Authors are frequently advised to find a genre, study it, and stick to it. And then you find a series that blows through genre barriers like a dragon through Kevlar, or in the case of this month’s feature, a ghost through a police precinct.
Sharing Great Stories
One of the benefits of knowing other readers of a genre you like is sharing some of the stories and series you have loved and some you are checking out. The genre of this month’s, binge-worthy series I want to share is hard to pin down. A Google search on the series name brings up Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Fantasy, and Paranormal as headliners, but I’d definitely add Humor, Detective, and Magical Realism.
Magical Realism
Magic or Magical Realism is a style of fiction or art that combines magical or supernatural elements with mundane reality. As a specific literary genre or style, magical realism is hard to categorize. Arising from the 1920’s art world, it is more of an aesthetic than hard and fast rules.
Curiously, it is an aesthetic genre common to many of my favorite movies, but I enjoy it much less frequently in literary fiction. Typically, creators in the genre use the aesthetic to lesser or greater degrees in their works, so critics may place individual works in or out of the category, but the influence is usually clear. Some excellent movies and their ingenious creative forces you may recognize and will help define the genre for you are Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton), The Green Mile (Stephen King), Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro), Brazil (Terry Gilliam).
So, let me share one of my favorite magical realism novel series Rivers of London* (which is destined to be a TV series produced by the hysterical team of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of Stolen Picture).
Note: A common question regarding magical realism is whether the Harry Potter series fits the genre. I am not an expert in either the genre or Harry Potter, so will leave that discussion to those who are. However, I will say the universal attraction to the Harry Potter series is partly due to its magical realism elements.
Rivers of London—Peter Grant series
Rivers of London* by Ben Aaronovitch is the first book in the Peter Grant book series. I highly recommend the entire series, including the short stories and novellas. The Audible versions are read by the truly incomparable Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.
Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.
Here are a few Links to help you find the series:
What’s to love about this series?
Peter Grant is such an amiable lead character with his sense of humor, pluck, and propensity to make mistakes. The cast of “normal” and supernatural characters is diverse and each feels as real and unique as anyone you know. The mysteries are intriguing and strangely believable. The detective procedure is light, but genuine.
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Cover image by Butusova Elena/shutterstock.com. Used under license from Shutterstock.com.
* Affiliate link
Too bad the Rivers of London series is not available on Amazon’s Kindle Limited…er,..Unlimited. I suspect there’re no magiks involved there…
No magicks there. Kindle Unlimited requires exclusive availability, which for an old pro like Aaronovich, doesn’t hold water.