Rivers of London

I've now read all three of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London novels and liked them a lot. The magic element is creatively handled and plausible (there are limitations on its use, and I love protagonist Peter Grant's ongoing attempts to find out how the hell it works, e.g. where the power to fuel magic comes from thermodynamically). The style is engaging and witty, and there's an enjoyable element of pop-culture savvy, as when Peter, lamenting the lack of a device to measure magic traces, notes that among many other current scientific endeavors "clever people at CERN are smashing particles together in the hope that Doctor Who will turn up and tell them to stop." Peter is likeable, complex, wide-rangingly intelligent, and has a deep fundamental decency which means, for example, that he does not have sex with his female friend when she makes a drunken pass at him. The secondary characters are also appealing, especially Peter's boss and magic teacher Thomas Nightingale (the last surviving properly trained English wizard, a man with a long, sometimes tragic history) and Peter's colleague, friend, and sharer-in-UST Lesley (sometimes Leslie, depending on which book) May, a good cop who's tough without being a stereotypical ass-kicking chick and vulnerable without being weak.

I don't really read for plot, but the RoL plots are strong enough (except perhaps for Whispers Underground) to keep me hooked even though most of my attention is on characterization and worldbuilding.

Mostly, as you can see, I think the books are awesome. But I do have ( a couple of reservations )