Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch – Review

Published: July 8, 2025

Publisher: DAW

Series: Rivers of London #10

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 304 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
“This isn’t London. The rules are different up here…”

All Detective Sergeant Peter Grant wanted was a nice holiday up in Scotland.
He’ll need one once this is over…

Sea: check.
Sand: some.
Sun: sort of – but that’s not the only thing in the sky…

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Somehow this is already the tenth book in the Rivers of London series! After I wrapped up Amongst Our Weapons last year I hoped for another full length novel in the series, mostly just to see where things went after wrapping up the Lesley May storyline. I was delighted when Stone and Sky was announced, especially since it was to be set in Scotland.

Stone and Sky is set two years after the events of Amongst Our Weapons and boy, does it feel like I missed a novel or at the very least a novella in between. Peter, Bev, the twins, Peter’s parents, Abigail, Nightingale, and Dr. Walid all decide to take a vacation to Scotland to visit a friend of Dr. Walid who has been losing sheep to some sort of large predator. It’s a working vacation, so while Abigail (with Indigo the fox in tow), Nightingale, and Dr. Walid are investigating what’s put a vicious and bloody end to several sheep, Peter finds himself involved with a case of his own. There’s a missing person, a dead guy with gills, and a seagull with teeth that disappears into what Peter speculates is another world. Some of this harks back to Foxglove Summer and all the mess with the flesh eating unicorn, so obviously one cannot simply jump in on book ten of a series. Anyway, there are mysterious animals from other dimensions, the oil industry, some previously unseen mer-people and selkies, and a multitude of foxes.

I was both a bit excited to see more of Abigail’s POV in Stone and Sky and a little disappointed to be seeing less of Peter’s POV as a result. Abigail somewhat recently lost her brother to a long-term illness of some sort. It’s brought up in a novella but I don’t recall anything being mentioned about it in the main story and even Abigail isn’t fleshed out too much in the main story. This book seems to almost require you to have read some or most of the novellas to get maximum impact. I personally found that a bit frustrating, despite having recently completed (and enjoyed) several of them. In addition, Abigail quickly becomes monotonous, as she immediately develops a crush on a lovely young woman who also happens to be a member of the demi-monde. Abigail is a clever twenty-something and is acting like a teenager with the accompanying raging hormones anytime Ione is near. Honestly, there are YA books that weren’t as annoying as that became by the end of the book. 

Peter has less page time overall, but the dry humor and quips Ben Aaronovitch has instilled into his character really make these books great. And you know I had to listen to the audiobook because Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is fantastic! I think this is one of the weaker installments in the Rivers of London series but it was nevertheless entertaining. With the Lesley May arc wrapped up it seems to be back to the case of the week style, and while I generally enjoy that I would love to see another overarching story that will more strongly tie these works together and point the story in a consistent direction.