From the publisher: There have been ghosts on the London Underground, sad, harmless spectres whose presence does little more than give a frisson to travelling and boost tourism. But now there’s a rash of sightings on the Metropolitan Line and these ghosts are frightening, aggressive and seem to be looking for something.

Enter PC Peter Grant junior member of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Assessment unit a.k.a. The Folly a.k.a. the only police officers whose official duties include ghost hunting. Together with Jaget Kumar, his counterpart at the British Transport Police, he must brave the terrifying the crush of London’s rush hour to find the source of the ghosts.

Joined by Peter’s wannabe wizard cousin, a preschool river god and Toby the ghost hunting dog their investigation takes a darker tone as they realise that a real person’s life might just be on the line.

And time is running out to save them.

With this new novella, bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch has crafted yet another wickedly funny and surprisingly affecting chapter in his beloved Rivers of London series.

I've seen the Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London books and thought about picking one up many times, but just couldn't pull the trigger. When the opportunity to review The Furthest Station (a novella-length story in the same series) arose, I decided to give it a shot.

Peter Grant is a police officer who works in The Folly, the special unit that deals with the unexplainable or supernatural. His latest case has him looking for a ghost on the Tube. Grant undertakes the search with the help of his colleague Jaget Kumar from the British Transport Police. What they find is that there is a very real danger to someone's life, and the ghost on the Tube are just the beginning.

I enjoyed The Furthest Station. The characters are well developed and interesting. Peter Grant is a likable protagonist, with real flaws and an engaging personality. Kumar is an adequate companion, as well. It is easy to see that there is a history between the two. Other characters include Grant's teenage cousin Abigail and his boss Nightingale (who is a master practicer of magic). Abigail is somewhat of a prodigy who longs to learn magic and begin working with her cousin full time. She is very proficient with technology (as many teens are) and very intelligent. Abigail is a nice counterpoint to Grant. Nightingale fills the role of (somewhat) crusty mentor.

The mystery was engaging. It was nothing that seemed out of place in a book of this type, and didn't rely heavily on the use of magic. In fact, as far as police procedurals go, it was rather ordinary (this is not meant as a negative). I liked the fact that magic did not dominate the story but rather felt very natural and complimentary to it.

My only complaint was that I felt like I was missing out on some background or inside jokes, having not read any of the other books in the series. This is definitely not Aaronovitch's fault, but I found myself distracted by this from time to time. If The Furthest Station is meant as an easy entry point to the series (due to the length), then maybe those types of things should be explained or left out. However, I would guess readers who are already familiar with the series would enjoy those comments or events.

Overall, I thought The Furthest Station was entertaining. Ben Aaronovitch has created an interesting urban fantasy/mystery series with engaging characters. If as a reader, this fits in your sweet spot, it would be worth picking up and giving it a read. If you are already a fan, this is a must read.

I received a preview copy of this book from Subterranean Press and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Peter Grant and his cousin Abigail were hunting ghosts on the Underground. Strange ghosts that fell apart when confronted. Ghosts that kept wanting to send a message "The Master," whoever that was. In solving the ghost issue, Peter encountered a new river "godling," brought attention to the murder of foxes, and managed to be instrumental in solving a kidnapping. But the next problem to be solved involves getting Abigail's parents permission for her to learn magic. A nice tidy novella to whet the appetite until the next book comes out.

A great continuation to the Peter Grant series. I'm very much enjoying the Rivers' continued involvement and watching how Leslie has changed from the hero we thought she was into a conflicted maybe villain, maybe anti-hero.

The Furthest Station is a quick novella that retains the spirit of the series but which remains unsatisfying.
Peter's distinctive voice is present; even though the novella is short, there's still space for his digressions and pop culture references. There's even a few footnotes addressed to his American counterpart, though I found these a bit disruptive. They call into question the nature of the story, particularly as there is no framework set up to indicate Peter is addressing someone particular.

The story does a reasonable job of introducing who Peter is and what he does for a living. However, I'm not sure I'd recommend it as an entry point to the series. For example, the oddness of Molly is never explained for a new reader and the references to Beverley and her family are cursory. There's a lot of background present which is likely to make it confusing.

I enjoyed seeing Peter spend more time with Abigail, though there's never any real change in their relationship. Preserving the status quo for the novels in such a way leaves it ultimately feeling like filler.

The main plot held up fairly well until the ending. While it was nice to see an acknowledgement that not all police work ends tidily or in a dramatic fashion, the number of loose ends made it unsatisfying to me.

All in all, The Furthest Station was a pleasant read, but not one of Aaronovitch's better works.

I discovered Ben Arronovitch a couple months ago when one of his short stories was released on Audible as a gift. I was immediately hooked. I went out and bought the first three books. When Net Galley approved me for this short story I was ecstatic! This one is set between book 5 and 6. I loved it -

The London underground is being plagued by ghosts. So, these incidents are brought to the attention of the Folly, who handles all things "weird".
Peter is working the job with Jaget Kumar, his counterpart at the British Transport Police, since it must do with the underground. Abigail, his cousin, a young almost apprentice, is helping too.

What do the ghosts want? This is a small window into the life of Peter Grant, apprentice wizard.

A few of the characters were not in the book, but it is a short story. Very good and a highly recommend it.

I had a friend who obsessed over the difference between "farther" and "further" and now I obsess too. "Farther" is a distance (the farthest station on the line) and furthest is an immeasurable concept.. And while "Me and him went" might be colloquial English it still is bad grammar. I could not read this.

The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch falls in one of my favorite genres: Magic Detective Fiction. I've really enjoyed the Peter Grant series up until this point and was hoping for another full length novel. Due to the nature of the ARC, I didn't realize until the abrupt end of this novella that it was actually a novella. I liked the development of Abigail as a character and it's great to see Peter and the rest of the Folly up to a more "regular-sized" case as opposed to every adventure being potentially world-ending or what not.

If you like Magic Detectives, this would be a great introductory story to the world of Peter Grant, but I would still recommend beginning the series at the beginning. Aaronovitch usually does a fantastic job of making a slightly magical, yet very modern London come to life. There's less of that in this book, but the mystery is a fun, quick read.

This seventh book in the Rivers of London series is shorter than the others, just over 100 pages. I was pleased to be dealing with ghosts again as they have a lot of scope for interesting situations and glimpses of history.

I also enjoyed the return to dealing a little with river spirits, bringing it full circle. This one has an old fashioned Mystery element in that someone has been kidnapped and cryptic hints from ghosts are all Peter Grant and company have to go on to try to find the missing girl.

The book makes an enjoyable, short read and I feel returns to the vibe of the first book in a way that is satisfying to someone who has been reading through the whole series.

----------
"What, like officially?"
"Officially secret," I said because discretion is supposed to be, if not our middle name, at least a nickname we occasionally answer to when we remember.
----------
When you're four, forever and ever can mean yesterday. But amongst my other policing skills I've acquired a proficiency in straw-clutching that verges on the savant.
----------

I just LOVE this series! There are so many excellent elements - clever dialogue and turns of phrase, unique characters, original plots... There are, admittedly, always a few points where I find myself suddenly, randomly, lost - not usually in the plot, although that does happen on occasion, but mostly in the language (thank god for the internet, because British slang is not the easiest thing to follow OR figure out) - but things always seem to come together relatively quickly, and even the meandering bits are always entertaining...

In this latest installment, Peter once again finds himself in over his head with ghosts, but through his own efforts (supplemented handily by Nightengale, Abigail, and a few key others) manages to pull himself over and through the problem and into a cleverly managed and utterly satisfying conclusion. This one is numbered 5.7 in the series; it felt rather like an in-between book. There was no mention of the ongoing issues with Punch or Leslety. And, more surprising given the series title (Rivers of London), there was hardly any River element. Beverly barely plays a role, Lady Tyburn is nary to be found, there is no Mama/Father Thames drama to be seen - and the introduction of it came very late (and rather tangentially) to the story. If it had been shorter, I would have assumed this to be a short story for an independent collection; it reads as part of, but not essential to, the series. I didn't mind that, I was just surprised by it.

Still, any day with Peter Grant is a good day in my book - he is the draw for me in this series. He's Everyman but not really - the Everyman that every man would like to be: clever, fun, a willing participant in a world that forced him into its walls. He flies by the seat of his pants more than he'd like to admit, and is often lost - but through the good graces of his friends and his own not inconsiderable strengths - always found again eventually. He's a great character, and Aaronovitch puts him into unique and challenging situations that stretch the boundaries of his world over and over again, yet he always manages to finagle his way in and out of trouble with aplomb and a nice curry. May we all be so lucky...

Satisfying novella.I especially liked the development of Abigail as one of the team.

Even though I am a ginormous fan of this series, I am a bit of purist and tend to stick with the full length novels. I am not one to normally read the side adventures of series that sometimes get published in novellas. And normally I would have waited to see if this got the audiobook treatment because Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's narration of these books is so peerless, that I buy them in audio exclusively.

But I just couldn't resist this one. Peter's world and his worldview are so infectious that I couldn’t wait to read this.

This one features a rather tight little case that centers on pervy ghosts who assault and commuters who are riding the London metro. Yeah, you heard that right. Percy ghosts. Assaulting people in public. Even more crazy is that something happens if to the victim's memory in the aftermath of the assault that after awhile they have no memory that any such assault takes place. But Peter is on the job and manages to get to a victim before her memory fades.

The rest of the book follows Peter, Nightingale and Peter's young cousin Abby map the London tube to track down their spectral terrorist. And along the way we get to meet all sorts of ghosts raging from morose to sassy.

This quick read highlights all the things that makes the entire series so darned good. The nice blend of magic and police procedure. Peter's often trenchant, always witty observations. Fantastic character diversity and character development. I was pleased to learn more abut Abby and hope that this means she'll be making another appearance in the main novels. Also we get to meet another River God!

Really enjoyed this!

A novella set in the period between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree which sees Peter Grant and Jaget Kumar of the British Transport Police (one of the regularly recurring characters in the series) trying to sort out a ghost on the underground. As a novella, there’s not as much time for the ongoing story ark, so this doesn’t delve into the defection of Lesley May, but it does bring in Peter’s teenage proto-wizard cousin and a nascent river god who has been adopted by a well-meaning childless couple. An excellent stopgap while we’re waiting for the next full length book. It’s got all the trademark elements of the series and Peter’s wry and funny ‘voice’.
Dreamwidth. LiveJournal. Goodreads

I liked how Peter methodically worked his way through this one. Each step brought him to a new place to look, which lead him to more and more. His instincts are finally kicking in and he is starting to trust himself, a good thing especially at the end. I do find myself intrigued by the boy that Peter met, I hope he manages to come back in later books. I loved how at so many times Peter's cousin, Abigail, seemed to get the better of him. How a throw away comment he made a long time ago is coming back to bite him in the ass. It will be fun to see how Peter and Nightingale deal with her.

This is a short novella in the series featuring our intrepid detective, Peter Grant, attached to the Folly, the police unit that deals with all things magical and fantastical in London. Unlike the full length novels with sprawling storylines, this is a more sparse and tightly written affair. It appears there are regular ghostly presences on London's Metropolitan tube line, they are given to invective that is racist, sexist and just generally abusive. However, whilst several rail customers make complaints, these are withdrawn rapidly as they lose their memory of the event. Sergeant Jaget Kumar of the British Transport Police and Peter work together to track down the ghosts as they interview Jessica Talacre whilst her memory remains intact.

So we learn of ghosts, loopers and entities, and the vestigia they leave behind. Peter and Jaget, with the help of DCI Nightingale, set up the conditions where they meet various train ghosts, a veritable psychic soup, like a postboy, Mr Ponderstep, the banker, and the young Alice Bowman, entranced by dogs, from whom Peter begins to surmise that a woman has been abducted. There are ghosts that have been trapped in rose jars, and an elderly couple, Allen and Lilian, who took in a young boy, Chess, without the required legal paperwork. Chess, it turns out is a preschool river god. Peter has his cousin, a prodigy it turns out, chasing down ghosts tirelessly whilst she develops her own knowledge of the magical world. Peter tries to track down a missing social worker before she ends up dead.

This has the wry wit and comic humour of the series and makes a welcome contribution to the Rivers of London novels. We see more of Jaget in his occupation and the way in which he interacts with Peter as they hunt down their ghosts. Peter is always good to spend time with, he is such a great character. A very enjoyable read of a wonderful series. Cannot wait for the next full length novel, which I have to admit would be more to my taste, this felt too short. Many thanks to Subterranean Press for an ARC.

Another great addition to the series. Loved the idea of the Godling

Full of all the usual wry wit and madness that is so much a part of the Peter Grant books, this novella is a fast read that, I suspect, could have been worked up into a full-length book if Ben Aaronovitch had had notion to do so. Having only made it as far as part-way through the third book in the series, I was breaking all the rules in reading #5.7 now. Consequently there were a few things that I just had to accept, which I assume I'd have already known about if I'd read in sequence. I was a little sorry to see less fleshing-out of characters than in the novels, but that's inevitable, really, given how much shorter this book is.

I will confess that despite my convictions that audiobooks aren't my thing, I am completely hooked on the audiobooks of this series, and I missed Kobna's narration. If an audio version is released in future (please! please!) I will be happy to "re-read".

Rivers of London novella involving ghosts on a mission and a newly born river who’s been adopted by normals. Didn’t seem to move the ball much.

"He knew I knew,” I said. “Yeah, but what did you know?” said DI Colombo. “Obviously something,” I said. “If only I knew what it was.”

Another brilliant story from the 'Rivers of London' series. This time we are back in the tunnels and trains of the London Underground, with PC Peter Grant and PC Jaget Kumar of the British Transport Police (last seen in Whispers Underground). There is a ghost insulting and assaulting passengers on the Metropolitan Line but when interviewed the passengers don't remember the assault, and they don't remember calling the police, or what happened to them.

Obviously the whole situation needs a Falcon Assessment.

So Peter is on the case and to him this is just another day in the office. He and Jaget go ghost hunting underground with the assistance of Abigail who is Peter's cousin and apprentice, and who has an uncanny ability to sniff out the supernatural and spot ghosts.

And so Peter is on the Underground again because obviously Londoners can't get away from it, but instead of ghost hunting on the lines and stations in the heart of London, he is off to the extremities of London. Infinity and beyond, which in underground terms is actually not London but Chesham the furthest station of the Metroplitan Line and hardly the life and vibe of the city.

I wouldn't have thought it possible for anyone to write an interesting story about Chesham but here it is.

And so people are seeing ghosts as they travel on the Metropolitan Line and as Peter gets involved more 'weird shit' happens because it always does when an officer from the Folly is involved.

This is an excellent novella for all Peter Grant fans. Having returned from his stint in the sticks (Foxglove Summer) it is great to have him back in the 'Big Smoke' where Londoners don't bat an eyelid at the weird stuff because that's just how we roll in the big city.

It continues this fabulous series with the usual entertaining magic, mystery, witty observations, Molly, Toby, Nightingale, Peter and the various divisions of the British Police force, and as usual everyone is investigating the things that shouldn't happen but do.

I have been listening my way through this series and this is actually the first time I am reading an ebook from the series. Thankfully the narration of Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is etched in my memory and as I read this story I could hear his impeccable narration in my mind. In the same way PC Grant is very much a character who has come alive in my imagination and perhaps one day I might meet him on the streets of London or the underground, or maybe not because who wants to be around him when the weird stuff starts?

And then there are the rivers, foxes, ghosts and all the other stuff that make this series so addictive. Even though this is a novella the story here is a really good one and a nice follow up to Foxglove Summer.

I think these books should be compulsory reading for all Londoners and anyone who wants to move to London because the stories just capture the essence of London and what it means to be a Londoner.

Plus they are also just great books!

Copy provided by the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Everything you have come to expect from Aaronovitch! Fantastic!