![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
December Meme: Peter Grant
Dec. 10th, 2013 10:23 pmA day late, but work took over yesterday...
So, Peter Grant. He's the main character and narrator of Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant books, (Rivers of London and on, up to four now, I think.) I'm not sure if the prompt was to talk about the books or about Peter specifically, but I guess I'll talk about Peter, because he's awesome.
The most awesome thing about Peter is how utterly not-awesome he is. He has a lot of curiosity and a lot of dedication, and an extensive knowledge of London historical geography trivia, and that's about it. He works hard at learning magic, and gets better at a completely pedestrian, unexciting pace. He has absolutely, as far as I can tell, no secret family past, no dramatic angsty backstory, no hidden destiny that means it was him all along, no special powers or talents or savant talents or mind blowing charisma. He's just a normal guy, doing his job, pretty well, most of the time.
On the other hand, he's all that (or, rather, not all that) but is never boring to be around in the slightest. His voice - young, chatty, modern, multicultural and self-aware - ties the whole series together. Even when the plot is meandering or the pace is off, hanging out with Peter is never anything other than pleasant. I totally want to be his friend and watch Doctor Who with him and geek out about the history of London sewers.
Of course, he's also this great, disruptive presence in the magical world (particularly the ossified Folly, but also further afield,) who absolutely refuses to buy into the established mythology and ritual that world has built up for itself, and is totally going to keep testing magic and filling out the results in a spreadsheet and making snarky comments at minor gods. Not because he's such a rebel badass, but because that's who he is and that's how he knows to handle the world. His role model for being a hero is probably Buffy, and he's probably totally fine with that.
So, Peter Grant. He's the main character and narrator of Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant books, (Rivers of London and on, up to four now, I think.) I'm not sure if the prompt was to talk about the books or about Peter specifically, but I guess I'll talk about Peter, because he's awesome.
The most awesome thing about Peter is how utterly not-awesome he is. He has a lot of curiosity and a lot of dedication, and an extensive knowledge of London historical geography trivia, and that's about it. He works hard at learning magic, and gets better at a completely pedestrian, unexciting pace. He has absolutely, as far as I can tell, no secret family past, no dramatic angsty backstory, no hidden destiny that means it was him all along, no special powers or talents or savant talents or mind blowing charisma. He's just a normal guy, doing his job, pretty well, most of the time.
On the other hand, he's all that (or, rather, not all that) but is never boring to be around in the slightest. His voice - young, chatty, modern, multicultural and self-aware - ties the whole series together. Even when the plot is meandering or the pace is off, hanging out with Peter is never anything other than pleasant. I totally want to be his friend and watch Doctor Who with him and geek out about the history of London sewers.
Of course, he's also this great, disruptive presence in the magical world (particularly the ossified Folly, but also further afield,) who absolutely refuses to buy into the established mythology and ritual that world has built up for itself, and is totally going to keep testing magic and filling out the results in a spreadsheet and making snarky comments at minor gods. Not because he's such a rebel badass, but because that's who he is and that's how he knows to handle the world. His role model for being a hero is probably Buffy, and he's probably totally fine with that.
