Rivers of Germany
Jun. 14th, 2019 06:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakPreviously, I’ve only read the „main“ Rivers of London novels, not the comics nor the novellas. But given Ben Aaronovitch’s latest novella, The October Man, is located in Germany, with a German narrator, curiosity won over lack of time. 😊
The narrator in this story is Tobias Winter, who shares with Peter Grant (and many a hardboiled detective) the sarcastic voice though and being the first licensed apprentice of the sole official magic practioner since decades, though not the fondness for architecture; he’s more into cooking. His background is Aaronvitch impressing me with his research, because while Winter’s father is also a cop, his mother is a proud Green veteran from the 80s „Atomkraft Nein Danke!“ demonstrations. (Anti-nuclear power demonstrations: were a really big thing if you were Green in the German 1980s.) World-building wise, the novella fleshes out the long term after effects of the WWII events that form such a key part of Nightingale’s backstory, but it’s very much set in the here and now. I’m intrigued by Winter’s (female) boss, Nightingale’s counterpoint, the Director, who it seems was the sole legal German magic practitioner until Angela Merkel revived the German magic department within the German police in 2005. (Danke, Merkel.) Tobias Winter also gains a female partner named Vanessa Sommer (and everyone comments on the pun in their names) who has a better time of it than Lesley in her first outing but inevitably strikes one as her counterpoint much as Tobias is Peter’s.
The story of the novella is a solid mystery, set in Trier, making the most of the vineyards and the vinery there. (Kudos, Aaronovitch, for not making it either Berlin, Frankfurt or Munich, and in general being that rarity, a writer from the English speaking world who acknowledges that Germans who aren’t either from Berlin or Bavarians exist). Very rarely, I got thrown out of the story when the book made an attempt to incorporate German slang into English in a literal manner – „they don’t give a sausage“ bemused me until it dawned to me someone must have translated „es ist ihnen wurst“ like that for Aaronvitch. Also, I suspect the reason everyone refers to Peter’s boss as „the Nightingale“ rather than „Nightingale“ isn’t out of respect but because Aaronvitch wants to imitate our habit of putting „der“ or „die“ in front of a name when casually referring to them – as in „echt jetzt, der Johnson als PM?“ Otherwise, though, there’s no literal equivalent of trying to provide Tobias Winter with a German accent, thankfully. The occasional digs – our linguistic tendency to come up with lengthy words for various aspects usually summed up with shorter words in English, for example – are good humored and warranted. Conversely, Tobias Winter observing you can’t trust the Brits to stick to international agreements may or may not be prompted by Current Events, but it’s just a remark in context, not a big thing.
We get two rivers in this one; if anyone is curious, that’s the Kyll, the adult one of the two. (That there are lot of smaller rivers flowing into the Mosel at Trier might have been one of the reasons Aaronovitch picked this location.) The Rhinemaidens are briefly mentioned, which makes me hope we’ll meet them in a future outing. Also, since Heine chatting with Father Rhine is one of the funniest sections of Deutschland: Ein Wintermärchen, I hope someone gives Aaronovitch a translation and he incorporates an update in said future outing. Of course, given what the poor Rhinen went through last year with the dry spell, it might not be a happy event.
Anyway, I enjoyed this book and appreciate what it does for extending this particular universe.
The narrator in this story is Tobias Winter, who shares with Peter Grant (and many a hardboiled detective) the sarcastic voice though and being the first licensed apprentice of the sole official magic practioner since decades, though not the fondness for architecture; he’s more into cooking. His background is Aaronvitch impressing me with his research, because while Winter’s father is also a cop, his mother is a proud Green veteran from the 80s „Atomkraft Nein Danke!“ demonstrations. (Anti-nuclear power demonstrations: were a really big thing if you were Green in the German 1980s.) World-building wise, the novella fleshes out the long term after effects of the WWII events that form such a key part of Nightingale’s backstory, but it’s very much set in the here and now. I’m intrigued by Winter’s (female) boss, Nightingale’s counterpoint, the Director, who it seems was the sole legal German magic practitioner until Angela Merkel revived the German magic department within the German police in 2005. (Danke, Merkel.) Tobias Winter also gains a female partner named Vanessa Sommer (and everyone comments on the pun in their names) who has a better time of it than Lesley in her first outing but inevitably strikes one as her counterpoint much as Tobias is Peter’s.
The story of the novella is a solid mystery, set in Trier, making the most of the vineyards and the vinery there. (Kudos, Aaronovitch, for not making it either Berlin, Frankfurt or Munich, and in general being that rarity, a writer from the English speaking world who acknowledges that Germans who aren’t either from Berlin or Bavarians exist). Very rarely, I got thrown out of the story when the book made an attempt to incorporate German slang into English in a literal manner – „they don’t give a sausage“ bemused me until it dawned to me someone must have translated „es ist ihnen wurst“ like that for Aaronvitch. Also, I suspect the reason everyone refers to Peter’s boss as „the Nightingale“ rather than „Nightingale“ isn’t out of respect but because Aaronvitch wants to imitate our habit of putting „der“ or „die“ in front of a name when casually referring to them – as in „echt jetzt, der Johnson als PM?“ Otherwise, though, there’s no literal equivalent of trying to provide Tobias Winter with a German accent, thankfully. The occasional digs – our linguistic tendency to come up with lengthy words for various aspects usually summed up with shorter words in English, for example – are good humored and warranted. Conversely, Tobias Winter observing you can’t trust the Brits to stick to international agreements may or may not be prompted by Current Events, but it’s just a remark in context, not a big thing.
We get two rivers in this one; if anyone is curious, that’s the Kyll, the adult one of the two. (That there are lot of smaller rivers flowing into the Mosel at Trier might have been one of the reasons Aaronovitch picked this location.) The Rhinemaidens are briefly mentioned, which makes me hope we’ll meet them in a future outing. Also, since Heine chatting with Father Rhine is one of the funniest sections of Deutschland: Ein Wintermärchen, I hope someone gives Aaronovitch a translation and he incorporates an update in said future outing. Of course, given what the poor Rhinen went through last year with the dry spell, it might not be a happy event.
Anyway, I enjoyed this book and appreciate what it does for extending this particular universe.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-14 10:09 pm (UTC)I haven't tried the comics either, but the other novella already released, The Furthest Station, is worth a read. It's still Peter's POV. (I'm looking forward to Abigail's novella.)
no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 02:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-15 12:31 pm (UTC)It's possible, but I do recall some characters in the main books referring to Thomas as 'the Nightingale' too from time to time, almost like a title, so there might be a bit of both going on?
no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-15 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 02:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-15 04:32 pm (UTC)One thing though: Nightingale is referred to as "the Nightingale" by magical folk in Britain as well, so it seems a pan-European courtesy title of one sort or another (though it is as yet unexplained)...
no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 02:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 05:59 pm (UTC)I am sure that Peter might have a good laugh at that particular bit of translation if he ever stumbles across it :)
And he seems to be making in effort to learn German as well now, according to his Twitter; but he seems to have been interested in Germany since Broken Homes at least
no subject
Date: 2019-07-13 04:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-15 03:42 pm (UTC)