Malazan Empire: Abyss - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

Just Finished Aaronovich's Rivers of London novella MASQUERADES OF SPRING and novel STONE AND SKY.


Masquerades is a fun Nightingale story, told from the POV of Gussy, a British expat and Folly grad living in 1920s New York City. It's a fantastically written story, Gussy is an engaging narrator and while i can't speak to accuracy, the author weaves a thoroughly entertaining adventure through NYC's Jazz scene, Harlem's African-American community, and Gussy's deeply concealed gay lifestyle very very effectively. There's an absolutely wonderful supporting cast in play and while the magic elements are perhaps more low-key than the usual Rivers tale, there are some wild hints dropped along the way about the wider American magic scene we've only had bits of in the main series. It's a great read for anyone who enjoys these books.

As a bonus, the novella lays down the basis for one hysterical easter egg in Stone and Sky. No big if you don't read both, but having one follow the other I was laughing out loud when it dropped. Stone is an interesting story, split evenly between Abby and Peter's narrations. We've had a bit of a time jump, mostly i think to open up Abby's dating life to exploration... having been introduced to her as a very young kid, on the one hand i appreciated the way the author aged her up and wrote her consistently, but on the other i'm not sure i was ready for her to be quite as actively getting it on as she does here. It's not a problem, it didn't detract from the story, but Abby's been very much a YA/younger reader's character before now, and this was a shift. Another interesting element was moving a large chunk of the cast to Aberdeen Scotland, as a team, to conduct an investigation. Peter does the hard core police work, Nightinggale does the heavy lifting behind the scenes, and Abby and her glorious foxes explore the supernatural side (and Bev mostly takes care of the twins and pops in every so often to steal whatever scene she's in). Even Peter's parents have a short subplot. It's much more of a self contained team book than prior novels, but it works, and the supernatural elements they're dealing with here... a murdered selkie and a phantom panther being just the two set out at the very start with more to follow... are nicely played.

Good book, effectively different from what's gone before, worth the read. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as usual delivers an exceptional narration to the earbooks, and Shvorne Marks does a superb job w Abby.

Tiste Simeon, on 03 October 2025 - 05:30 PM, said:

You agreed. We all just nodded vaguely and smiled. I may have had my fingers crossed behind my back too.

QuickTidal, on 03 October 2025 - 03:14 PM, said:

Same - he's one of the few authors i always pre-order but then wait for the trilo to be completed before I read it. It helps that he's steady about producing books, if he starts a trilo, i'll have the whole thing w/in three years or close.

QuickTidal, on 03 October 2025 - 01:17 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 03 October 2025 - 01:56 PM, said:

seriously!

Tsundoku, on 02 October 2025 - 10:36 AM, said:

"Wouldn't you prefer to play Thermonuclear War?"