fun. I agree, it'd be nice to combine it with Molly.

Chapter 3 introduces Dr. Walid, another favourite character. Aaronovitch moves quickly, setting up Peter's world skillfully.

I would love a novella from Toby's POV. I'm positive he and Molly get up to all kinds of trouble together.

SheriC (PM) wrote: "I would love a novella from Toby's POV. I'm positive he and Molly get up to all kinds of trouble together."

I have this image in my head of Toby being very clear in his narration (possibly sounding like Patrick Stewart), and all the human characters speak this "Wah-wah-wah" gibberish like the teachers in the old Charlie Brown and Snoopy cartoons.

I'm pretty sure that's what all terriers hear! At least the ones belonging to my family. 😁

I kind of love Dr. Walid, especially as voiced by Kobna. He really gave the character even more personality.

Someday I must try the audiobooks. It will have to be when I can get some coaching at the library, however. Old dog, new tricks are difficult!

Wanda, I hear you on the curve. I managed audible, and eventually can mostly manage Overdrive. Don't let the curve intimidate you. This series is TOTALLY worth it 😊 A re-listen kept me going through the drive through Illinois... so, so long.

Kobna is utterly fantastic and perfect as narrator (‘crept for Agent Reynolds) so if you get a chance, Wanda, do check out this series on audio. That’s pretty much how I intend to participate in this reread.

100% rec the audio. And I think Overdrive is even easier than Audible. I use the Libby app for my library audiobooks, and you can browse, borrow, put on hold, check out, return, etc all within the app.

I think our library uses Libby. I will ask my friend tomorrow for some pointers. We are meeting for coffee, something I've been missing these long pandemic months.

Libby may be the recommended app for audio for your library but the overdrive app should work and imo works better (unless Libby has fixed the random skipping around in the book thing).

Kobna Holbrook-Smith's narration is fantastic.

I tried to start the audio book on my morning commute but I had to stop it because the sound wasn't coming through well. Crossing fingers for the drive home.

I had no idea Aaronovitch's son is black, but that honestly makes so much sense now.

Libby is really good, and I have not had any trouble with it, whether with books or audiobooks. There’s no random jumping around in the audio, and I find it really easy to use.

My biggest problem right now is slowing down! I don't want to get too far ahead of you all. But I really want to just binge it. 😃

The first book is such a contrast by the end of the series (to date, that is). There's a lot of attention to building the 'policeness' of the setting--details about the station house where they sleep (?!) and about the organization of the force. Idk, something about it here seems so detailed. I think in later books, we still get police insight, but it's more in context to things that are happening, and centered around people like Seawoll.

You're right. Is Aaronovitch setting the stage? Describing Peter's work environment? After all, his life takes a sudden turn when Nightingale claims him. Peter learns to change his focus from procedureto people.

I dunno, I seem to recall a lot of policing asides, especially with regard to interrogations later on. But maybe they are better integrated into the context.

As for Libby, I think I last tried it in 2018, probably, so it's entirely possible it's all fixed now. Fortunately Overdrive still works.

Oh, there's definitely policing asides. I just think Aaronovitch learned to do it as apart of the story, (dialogue/scene/character), rather than just description.

So I just couldn't resist any longer & polished off Midnight Riot this afternoon. It was every bit as much fun as the first time around! My review can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Haha, I'm still listening to it, although I do need to reread the physical book at some point.

Do any of the other books span such a long period of time? I always notice just how long this book spans but I'm not sure I've noticed the same thing in any of the others.

Oh, interesting observation. That's probably a Ronnie question! 😀 Broken Homes, maybe?

They get to move into the apartment there, but is there a gap of months? It's been a while since I read it. Maybe there's a gap near the beginning...

I just listened to the part where Peter makes an enemy of Lady Ty for life and it was epic... I'd forgotten just how much damage was done to that statue-thing.

Lady Ty is great.

I wholeheartedly agree!

That whole family is great. Just like normal sisters, except for the whole river goddess thing.

I think that's one of the reasons that I like the series so much--everyone has their own history, but they're all just part of the fabric of London. The river goddesses may have more powers than some, but they still have real relationships, ambitions, and emotions. I get them. I like that Dr. Walid, Stephanopoulis, and Guleed are just there, not overly explained. They just are who they are and are part of the action.

Agree--everyone 'feels' very real to me and part of it is that it's not done with these hugely elaborate introductions that interrupt the scene and end up sounding like a D&D character card.