Moon Over Soho

Following the events of Rivers of London, Police Constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant is called in to help investigate the brutal murder of a journalist in the downstairs toilet of the Groucho Club in London's Soho district. At the same time Peter is disturbed by a number of deaths of amateur and semi-professional jazz musicians that occurred shortly after they performed. Despite the apparently natural causes of death each body exhibits a magical signature which leads Peter to believe that the deaths are far from natural.[2]

The US version of the cover, with controversial silhouetted figure.

As with the previous book in the series the Gollancz cover is based upon a detail from Stephen Walter's 'The Island.'[3]

Reviewers noted that the US publisher, Del Rey, changed the cover from one featuring an obscured black man to one in silhouette. Stephen Bitsoli, writing for The Macomb Daily, offered "two versions of that cover also exist, one black, one silhouette. Guess which one has been published?"[4]

Del Rey later changed their cover policy and, having adopted the UK style "Walters" covers for the release of Whispers Under Ground, have announced that new editions of Moon Over Soho will match the British cover.[5]

The novel was well received, with reviewers praising the novel's humour and sense of place; the main detractor being the incomplete plot when taken as a self-contained novel as much of the story is left unresolved.[2][6][7]

In a review for The Daily Telegraph, Peter Ingham praised the novel's "laconic humour" and stated "It is a rich formula with a bittersweet ending. Terrific entertainment and ripe for a series."[2] Writer Sam Downing was also positive in his review, calling the protagonist a "fresh, likeable hero", the plot "messy and ridiculous and fun as it sounds." and stated that "It’s this kind of world-building that leaves me double-keen to see what magic Aaronovitch will work in the forthcoming third instalment."[6] The novel was also reviewed by Joshua Hill, writing for the Fantasy Book Review, who praised the character's "casual acceptance of magic", stating that it "makes sense, when you consider the often used belief that the human mind fills in a lot of the details of things we do not understand." Hill also stated that while "this book once again blew my mind"; referring to the previous in the series; he also found that the book was "let down with utterly atrocious editing" as "when a book is published to the world, you expect the grammatical mistakes to be non-existent".[8] The novel was well received by Jared of Pornokitsch who stated that "Moon Over Soho is very good. Ben Aaronovitch continues the successful formula of Rivers of London in bringing to the surface the endearing minutae of a city that he clearly adores." He does, however, also note that he feels the series is "[starting] to display some of the symptoms of series-itis" given that the plot of the novel is not entirely self-contained; and that the part of the plot that is self-contained is "a fairly transparent whodunnit."[7]

The novel was reviewed by Thomas Wagner of SF Reviews, who awarded the novel three stars out of five. He stated that while he found the climax of the novel "both exhilarating and emotionally affecting" and that he "really appreciated seeing [Jazz] music featured as a dominant motif in a fantasy novel", he found that the plot "lacks the clarity it should have" and that, with respect to the villain, "the character's desire lines remain obscure." He goes on to say "I guess that's the idea, sure, but I do like a series fantasy to at least pretend to be subtle about leading me to the sequel setup."[9]

The theme of a decapitated head being kept alive by evil magic, greatly suffering by this unnatural existence and longing to die, was already a prominent plot element in C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength (1945).

• Official website
• The Island by Stephen Walter