The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch Narrator: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Series: Rivers of London #9.2
Published by Tantor Media on September 5, 2024
Source: Library
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Length: 4 hrs 34 mins
Pages: 165
Format: Audiobook
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New York City, New York.
Meet Augustus Berrycloth-Young - fop, flaneur, and Englishman abroad - as he chronicles the Jazz Age from his perch atop the city that never sleeps.
That is, until his old friend Thomas Nightingale arrives, pursuing a rather mysterious affair concerning an old saxophone - which will take Gussie from his warm bed, to the cold shores of Long Island, and down to the jazz clubs where music, magic, and madness haunt the shadows...
I’ve read a couple of the Rivers of London books, which gave me enough background to enjoy The Masquerades of Spring, but since it’s a novella that falls outside of the regular series, I also didn’t feel like I was missing anything plot- or relationship-wise.
We are in the 1920s in Harlem. Augustus Berrycloth-Young is a very British wizard, who has taken refuge in America. His life is pretty decent – he spends his time listening to jazz, enjoying the city, and being in love with his boyfriend, Lucien. It can be difficult, gay men are hassled by the cops and Lucy, being black, is not allowed into some of the nicest restaurants, even in Gussie’s company. And then Thomas Nightingale arrives asking for Gussie’s help in finding the original owner of a cursed saxophone. What follows is a decent little mystery, with plenty of action and magic.
I loved the characters in this one. Nightingale is his usual self, if younger, but Gussie, Lucy, and their friends are fabulous – maybe a little stereotypical, but in a positive way, if that makes sense. I especially enjoyed Gussie’s way of looking at life. The setting is well-done, full of music, and clothes, and cars. I need to get back to reading this series.
About Ben Aaronovitch
Born and raised in London Ben Aaronovitch had the sort of unrelentingly uninteresting childhood that drives a person to drink or Science Fiction. The latter proved useful in his early career when he wrote for Doctor Who (before it was fashionable), Casualty and the cheapest soap opera ever made – Jupiter Moon.
Alas his career floundered in the late 1990s and he was forced to go out and work for living. It was while running the Crime and Science Fiction sections at the Covent Garden branch of Waterstones that he conceived the notion of writing novels instead. Thus was the Rivers of London series born and when the first book proved to be a runaway success he waited all of five minutes to give up the day job and return to the bliss that is a full time writing career.
He still lives in the city that he modestly calls ‘the capital of the world’ and says he will leave when they prise London from his cold dead fingers. He promises that he is already hard at work on the next Peter Grant novel and not computer games – honest
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