Published by Titan Comics
Illustrator: José María Beroy
Age Group: Adult
Format: Comic Book
Genres and Categories: Action, Adventure, Fairytales, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Alternative Universe, London, Black Characters, British Authors, Deity Characters, Detective Characters, Magic Users, Mystery, Supernatural, Various Magic, Water Magic
Series: Rivers of London Graphic Novels #10
My Rating:
Published on: 25th November 2022
Pages: 116
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Blackwells / Forbidden Planet / Bookshop.org US / Bookshop.org UK / Waterstones
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When Olympia and Chelsea Brook, twin daughters of the river goddess Mama Thames, accidentally break a mysterious enchantment cast on a mulberry tree in a London forest they unwittingly release a vengeful Victorian illustrator of fairy tales by the name of Jeter Day.
Spirited away and imprisoned by mischievous tree nymphs back in 1897, Jeter returns to a world he neither recognizes nor likes. Now all he wants is his life returned to him and woe betide any man, or water spirit, who stands in his way…
Written by Celeste Bronfman, and acclaimed Rivers of London author Ben Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel (Doctor Who, The Vinyl Detective), with art by Jose Maria Beroy (The Phantom of the Opera, Deadman), Deadly Ever After is an exhilarating magical romp that brings fairy tales to life with deadly consequences.
Collects Rivers of London: Deadly Ever After #1-4
This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!
Content Warnings:
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Deadly Ever After Review
As a huge fan of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series, I enjoy the graphic novel series set in the same universe and eagerly look forward to new additions to the series. Deadly Ever After by Ben Aaronovitch is the latest addition, and keep reading to find out my thoughts about it.
Deadly Ever After by Ben Aaronovitch is the tenth Rivers of London graphic novel, and this one features two secondary characters from the novels. Olympia and Chelsea are the twin daughters of a river goddess and the sister of one of the main characters in the series. We’ve seen them pop in and out throughout the series, and I have to admit that the twins are not some of my favourite characters. They’re usually too busy partying to take anything seriously, and in Deadly Ever After, that’s something they’re forced to face front on when they get in over their head.
When Olympia and Chelsea come across a group of human campers, it’s all fun and games until they use their magic to uncover a tree that was hidden with magic, releasing something that was locked away for centuries. Peter and Nightingale, the police who deal with this, normally deal with magic when things go wrong and are busy on another case, leaving the twins on their own. While I enjoyed the overall story of Deadly Ever After, I just wasn’t invested in the main characters and for most of the graphic novel, the twins continued to be their obnoxious teenage selves. When they started to get involved with what was happening and started to care, then things became more interesting.
This was an interesting development in Olympia and Chelsea’s story, and a graphic novel was a good medium for it. Unlike other graphic novels in the Rivers of London series, I felt like the artwork wasn’t as good, especially the faces of the characters. The artist has been different for this graphic novel and the previous one, and while I can’t remember what my thoughts were on the art of the last one (Monday Monday), it was very noticeable in this one for me.
Deadly Ever After is worth a read for an interesting story and continuity, but overall, it’s my least favourite graphic novel so far. I appreciate Aaronovitch branching out to tell a different type of story with secondary characters, which shows us their personal development, but it just wasn’t of much interest to me. A personal highlight for me was Abigail and the foxes, who are always a bright spot in any Rivers of London story.
About Ben Aaronovitch
Ben Aaronovitch’s career started with a bang writing for Doctor Who, subsided in the middle and then, as is traditional, a third act resurgence with the bestselling Rivers of London series.
Born and raised in London he says that he’ll leave his home when they prise his city out of his cold dead fingers.
Over to you
Thanks for reading my review for Deadly Ever After by Ben Aaronovitch, the tenth graphic novel in the River of London series.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of my reviews if you’re looking for some more book recommendations 🙂 You can also now sign up for my newsletter to get an email each month with a list of my new reviews!
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I didn’t know there were graphic novels of these books! The art in graphic novels is always important, though, so it’s a shame this one didn’t quite stand up to the others. Great review!
They’re really good, you should definitely check them out! For quite a few of them they have a short panel at the end of each issue which was hilarious, often involving Toby the dog.