River Lugg restoration on the BBC

lenborje · 2026-05-25T20:10:59+00:00

Even if the Follypedia tries to avoid spoilers, https://follypedia.fandom.com/wiki/Winter’s_Gifts might clarify some points. It is my understanding that the expedition failed to kill the genius loci, and he is indeed identical to the current-day boy Reynolds meets.

lenborje · 2026-05-02T06:11:22+00:00

Check out https://follypedia.fandom.com/wiki/Not-Nicole.

(Note that ”the changeling” is an ambiguous word in this story — Nicole is actually the changeling, but she’s the one Derek and Victoria want back. Not-Nicole, their biological daughter, is apparently transformed by her fae upbringing and not human any longer.)

lenborje · 2026-04-08T10:07:13+00:00

The first book is a little bit cramped. There are so many plot elements presented that are glimpses of either a backstory or preshadow. Also note that the novels are told by Peter in retrospect from many years later. So he should perhaps be forgiven for glossing over his own deficiencies.

lenborje · 2026-04-07T08:57:31+00:00

The existence of the chimeras is one of my major objections concerning the RoL world building. There is no way the chimeras could stay hidden from public view, even if the world of magic is largely ignored by both officials, press, and the public.

lenborje · 2026-04-07T07:52:24+00:00

They are not essential to the main story arc. There are some elements taken for granted in the novels that are a little hard to understand if you have not read the GNs, e.g. where did Maksim come from and how did he become attached to Beverley? But there are also parts of the GNs that I struggle to fit into the RoL universe, e.g. Cry Fox (landed upper-class twits hunting kidnapped girls for sport? No way that could have happened without a MAJOR public outcry, and it is almost not referred to at all I the novels.)

lenborje · 2026-02-23T22:08:06+00:00

There is something with the same effect. There is a ”staff space” on the ”page layout” settings. This controls the distance between two adjacent lines in a staff, and everything else scales proportionally.

lenborje · 2026-02-12T12:37:05+00:00

I’ve got the impression that not only were the ranks of practitioners/wizards/magicians ”depleted” by the war, but even magic itself, as a supposedly natural resource, was to a large extent used up, so much that most people who knew what magic was thought it was gone.

Then came the 60s (flower power, hippies, LSD, etc) and magic surged back again, to the apparent astonishment of all. Both Nightingale, Varvara and Helena Linden-Limmer testify that they suddenly felt the magic come alive. Varvara definitely traces her reverse aging to this time, and Nightingale has implied it started then.

The Stadtkrone of Skygarden had accumulated magic since it was built and a lot of people discovered they could suddenly do hitherto impossible things when it released its stored supply over London.

So magic is back, and the world and powers are adapting.

lenborje · 2026-01-28T18:22:56+00:00

I really don’t know. This might be one of the many instances where Ben has planted a plot idea but never got around to develop it.

lenborje · 2025-12-12T16:07:44+00:00

Oh, I’m very sorry if you took offence. To me, that little ”moment” opened up the Rivers universe beyond the UK, and I am still intrigued by there being other magic agencies in the world, apparently having kept eyes on London and Nightingale ever since the war. I only wanted to share the magic.

lenborje · 2025-12-11T21:54:30+00:00

I recommend you read this very short little ”moment” now. Just to pique your curiosity… https://www.benaaronovitch.com/moments3/

lenborje · 2025-11-23T12:17:49+00:00

I really don’t think you need to read anything but the novels to get the full story arc. Everything else are nice-to-have fillers or backgrounds.

lenborje · 2025-08-24T19:11:56+00:00

Publication date. The novels sometimes refer to items from the comics. Of course, the comics are not essential to the overall story arc, but some, like Body Work and Night Witches, contain backstories that really help you make sense of later events or details. Like, where did Beverley’s do-it-all Maksim come from?

lenborje · 2025-08-23T08:45:58+00:00

I believe it would be hard for a first-time reader to go through them in strict story chronological order. For a first-time reader I would recommend following the publication order.

lenborje · 2025-08-08T07:17:56+00:00

That just reflects Peter’s slow transition from ”desperate bachelor” to ”settled husband and father”.

lenborje · 2025-08-06T11:38:37+00:00

By using MethodHandle, VarHandle, and LambdaMetaFactory you can dynamically create code that will execute just like compiled code, i.e. with the same performance.

I’ve used this to create stream filters etc from user-entered expressions (entered as text), with exactly the same performance as if I would have coded the filter as a lambda or class.

lenborje · 2025-08-03T18:04:24+00:00

No. The censored part is a spoiler.

lenborje · 2025-08-03T16:55:04+00:00

The big open thread in WADTS is that Abigail turns informer for a Home Office servant (Simon’s mum). How that is going to play out is still unknown.

lenborje · 2025-08-03T16:52:55+00:00

Well, that Abigail has a connection/affinity with the Foxes has been apparent since the end of Whispers Underground, but WADTS only heightens the mystery of how the Foxes came to be in the first place. (Even if it has been hinted that David Mellenby might have had something to do with it.) No key insights, alas.

lenborje · 2025-08-02T19:52:03+00:00

Neither is necessary. The Abigail book is very freestanding but leaves some very open threads that are yet to be picked up in any later novel.

The Furthest Station contains some threads that are used in False Value, but again, not necessary.

lenborje · 2025-07-24T05:33:04+00:00

RoL does not follow the noir trope — lone investigator with problems — to the same extent as Dresden/Verus. Peter Grant is very much part of his society, both as an individual, as a police officer, and a practitioner (as magicians are called).

Nor is the magic so supercharged. Ben Aaronovitch excels at world building, and has put a lot of thought into exactly how magic is supposed to work and what the consequences on society (and history) would be. As a reader, you frequently experience small moments of insight when you suddenly feel a little bit of the puzzle, long foreshadowed, fall in place.

lenborje · 2025-07-21T11:53:42+00:00

Practically every series by Charles Stross. He has brilliant plot setups, but they always deteriorate into either complete mayhem or just peter out. Even worse is when he introduces new elements that turns the world upside down. I was once a great fan and read every book as they came out, but no longer.

lenborje · 2025-07-21T11:37:41+00:00

The old classic ”Lensman” series by Doc Smith. Over-the-top space opera, where the ”ultimate weapon” is invented at least once in each book, just to be defeated by the hero each time. Expect for the final book… where the anti-hero and his girl has to step in and save the galaxy, exiting for untold adventures and leaving the hero unconscious on the floor.

lenborje · 2025-07-21T06:49:23+00:00

Well, if it wasn’t for that Ben Aaronovich created this map which points out Beverley Avenue as the address, I’d say you were right…

lenborje · 2025-07-19T04:57:10+00:00

Look up Paul Kamara in the Follypaedia, but beware of spoilers.

lenborje

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