Winter's Gifts

by Ben Aaronovitch

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Winter's Gifts is a spin-off novel related to the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. Released 31st Dec 2023 by Subterranean Press, it's 227 pages (print edition) and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This series (and indeed the author's oeuvre full stop) will already be on most UF/fantasy readers' lists. Aaronovitch is hysterically funny, often profound, clever, and always an engaging read. Since it occurs outside the main series, this novel doesn't have the same continuity as the others, but by the same token, it makes a fine standalone read. Because it's set in the USA, the slang, spelling, and language constructions are mostly American English.

This volume features an ancillary returning character in the main role, FBI Special Agent Kimberly Reynolds. She's sent to the backwoods of northern Wisconsin on a nebulous call-out from a retired agent suggesting "hinky goings on".

She's soon neck deep in cryptids, Native American curses, and there's even a sweetly relevant (non-saccharine) romance angle which hopefully will be explored in further installments. Peter Grant makes only tangential appearances (via trans-Atlantic telephone call) in this book, but as always, the author's wit and humo(u)r are on full display. 

Definitely one for fans of "bureaucratic" urban fantasy (Charles Stross, Cory Doctorow, etc).

Four stars. Great execution, clean language, very entertaining read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.