Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Orion (2019), 320 pages. Signed Waterstones exclusive with bonus short story and glow in the dark cover.
Description
Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's brand new London start up - the Serious Cybernetics Company. Drawn into the orbit of Old Street's famous "silicon roundabout", Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant's favourite son. Because Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC. A technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and forward to the future of artificial intelligence. A secret that is just as magical as it technological - and just as dangerous.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Nice. It's good to see Peter again. The scrambled timeline at the beginning was rather annoying, but I can see why he did it - if the readers knew the setup, it wouldn't have been as interesting. But as I'm very used to references in these books to things I either haven't read (missed something
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published before this book) or read but don't remember, I just accepted that Peter was off the force and looking for a security job... A twisted and tangled story, with many more sides than are first apparent. And my usual bewilderment - no one talks about magic, but Peter keeps running into yet another group that's familiar with it (Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, it seems, are one - though most of them may just collect odd gadgets). A very narrow escape at the end, and (yet another) continuing potential threat. He does write good stuff... And also as usual, I greatly enjoyed the police procedural parts of the story, almost as much as the magic bits. Fun! Show Less
LibraryThing member jennybeast
Honestly, I'm still a diehard Peter Grant Fan, but this installment was a bit of a slog. I haven't read Hitchhiker's recently enough to enjoy all the references. It took forever to really get going, and it feels like a middle book -- last adventure ended, next big arc not yet determined. I like
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Peter and the other characters, so I will eagerly await more time with them in the future. I'll also try it on audio and see if that does it for me -- Kobna's such a great reader. I am delighted by the underground librarian network. I just wish that had been a new working relationship, rather than an adversarial one. Show Less
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
It takes a few chapters to get into what is going on in the story. Peter is now working security for a Computer Corporation - whose sthick is references to the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy - his geekiness is helping him blend in well, though several are geekier than him. There's a secet lurking
It's a complicated story with characters I've come to know and love and I love the deeply cynical yet still caring attitude of Peter. A good instalment in the series.
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and it dates back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage and it might just change things forever. Meanwhile Beverly is expecting their twins.It's a complicated story with characters I've come to know and love and I love the deeply cynical yet still caring attitude of Peter. A good instalment in the series.
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LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
One, two, miss a few ... I gave up on the Rivers of London series because fantasy isn't my thing and the Hitchiker's Guide-esque humour is dated and twee, but I read the blurb for the eighth instalment, about Ada Lovelace and artificial intelligence, and was intrigued. Aaronovitch lets the reader
The cover of my library copy does indeed glow in the dark, though. That's cool.
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jump back in by explaining characters and backstory, but like Peter himself at the end of the book, I was left disappointed: 'It was just a ghost. Part of me had wanted a working Artificial General Intelligence'. Once again, the magic ruins the plot and the humour is quite literally based on Adams' novels. Also, Peter is now living with one of the river goddesses who is heavily pregnant with twins and the domesticity also bored me silly.The cover of my library copy does indeed glow in the dark, though. That's cool.
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LibraryThing member rivkat
Beverly is heavily pregnant and Peter is undercover at a tech company trying to figure out what weird stuff is going on there, apparently connected to a magical Difference Engine. The stakes feel lower/more domestic, including Beverly’s adoption of a couple of the people that Peter has to fool,
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but we get to see Peter trying to find out more about American magic, which is cool. Show Less
LibraryThing member Shrike58
When I started this episode in the continuing adventures of Peter Grant I was prepared to be a bit underwhelmed as, since the demise of Martin "The Faceless Man" Chormley, Aaronovitch seemed like he was marking time and I was wondering what the way forward might be. By the time I was done with this
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novel I had a big grin on my face and while I can't quite bring myself to give it five stars Aaronovitch has found a way forward; I look forward to seeing how it plays out. One does wonder if Aaronovitch has been buying himself some time until Brexit plays out one way or another. Show Less
LibraryThing member quondame
It's an interesting jaunt as Peter Grant goes undercover at a high tech firm in London after the theft of an unplayable book of organ cards leads him into a demon trap. Various detours with London river genus locii, but despite some industrial strength spell work not quite a magical as other
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outings have been. Though I did get a giggle over the reaction to the new basement installation's effect. Show Less
LibraryThing member reading_fox
Odd start before the book settles down into the more usual Peter Grant story. I'm not a big fan of flashbacks, and opening chapters don't really work for me as the POV switches between Peter's latest job and how he came to be there. I guess it does increase the drama a bit, but it seems contrived
Peter is investigating the Serious Cybernetics Company, yes it's rip-off of Douglas Adams, and I'm not sure why or how this is permitted, but the whole company structure is similarly named it's quite annoying and utterly unexplained. I guess it's supposed to invoke a geek subculture but mostly it's just patronizing and not understood - especially as the ordinary workers are referred to as mice, who in the books were actually
very powerful characters. The owner believes he has a 'rat' spying on his latest greatest secret project, and recruits Peter to assist him. The Folly is interested because SCC has links to a missing magical device, one of Ada Lovelace and Babbages computing engines that was built in secret.
It's fun, in a somewhat silly techno-magic-steampunk kind of way. A mere aside to the ongoing story of Lesley, but with the Faceless man finished off in the last book, there seems to be little in the way of progression, and it's just more adventures of Peter Grant. There is some continuity to the world-building, as the Folly gets expanded, and Bev's pregnancy progresses, but little else. An enjoyable continuation of the story but hardly the best.
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for no particular reason, and given it only covers a couple of months somewhat unnecessary. Peter is investigating the Serious Cybernetics Company, yes it's rip-off of Douglas Adams, and I'm not sure why or how this is permitted, but the whole company structure is similarly named it's quite annoying and utterly unexplained. I guess it's supposed to invoke a geek subculture but mostly it's just patronizing and not understood - especially as the ordinary workers are referred to as mice, who in the books were actually
very powerful characters. The owner believes he has a 'rat' spying on his latest greatest secret project, and recruits Peter to assist him. The Folly is interested because SCC has links to a missing magical device, one of Ada Lovelace and Babbages computing engines that was built in secret.
It's fun, in a somewhat silly techno-magic-steampunk kind of way. A mere aside to the ongoing story of Lesley, but with the Faceless man finished off in the last book, there seems to be little in the way of progression, and it's just more adventures of Peter Grant. There is some continuity to the world-building, as the Folly gets expanded, and Bev's pregnancy progresses, but little else. An enjoyable continuation of the story but hardly the best.
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LibraryThing member Ma_Washigeri
Plus maybe half a star. Got me a bit confused at times and there are a lot of characters to keep track of. A great escape in these Covid times. Happy to read anything the author cares to write.
LibraryThing member macha
maybe the best of the series so far, with so much wordplay, humour, and referencing of pop and geek culture. i waited so long for this, and it's such a fast read, that's the only trouble with this addictive series: he can't possibly write fast enough to suit me.
LibraryThing member kmartin802
Peter Grant goes undercover at the Serious Cybernetics Company which is owned by American Terrence Skinner. He is working to discover if Skinner is doing something illegal - maybe money laundering. What he finds in much more and much more magical.
He finds a mystery that perhaps starts with Ada
While Peter is trying to figure out what is going on, he is also getting used to the idea that he is soon to be a father of twins. Beverly Brook is pregnant. Given that she is a goddess on a river planning their future together has some complications.
I loved this addition to the Rivers of London series. I really enjoy Peter's snarky and irreverent personality. The story is fast-paced and the mystery was well-developed. Fans of the series won't want to miss this episode.
He finds a mystery that perhaps starts with Ada
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Lovelace and Charles Babbage and has to do with an independent artificial intelligence. Only this intelligence is tangled up with magic. Also looking for this magical thing are a couple of librarians from New York City. Apparently, the New York Public Library is a hub for magic in the United States. While Peter is trying to figure out what is going on, he is also getting used to the idea that he is soon to be a father of twins. Beverly Brook is pregnant. Given that she is a goddess on a river planning their future together has some complications.
I loved this addition to the Rivers of London series. I really enjoy Peter's snarky and irreverent personality. The story is fast-paced and the mystery was well-developed. Fans of the series won't want to miss this episode.
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LibraryThing member Andrew_C
For some reason False Value didnt quite gel for me, and I have no idea why. At first I thought it might be the way it drops you right into the action, but its not that, I like it when books do that without wasting pages explaining the situation, even when the situation is vastly different from the
I think I'll have to reread it in 6 months or so and see how it feels then.
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previous status quo. I think I'll have to reread it in 6 months or so and see how it feels then.
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LibraryThing member bibliovermis
This is the first Rivers of London book to have any American characters in significant numbers, and wow does Aaronovitch not know how Americans speak and use vocabulary differently from the British. Totally beside the point but it adds an unintentional extra layer of hilarity for me.
LibraryThing member aquascum
I really liked the series when it was urban fantasy, but now that it's degenerated into the urban horror of pregnancy and babies, I'm done with it.
LibraryThing member Glennis.LeBlanc
The beginning of the book finds Peter applying for a job at a tech firm after leaving the police dept. But not all is at it seems and you quickly find out he is actually undercover. The case he is working on does bring some characters from previous books back on the page. A good story and it has
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the feel that you could start with this book and get quickly caught up afterwards with the series. There is also a one-line reference to the latest comic arc but nothing is felt missing by the mention if you haven’t read it. Show Less
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
It's great how Aaronovitch has kept his character, Peter Grant, maturing throughout the series. Long gone is the diffident Cockney lad who hardly knew how to manufacture a were light without burning the place down. He still works hard at his magic spells but he's up to doing fourth order spells on
As this book starts out we see Peter going for a job interview as a security person at a technology company having been dismissed from the London police force. Fortunately, it only takes a couple of chapters to learn that Peter is undercover. It all started with a theft of a piece of music for a fairground steam organ that Peter had investigated. The music was about Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron and perhaps one of the first computer programmers. The music was meant for an engine that might have been invented by Charles Babbage. It is now suspected that Terrence Skinner, owner of the Serious Cybernetics Company, has his hands on that machine and is holding it in his company's building in London. So, Peter is tasked to find out if it exists and what Skinner might be planning to do with it. As Peter gets deeper into the geek culture he finds that other parties may be after the same thing and he believes that Skinner may be planning to develop a genuine working artificial intelligence. If he succeeds then what would that mean for mankind and the planet? Peter and the rest of the crew don't really want to find out which means finding the mechanism and taking it out of Skinner's control.
Now that Peter is living with Beverley, River Goddess, and soon to be mother of his child, he has other responsibilities. He seems to be able to handle them, along with his police responsibilities.
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the fly now. And he's about to become a father!As this book starts out we see Peter going for a job interview as a security person at a technology company having been dismissed from the London police force. Fortunately, it only takes a couple of chapters to learn that Peter is undercover. It all started with a theft of a piece of music for a fairground steam organ that Peter had investigated. The music was about Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron and perhaps one of the first computer programmers. The music was meant for an engine that might have been invented by Charles Babbage. It is now suspected that Terrence Skinner, owner of the Serious Cybernetics Company, has his hands on that machine and is holding it in his company's building in London. So, Peter is tasked to find out if it exists and what Skinner might be planning to do with it. As Peter gets deeper into the geek culture he finds that other parties may be after the same thing and he believes that Skinner may be planning to develop a genuine working artificial intelligence. If he succeeds then what would that mean for mankind and the planet? Peter and the rest of the crew don't really want to find out which means finding the mechanism and taking it out of Skinner's control.
Now that Peter is living with Beverley, River Goddess, and soon to be mother of his child, he has other responsibilities. He seems to be able to handle them, along with his police responsibilities.
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LibraryThing member catseyegreen
Peter Grant, formally on suspension after the last book, goes undercover in a secretive tech company that styles everything after The Hitchhiker's Guide. Fun.
read 2/8/2024
read 2/8/2024
LibraryThing member 2wonderY
This is not the strongest story, with the back and forth time line and complicated plot. Still, it’s good to visit with the crew again.
Awards
The British Book Industry Awards (Shortlist — 2021)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2020-02-25
Physical description
320 p.
ISBN
9781473228672
Local notes
Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with emigre Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's brand new London start up - the Serious Cybernetics Company. Drawn into the orbit of Old Street's famous 'silicon roundabout', Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant's favourite son.
Glow in the dark cover.
Glow in the dark cover.