Re: The Rivers of London Series

In article <va3rcb$3o8cb$1@dont-email.me>,
 Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@gmail.com> wrote:

On 13/08/2024 22:53, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

     The Rivers of London series
 
"Tales from the Folly" by Ben Aaronvitch is another set in the
World of the Rivers of London which are short pieces about
characters from previous stories. This was very good but you
have to know something about the series from other stories
to enjoy them. So though I do not have a copy on hand to verify
details of names I thought I would type up bit of information
starting below.
     The Folly is the ancient building which is used as
headquarters for the Magicians who work for and are officers
of the Metropolitan Police Force and are called for any case
with the hint of the other than natural.

 
A few quibbles.
 

Which I won't quibble with, however ...

<Snip>

 
Thomas Nightingale claims not to know why
one day, I think in the 1960s, he began to
grow younger.  Magic of some kind seems likely.
 

In chapter 17 of _Broken Homes_, Varvara Sidornova stated that August
Bank Holiday in 1966 was the day she started to get younger ("opened a
door into summer").

<Snip>

 
Abigail Kamara is intelligent and troublesome
and she gets Peter Grant unwisely to promise to
teach her how to do magic, but Nightingale takes
on that responsibility instead - and only if she
passes school Latin, which Peter expected that
she wouldn't be attempting.  Magic doesn't have
to be in Latin, but the textbooks, up to now
(or the 1940s), are, so you do have to learn Latin.
Peter uses Google Translate.  I think consequences
of thst haven't been shown, yet, but they could be
extraordinarily dramatic.
 
I don't remember if I've seen Abigail perform any
magic herself, in action, but her Latin is up to it.

Nightingale wonders if his teaching methods need improvement in _False
Values_ because Abigail, like Peter, was generating explosions.

More to the point, in the most recent graphic novel, _Stray Cat Blues_,
Abigail was using magic in issue 4 (just out today, Aug 21st, in the
USA).

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
—-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com