Winter’s Gifts

Winter’s Gifts (2023) Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London)

Kimberly Reynold’s met Peter Grant during Whispers Underground, and they have kept in touch since.

Probably because Kimberly is now stuck dealing with all the Weird Stuff.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about a whole book with Kimberly.

Mama is not a fan of the federal government, although she makes an exception for the military, the post office and, more recently, Medicare.

Turns out, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Especially the snark about the US.

“There’s no mesocyclone!” shouted Bill. “That had better be down to magic, or otherwise we can kiss goodbye to the laws of thermodynamics.”

“They’ll have to rewrite all the textbooks,” I said, marveling at how calm I was given the circumstances.

“Nah,” said Bill. “The science has to be obsolete for at least twenty years before they do that. Forty years, if we’re talking about Texas.”

A heavily armed group of men and women in camouflage, body armor and advanced combat helmets were milling around in front of the emergency center. They might have been state troopers, National Guard, or even local deputies. After twenty-five years of the military equipment reutilization program, it can be hard to tell them apart—especially since many small departments don’t even bother to dye the camouflage blue.

I feel like this story was written not because Ben Aarnonvitch wanted to spend time with Kimberly Reynolds, but because he got curious about how the magical systems of Native Americans might work.

And then he wanted to spend time with Kimberly Reynolds.

I enjoyed this very much, and now I want to spend more time with Kimberly Reynolds.

Publisher: Subterranean Press

Rating: 8/10

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