Winter's Gifts: The Brand New Rivers Of London Novella

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That person is FBI Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds. Leaving Quantico for snowbound Northern Wisconsin, she finds that a tornado has flattened half the town - and there’s no sign of Henderson. It didn't seem to me that there was enough to Kimberly Reynolds to lift the story up. Part of the problem is that she has no magical abilities of her own to call on so she can't do the things that Peter or even Abigail might do in London. We learn very little about her as an individual except that she avoids swearing and she is a practising Christian who has accepted Jesus Christ as her saviour. What we don't learn is how she squares her religious beliefs with her experiences with magic users. Unlike Peter Grant, she seems incurious about what magic is and how it works. Interacting with various Genus Loci at home and abroad has left her unfazed but I kept wondering why that was. It reminded me of an Avengers meme: That person is FBI Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds. Leaving Quantico for snowbound Northern Wisconsin, she finds that a tornado has flattened half the town – and there’s no sign of Henderson. For example, she constantly starts preachy sentences with “My mama says” and complains about blasphemy (her word) when people around her swear. It’s grating, especially since nobody over the age of 9 and under the age of 75 talks like that. Make that 95. Seriously, if I met this person on a first date, I’d make an excuse and escape through the bathroom window - what adult talks that much about their mother outside of therapy? We are happy to announce that Ben Aaronovitch will be joining us to sign copies of Rivers Of London: Winter's Gifts at Forbidden Planet Megastore London on Thursday 8th June 2023 from 5:30pm - 6:30pm.

Although FBI Agent Kimberley Reynolds has worked with Peter Grant from time to time since she helped him investigate the fatal stabbing of a US Senator's son in 'Whispers Under Ground', 'Winter's Gifts' is the first book with her as the main character. As for the story and environment, there were few places where I, as a longtime inhabitant of the Great Frozen North, said, to myself, "That's all wrong", but there was also no place where I thought, "That's an insightful, original way to describe how it feels, or how it looks." Karen is SHOOK to learn another character isn’t a practising Christian. I can only assume this is Karen’s first foray outside the compound, and she qualified for the FBI over Zoom. Another great work-friendly gift is the Really Useful Mug. It's not your typical workplace mug – it offers a ton of fun facts that go great with a morning cup of coffee. It's microwave-safe and dishwasher-safe. What are the best winter gifts for my wife?

FAQs about winter gifts

I LOVE the Rivers of London series, so was excited about the latest installment. But I don't know if it's that there was not enough of my lovely Peter Grant, or that I don't really care about Kimberley's character, or that it was set in the US and had a rather weird mash-up of Native American lore. It could have been a smidgen of all of these things contributing. And, unfortunately, I found the narrator's voice somewhat grating. Other listeners have mentioned the irritation of a constant pronunciation of "parka" as "parkER" (and that word was used A LOT in this book) and I also found that somewhat irritating. And all the male voices seemed to take on a kind of dopey surf-dude, frat-bro quality--even Peter's on that short transatlantic phone call.

Meh. Part of my dissatisfaction might be with the audiobook itself, but it was only like five hours long and it took me three weeks to finish it. First, Kimberly has never been my favorite character, though she grew on me a bit here chasing paranormal activity in a snowed-in Wisconsin lake town. Second, she kept meeting people once and that was it, though a few made a brief second appearance. The story was a lot of disconnected events that only began to come together at the very end, and it was hard to latch on to. Something spooky is going down in Wisconsin of all places. As seemingly the only X-Files-y operative, Reynolds has to parka up and straighten it out. And it seems architectural mayhem follows her the same way it does for Peter Grant. And is romance inevitable? Seriously, this type of “I don’t need to know about winter to tell you all about winter” hubris is the reason the Franklin expedition failed.Something terrible is awakening. As the clues lead to the coldest of cold cases – a cursed expedition into the frozen wilderness – Reynolds follows a trail from the start of the American nightmare, to the horror that still lives on today… Accents aside, the narration was fine, but... it could have been better. (I just read a review saying that all the male characters sounded like Barney Rubble for some reason. Ha.) I guess Kimberly is supposed to be from the midwest (wait, or Oklahoma? Does Aaronovitch think that Oklahoma is the Midwest? And wouldn't someone from the state with such a large Native population maybe, you know, know more about the stories of Native Peoples in this country? It kind of helps with the use of "momma" though.) And the British narrator apparently grew up in the US? It's funny how much these details matter, and yes I think there SHOULD have been a beta reader. Damit ist sie in ihrem Büro in New Orleans nun eine der anerkannten Spezialist*innen und als ein Ex-Agent einen Fall mit möglichen magischen Komponenten meldet, begibt sie sich zur Sondierung nach Eloise, wo sie mitten in den Nachwehen eines unerwarteten Tornados landet, der unter anderem die Polizeistation vernichtet hat. Und der fragliche Ex-Kollege scheint von seltsam verkleideten Unbekannten entführt worden zu sein. One of our best gifts for a wife in winter is the Jurlique Home Spa Hamper. It has everything she needs to forget the freezing weather outside and focus on a pampering day inside by herself or with friends. That depends on their tastes and interests – but here are some gift ideas with a winter twist to them: