Foxglove summer
Foxglove Summer is the fifth novel in the Rivers of London series by British author Ben Aaronovitch . It was published as Foxglove Summer 2014 in English and 2015 in German on dtv .
content
The protagonist Peter Grant is shaken by the developments at the end of the previous book, the sudden betrayal and apostasy of a valued colleague with whom Grant also had a strong emotional bond. Grant therefore welcomes the chance to leave the familiar grounds of London and travel to rural Herefordshire, where the disappearance of two eleven-year-old girls is a media sensation and the focus of an intense police investigation - with grave magical effects.
- Grant notes that the tangle of conjugal and extramarital relationships in a small rural community is not just a matter of gossip, but also has serious criminal consequences. And some supernatural too.
- He meets with a retired wizard, traumatized by the secret magical battles of World War II, and with the wizard's granddaughter, who has a special affinity for bees.
- Grant comes into intensive contact with Beverley Brook, the goddess or genius loci of Beverley Brook, a tributary of the Thames - and learns through personal experience how rivers win such gods.
- He finds that unicorns are too real and that their horns are deadly weapons; that fairies exist and, even in the 21st century, sometimes abduct human children and replace them with changeling; and he meets with a real fairy queen.
As a result of all this, Grant is said to be forever trapped in Wonderland - an alternate reality or otherworld in which Great Britain is still covered by a massive unbroken jungle, devoid of the familiar towns and villages. Grant's only thin hope of escape lies in the persistent magical (or possibly anti-magical) effects of the building projects of the Roman Empire and the habit of the Romans to subdue the landscape and build "arrow-shaped paths" wherever they ruled and in support of it magical friends.
Characters
- Peter Grant; Metropolitan Police officer and the first official sorcerer's apprentice in sixty years.
- Lesley May; formerly a policewoman in the Metropolitan Police and de facto apprentice to Nightingale; now a criminal employee of the Faceless Man and the subject of an internal investigation
- Detective Superintendent Thomas Nightingale; Head of the Folly and the last officially sanctioned English wizard.
- Molly; Housemaid at Folly, Fae
- Dr. Abdul Haqq Walid; world-famous gastroenterologist and cryptopathologist.
- Beverley Brook; Goddess of a small suburban river and advisory ecologist.
- Detective Dominic Croft; Member of the West Mercia Major Crimes Unit who served as Peter's liaison.
criticism
Liz Bourke writes in Tor.com : “ Thimble Summer does not bring a series highlight, nor does it offer Peter the opportunity to grow as a character in a novel or to give the reader the opportunity to see the character or the world in a new light. The book isn't the least bit ambitious, and in many ways it feels like it's treading on the spot. It's amusing. It's entertaining. It's fun - but its goals are ultimately rather limited. It's a good book within these limits. ”(" Foxglove Summer doesn't advance a series arc, or provide Peter with opportunities for growth as a character, or even give the reader opportunities to see character or world in a new light. It's not in the least ambitious, and in many ways it feels like it's marking time. It's amusing. It's diverting. It's fun — but its goals are, ultimately, rather limited. Within those limits, it's a good book. ")
Bestseller list
The book reached number 9 on the SPIEGEL paperback bestseller list in 2015 .
Web links
- "CSI meets Harry Potter": Peter Grant is back Focus , August 25, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ Liz Bourke: Marking Time: Ben Aaronovitch's Foxglove Summer , en: Tor.com , November 12, 2014
- ↑ Fingerhut-Sommer in the book report