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Stone and Sky

Out Now: The Brand New Rivers of London Novel

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Stone and Sky

By: Ben Aaronovitch
Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Shvorne Marks
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About this listen

 THE BRAND NEW NOVEL IN THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING RIVERS OF LONDON SERIES

'This isn't London. The rules are different up here, and so are the allegiances.'

Detective Sergeant Peter Grant takes a much-needed holiday up in Scotland. And he'll need one when this is over...

If more's the merrier, then it's ecstatic as his partner Beverley, their young twins, his mum, dad, his dad's band and their dodgy manager all tag along. Even his boss, DCI Thomas Nightingale, takes in the coastal airs as he trains Peter's cousin Abigail in the arcane arts.

And they'll need them too, because Scotland's Granite City has more than its fair share of history and mystery, myth ... and murder.

When a body is found in a bus stop, fresh from the sea, the case smells fishy from the off.

Something may be stirring beyond the bay - but there's something far stranger in the sky...

* * * * *

PRAISE FOR BEN AARONOVITCH & THE RIVERS OF LONDON SERIES:

'Highly entertaining'
SUNDAY EXPRESS

'Charming, witty, exciting'
THE INDEPENDENT

'Ben Aaronovitch has created a wonderful world full of mystery, magic and fantastic characters. I love being there more than the real London'
NICK FROST

'As brilliant and funny as ever ... Masterfully crafted - gives the late, great Terry Pratchett a run for his money'
THE SUN

'An incredibly fast-moving magical joyride for grown-ups'
THE TIMES

'Funny and wildly inventive'
MAIL ON SUNDAY©2025 Ben Aaronovitch Crime Fiction Fantasy Mystery Police Procedurals England Magic Boss

Critic reviews

Highly entertaining
Funny and wildly inventive
Masterfully crafted ... Gives the late, great Terry Pratchett a run for his money
Ben Aaronovitch has created a wonderful world full of mystery, magic and fantastic characters. I love being there even more than the real London
Charming, witty, exciting
An incredibly fast-moving magical joyride for grown-ups
All stars
Most relevant
The Rivers series has lost its magic. This reminds me of 1970s Dr Who adventure, complete with a disused quarry, monsters and military style operations. The fragmented story has two narrators and feels like two loosely related novellas. Peter Grant’s rather dull investigation sits uncomfortably alongside a YA romantasy. Nightingale is relegated to minor role, with all manner of series characters name-checked but playing no real part.

YA romantasy x Dr Who

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I enjoyed the story, although it inevitably felt disjointed from the others. By taking us forward two years and far away from the usual setting, the way forward for all the characters is hinted at and we can imagine their futures.
I don't see myself re-reading this one as many times as the others but that's ok, I'm ready to say goodbye.
Kobna's amazing voice and performance is less pervasive and that's a pity even though the co-reader makes a pretty good job of her part.
My 5 star rating is for the entire series, relative to for example my absolute favourite, Foxglove Summer, I would give this final story a 4.5

The last one, I think

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I waited soooooooo long for the new book and I’ve got to say it let me down.
I love the idea but it just didn’t work. The switching being narrators is contrived and ultimately pointless. Kobna is Peter Grant and I signed up for his story and his experience and observations, not this woman, who I’m sure is lovely, but cannot portray these well-loved characters. I found her Nightingale was way off and Peter’s mum was totally wrong. I couldn’t figure out who was saying what. Kobna should have read the whole thing, in my opinion and that might have made it more well-rounded.
And why is Abigail muscling in on Peter Grant’s storylines? Stop levering her in everywhere, she’s annoying, grates on me with her slang rubbish every five seconds and stop shoving LGBTQ+ storylines at me. I don’t care about her and certainly don’t want to listen her groping around with some Scottish bird.
And what was that rubbish music at the end? That killed it stone dead for me.
I’ve listened to it twice. The second time I skipped all the Abigail chapters and it made a nice little novella but I was promised a new novel and I didn’t get it. Scrap Abigail, stop trying to be trending and go back to London, where we have decent characters and great storylines. I don’t want teen drama, I want Nightingale not baby wizard stories, I want rivers of London, not Scotland by the sea and I want magic in the police. Please Ben! Do what you do best, don’t get sidetracked. I want a grown up book.

Kobna is the best but my lowest rated book in the series

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It was a bit disappointing after looking forward to the new book for so long. The plot seemed unfocused and the dual narration/inclusion of so much Abigail wasn't great. Definitely not enough Nightingale. Since the faceless man has been resolved it feels like the books are bouncing around ideas unsure of which direction to go for.

A weak narrative

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Better then the last one which was poor, but lots of random phrasing and teen relationship angst that just distracts from the story. If you want to give Abigail more focus, do another Abigail novella. Dislike the dual narrator set up too

Too much Abigail

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