Rivers of London
#2644.07 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 10 books Status Ongoing 2011–present Reading commitment High Ben Aaronovitch Last reviewed 2026-10-15
Overview
An ongoing London-set urban fantasy police procedural, following a young Metropolitan Police constable recruited into a small, secretive unit that handles magic, ghosts, and the city's living river-goddesses. Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant becomes England's first apprentice wizard in over seventy years after his recruitment by Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale into the Folly, the unit responsible for London's supernatural crime, and the series, opening with Rivers of London (2011), blends grounded police-procedural detail with escalating fantasy stakes across ten main novels and five novellas so far, the latest, Stone and Sky, appearing in 2025. The books have sold more than five million copies worldwide and been translated into fourteen languages, spawning a dedicated fan wiki, and a graphic novel line co-written by Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel has added twelve further volumes to the timeline. Sky Studios announced a television adaptation from Pure Fiction Television and See-Saw Films in November 2024, after an earlier adaptation attempt from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's production company stalled.
Urban fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (10 works) counts toward ranking
Peter Grant Ben Aaronovitch
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Rivers of London | 2011 | 1 | core | 3.84 (155,906 ratings) |
 | Moon Over Soho | 2011 | 2 | core | 4.08 (76,435 ratings) |
 | Whispers Under Ground | 2012 | 3 | core | 4.15 (66,618 ratings) |
 | Broken Homes | 2013 | 4 | core | 4.16 (56,997 ratings) |
 | Foxglove Summer | 2014 | 5 | core | 4.20 (51,534 ratings) |
 | The Hanging Tree | 2016 | 6 | core | 4.22 (42,071 ratings) |
 | Lies Sleeping | 2018 | 7 | core | 4.24 (34,160 ratings) |
 | False Value | 2020 | 8 | core | 4.10 (28,007 ratings) |
 | Amongst Our Weapons | 2022 | 9 | core | 4.31 (21,985 ratings) |
 | Stone and Sky | 2025 | 10 | core | 4.09 (11,258 ratings) |
10 full-length main-sequence novels (2011-2025), ongoing.
Library / Expanded (5 works)
Peter Grant Novellas Ben Aaronovitch
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Furthest Station | 2017 | 5.5 | N/A | |
 | The October Man | 2019 | 7.5 | N/A | |
 | What Abigail Did That Summer | 2021 | 8.5 | N/A | |
 | Winter's Gifts | 2023 | 9.5 | N/A | |
 | The Masquerades of Spring | 2024 | 9.6 | N/A |
5 novellas (2017-2024), each numbered .5 in the series' own convention; Expanded Canon.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Rivers of London? Rivers of London's Core Canon is 10 books, plus 5 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
- What is the reading order for Rivers of London? Publication order, starting with Rivers of London. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Rivers of London finished? Ongoing (2011–present).
- How much reading does Rivers of London take? High reading commitment (estimated from 10 Core Canon books · ~3,659 pages).
- How is Rivers of London ranked? #264 in this site's official ranking, based on 544,971 reader ratings across 10 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #264?
Ranked #264 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.07 across 10 core books.
- Backed by 545k reader ratings.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.84 to 4.31.
- 0.13 behind #263, Les Sentiers des Astres.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 10 books · Ongoing · 545k ratings · Ranks #264 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running urban fantasy universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.
Reading order
Publication order (10 Core Canon books)
- Moon Over Soho (2011)
- Rivers of London (2011)
- Whispers Under Ground (2012)
- Broken Homes (2013)
- Foxglove Summer (2014)
- The Hanging Tree (2016)
- Lies Sleeping (2018)
- False Value (2020)
- Amongst Our Weapons (2022)
- Stone and Sky (2025)
Documented internal/story order
- Rivers of London (2011)
- Moon Over Soho (2011)
- Whispers Under Ground (2012)
- Broken Homes (2013)
- Foxglove Summer (2014)
- The Hanging Tree (2016)
- Lies Sleeping (2018)
- False Value (2020)
- Amongst Our Weapons (2022)
- Stone and Sky (2025)
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Rivers of London and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Iron Druid Chronicles Urban fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.21
- October Daye Urban fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.20
- Chronicles of Elantra Urban fantasy / Epic fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.17
- Alex Verus Urban fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.17
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.07 across 544,971 ratings on 10 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit Rivers of London (Ben Aaronovitch) as a new single-author universe accepted 2026-08-11
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-11
Rule: Core = the 10 full-length main-sequence novels (2011-2025). Expanded = the 5 novellas, each numbered '.5' in the series' own convention. Ongoing.