The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch

Having read some of the early reviews I was a little wary of this one as I love the Peter Grant series and it seemed like this was a major disappointment to a lot of the fan base.  However, I think this may be because it is a novella and therefore much, much shorter than the novels we have come to expect.  So, going in to the story forewarned that this was only going to be a quick read (check the page count people - I always do) I set aside a few hours on a day off so I could blitz through it in one sitting.

I am pretty sure this story is meant to be read in one big chunk as it just keeps luring you on to read one more chapter until you get to the denouement.  I will admit I thoroughly enjoyed this briefer glimpse into Peter Grant's world and every so often there were little bits and pieces tossed in that had me thinking "hmm, that's going to get brought up again in the next couple of full length novels".  It was also refreshing to have Sgt. Kumar of the BTP back on the page in more than a cameo role and we even got to spend a little time with Toby - huzzah (I have strangely missed the little four legged fellow in the last few novels).  For me I was even relieved that there was no Faceless Man, no Leslie (I am getting a little bit fed up of that sub-plot truth be told) and only a passing reference to Bev and her family.  This is just a nice little slice of investigative work and even brought in a  couple of new service characters from the sprawling London suburbs that I hope we get to revisit.

Overall, I found this to be the distilled essence of his longer works in this fantastical world.  That means I thoroughly loved it.  As much as I have enjoyed all of the series (indeed, thus far everything has been 5 Star) there are some things that I am dreading will reappear in the next full length novel (Lies Sleeping) and I know there will be some repetition of the relationship between The Folly and the Metropolitan Police, some awkward plot bringing Leslie and the Faceless Man into a tangential enquiry to the one that is the main meat of the book and probably some fracas between Peter and the Lady Ty.  Doesn't mean I won't enjoy it but the fact these things were largely missing in this novella was a breath of fresh air.

I think if you go into the book accepting that it is only a novella (and likely an idea for a full length novel that just didn't pan out) so you can get it read in a couple of hours you will enjoy it far more.  I would also recommend that you read this series in order as some ideas are gently expounded on as the books progress and I suspect that if you don't have the grounding of the earlier books then some of it is going to be completely mistifying.  Just one final thought:

I loved the nod to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series when talking about Nightingale's boyhood school - not only did it make me smirk, it forced me to post about it on Facebook for the first time in around 8 months.