Stone & Sky by Ben AaronovitchSynopsis: ‘This isn’t London. The rules are different up here, and so are the allegiances.’ Detective Sergeant Peter Grant takes a much-needed holiday up in Scotland. And he’ll need one when this is over…
If mores the merrier, then it’s ecstatic as his partner Beverley, their young twins, his mum, dad, his dad’s band and their dodgy manager all tag along. Even his boss, DCI Thomas Nightingale, takes in the coastal airs as he trains Peter’s cousin Abigail in the arcane arts. And they’ll need them too, because Scotland’s Granite City has more than its fair share of history and mystery, myth … and murder. When a body is found in a bus stop, fresh from the sea, the case smells fishy from the off. Something may be stirring beyond the bay – but there’s something far stranger in the sky …”

My Review

I love this series! This is book 10 and the first full length Rivers of London novel in three years. Peter is 30 in this book, a father of twin girls and dare I say it, seems to be a bit wiser? :/

This time the story is set Scotland, Aberdeen to be precise, and is told by Peter, and his younger cousin Abigail, who has appeared in some of the other books. In fact it was the novella What Abigail Did Last Summer that got me into the series! 

I enjoyed Peter’s chapters because he’s such a great character, and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s narration is superb. However I struggled with Abigail’s chapters as they were very YA romance/coming of age story, written in teenage slang which I could just about work out, also they were a bit too steamy for me! I got used to Shrvone Marks narration, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Kobna’s. 

It’s a shame that the usual format of just one narrator was changed, as I found it quite hard to follow the plot at times, and to remember who all the characters were. This maybe because I wasn’t hooked like I normally am. Instead I kept stopping and did something else instead, not a good sign.

It’s definitely not my favourite in the series. I’ll take a chance on the next book, but I might not pre-order like I have done in the past.

I still love the series, because the previous full length novels are so good. I definitely recommend the rest of the series on audio though, especially if you’ll looking for something a bit different.

Book 14 of 20 Books of Summer 2025