When a series of fairytale inspired illustrations painted in the late 1800s start coming to life, all hell breaks loose. The longer Olympia and Chelsea look into the different people affected, the more they realize it’s all connected to a certain tree in the forest. Unfortunately for them, that tree is the same one that the pair revealed by breaking the enchantment that once kept it hidden and safely tucked away!

We follow Olympia and Chelsea, the twin daughters of Mama Thames, as they accidentally push over the first domino leading to a series of crazy events that slowly mimic the illustrations of an artist from the late 1800s. It was fun to watch these two characters accidentally cause some shenanigans because they weren’t thinking about the possible consequences of their actions. It turns out that revealing a tree hidden by magic, and breaking any possible boundaries that was part of that, took them on a major learning curve.

All in all, I really enjoyed the characters, the story, and the artwork. Every once in a while, I accidentally start a series with a random book that is not the series opener. I can tell you that this book stands up very well on its own because I didn’t realize it wasn’t the first in a series until it mentioned that a fan favorite was about to appear. I took a look and discovered it’s actually the tenth installment in the series! I liked the story a lot, so I’m checking out the rest of the series and plan on eventually rereading this installment in context since there’s several books that came before it.

I'm just starting in the Rivers of London series and got this to see what they add. The short answer is that this is fine. A short story with fantasy touches, humour and a sense of character about things. An accompanient to the main novels to add extra flavour, needs to be part of that series and world to work. A 'way in' perhaps for people to have a taster.

I loved seeing this story with the graphic component. I enjoyed the comedy and fantasy and look forward to more.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this in advance.

Teenaged river goddesses Chelsea and Olympia decide to investigate when people who attended the same BBQ as them start reenacting characters and moments from fairy tales. They discover everything is tied back to a beautifully illustrated fairy tale book that actually has its origins in late 1890s London.

The sisters jump in trying to solve the problem without necessarily thinking of the ramifications of their choices, and end up needing a little bit of help from Abigail and some help from the descendant of an artist who disappeared in late 1890s London.

Chelsea and Olympia have always been pretty much fun-loving and irresponsible, and they start out that way, but seem to have gained a little bit of responsibility by the end of this story.

The Rivers of London comics do a great job of further fleshing out the Aaronovitch-created magical, contemporary London and side characters that I’ve come to love over the terrific novel series.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Titan Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I just reviewed Rivers Of London Deadly Ever After by Ben Aaronovich as an advanced reader copy thanks to @TitanBooks and @NetGalley.

Olympia and Chelsea are causing mayhem. The daughters of Mother Thames have accidently broken an enchantment and now illustrations from a mysterious 17th Century book of fairy tales are coming to life in the 21st Century. The results are not pretty. With Peter and Nightingale busy on another case Olympia and Chelsea recruit the foxes to help ‘put the genie back in the bottle’.

Returning to the Demi-monde of London is always a pleasure and this particular tale is no exception. I love the Rivers of London world; where Mama Thames and her tributaries are personified and traverse the streets of London, where the natural and supernatural interact and are policed by Peter and Nightingale in their specialist department of two, aided by foxes and family members alike.

These graphic novels do not just allow us to ‘nip in and visit’ between novels but allow for story and character arcs that enrich the series; and allow character development for those who may otherwise be reduced to side notes.

Deadly Ever After once more perfectly marries the exceptional story telling skills of Aaronovich with the illustrations of Cartmel, Beroy and Llorach giving us yet another quirky, witty adventure through Aaronovitch’s alternate London.

I will never stop loving this series.



#DeadlyEverAfter #RiversOfLondon #Aaronvitch #Cartmel #TitanBooks #NetGalley

I had not read this series before, and didn't realize it was part of a series upon requesting (oops!). It was a fun and entertaining read, though I would have loved it more with some background knowledge of the series. The artwork was fantastic, and a fun read!

A nicely illustrated story plot that I am sure will continue with its series. The characters have both the pizzazz and spunk to solve their problem. Definitely worth picking up.

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for giving me the opportunity to read this!

Its always hard to review a series that has been going on so long especially one where I am in love with the world. I will always love the Rivers of London books and the Graphic novels are a great edition. This is volume 10 of a graphic novel series that also contains 10 novels and 3 novellas. It is not a good starting place if you don’t know the series. I would suggest starting with the novel Rivers of London.

What I really love about the Graphic novels is they allow us insight into the stories of various side characters, that we don’t get to explore in the novels or novella’s. This edition focused on Chelsea and Olympia. Peter and Nightingale don’t feature at all being tied up with a case (maybe we will read about that later?)It was great to see them out on their own, we haven’t had a chance to learn much about them in the books other than their proclivity for throwing underage, underground parties. I particularly liked the twisted fairy tale aspect. The mystery itself wasn’t too taxing but I liked that. It set the level for what Chelsea and Olympia are capable of and shows that Abigail is beginning to outshine them in her magic studies.

One thing I did find a little confusing was what age they were meant to be, I always thought they were in their early 20s but from the context in this particularly in their bedroom I am now thinking late teens? But there was also a point where Abigail felt older than them and she is in her mid-teens. I just felt that aspect of them was a little muddled.

Over all it was a fun little short story in the world of the folly, filled with all the same humour you have come to expect from the series and great artwork.

Horror and fantasy readers should be no stranger to Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series. What has been called an “urban fantasy police procedural,” Aaronovitch created a best-selling world based around a magical division within London’s metropolitan police that has created somewhat of a stir. Dozens of books later, Aaronovitch seems in no sign of stopping, and his newest edition to this series is Deadly Ever After, a dark fantasy set within Aaronovitch’s world.
The book centers around Jeter Day, a Victorian painter and illustrator who created magical illustrations that often got him in trouble. There are mysterious circumstances revolving around Jeter’s death, unsolved to this very day. When daughters of the river goddess Mama Thames, Chelsea and Olympia, break open the spell capturing Jeter Day and release him, he insists upon receiving a fairy tale happy ending for himself and his heirs, at any cost. Using the magic and symbols of fairy tales, Jeter Day leaves a trail of destruction, leaving Chelsea and Olympia to solve this mystery and keep London safe.
Rivers of London: Deadly Ever After is a fun addition to what is already a clever take on urban fantasy. The graphic novel takes the classic horrors of Grimm fairy tales and modernizes them into a series of iconic crimes in a way that is clever and intriguing. The mystery aspect of this graphic novel, as well as the parallel stories between Victorian Jeter and his modern day ghost, will be sure to engage readers, even if they have no previous knowledge of this world. The story is dark and compelling, and fans of dark fantasy, especially fairy tale horror, and mysteries will surely enjoy this graphic novel.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher’s for allowing me to be able to read and enjoy this graphic novel. I’ve read a lot of graphic novels before and this one really stood out. The story line is great but the art work is out of this world.

An interesting twist on fairy tales which includes a family of witches, a ghost and some funny (and some disturbing) twists on fairy tales. I enjoyed the art, ad especially liked the protagonists being strong black women, as so few are seen in fantasy stories.

I adored the Rivers of London stories but alas this wasn’t for me. I think I’ve realised that I just don’t have the attachment to these side characters and it just cannot hold my attention unfortunately.

(Also mentioned in other reviews. The HUGE and very bright watermark made this very difficult to read.)

I absolutely love all of the Rivers of London books so I was looking forward to reading this.

Sadly, I was unable to read it on my e-reader due to the format and when I tried to read it on the NetGalley bookshelf app, the writing was incredibly small and there was a large red TITAN COMICS watermark across every page, which often got in the way of the speech bubbles, so I was unable to finish it.

I hope to get the opportunity to read it in a more suitable format in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you for a copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adore the Rivers of London series so was really excited to read this as I'm not necessarily the biggest comic fan. Unfortunately the format was not suitable to read on my e reader so I used the net galley app but it was so small to read on my phone it took the enjoyment out of it somewhat. That being said I love the world that Ben Aaronovitch has created and loved getting to know different characters more. I would recommend reading these in order as I feel like they would make more sense which is exactly what I'm going to do

Didn't feel very connected to this. Requested it without realizing it's book 10 in the series, obviously my bad. However reading through the story moved quickly without a lot of details to tie in character, I was often left questioning exactly what was going on. Aside from the very sexualized twin characters, seemed unnecessary. Don't feel like I'm your target audience for this installment.

Additionally a large watermark over each page is very difficult to read with the chosen font. Ended up using Adobe reader on my desktop and it was still a strain on my eyes.

**Thank you to Titan Books, Titan Comics, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

Illustrations Review
As in previous Rivers of London graphic novels, Deadly Ever After is illustrated in a realistic manner. Expressions are captured in genuine ways, and the uses of magic are displayed in a style that you could almost see them happening around you. The talent in the drawing is admirable and easy to become absorbed in, despite some very challenging panels within the story.

Story Review
The whole Rivers of London cast is full of memorable characters, and even those that only crop up on the odd occasion leave their mark. Chelsea and Olympia are not my favourite characters but it was interesting to see the story of this magical world told from different perspectives. We’re used to seeing things from Peter’s point of view, and sometimes Abligail’s, so this made for a refreshing take on things.

The twins are more than a bit entitled, yet their strength of character shines through here, and it’s clear they want to do the right thing, especially when it comes it correcting their mistakes. When they need to lean on others, it is done somewhat with cap in hand, as they are well known for being in the middle of trouble. They make for interesting protagonists, and really drive your interest in what they have to say, which is all you can ask for in lead characters.

When it comes to the fairy tales coming to life, they are done so in typical Rivers of London style: it is both entertaining and vivid. The amusement connected to the side of the events, especially with the Frog Prince in this instance, takes the edge off things such as dangerous attacks, and this is a balance that is always struck well with this series. This graphic novel was no different, and I’ll be interested to see the next one.

I've never read anything from The Rivers of London series, so I didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be a satisfying read and I didn’t felt I was lacking information, even though I am sure I would love it more if I had some prior relationship with the characters. I really enjoyed the artwork and the twist to classic fairytales. The plot is interesting and has a good pace, so I found it to be a quite fast read. I plan to read more from the series.

My Thought:
First, this is such a beautiful, old-timey, intriguing cover. The art style is like the comic books I remember. reading when I was young. This story is part of a series of supernatural detectives who police the world/universe/time continuum? This is the first book I read in this adaptation series, so the main characters of this series do not show up as key components of this particular story, however, it seems like the characters are in the present, but also have been around for centuries.

This story is about two sisters, Olympia and Chelsea. Although they are daughters of the river goddess, Mama Thames, they are not the crime fighters. In fact, it seems like others expect them to screw up, so they are trying to clean up their mess and the fallout from their mess. Their "mess" actually starts when the sisters are "camping" and reveal a magical tree to another camper. That break in magic starts a series of odd transformations in the other campers who live out fairy tales in real life.

It takes two foxes who are witness to the human shenanigans to then find the sisters in the city and get them to reach out for help and then fix their own mess.

I was able to finish this on the plane home (40 minutes) so this series will appeal to comic book readers who like the idea of a mystery series that finishes at the end of each installment.

From the Publisher:
Illustrations from a mysterious book of fairy tales drawn in the late 1800s are coming to life in the 21st Century and causing havoc. The illustrations were originally painted by a Victorian artist called Jeter Day who disappeared one night in an enchanted forest when he was spirited away by tree nymphs never to be seen again…

Now, with the enchantment accidentally broken by Olympia and Chelsea, daughters of the river goddess Mama Thames, Jeter, twisted by his time spent with the nymphs, has returned to our world bitter and resentful. It is a world he neither recognises nor likes. All he wants is his life returned to him and woe betide any man who stands in his way.

With Peter and Nightingale busy on another case, it falls to sisters Olympia and Chelsea with the help of the Foxes to stop Jeter and save the day.

Publication information:
Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Illustrator: José-Maria Beroy

Publisher: Titan Comics (January 24, 2023)

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

Maybe I didn't get into this story at all because the watermark of the ARC and me being forced to use the Netgalley Shelf app to read this graphic novel on my not so big phone so super exhausting. Or maybe it was because I didn't really know the characters and didn't care for them? This felt like a weak spin-off with cameos by characters from the main series. I also don't really enjoy how overly sexualised all the river goddesses are in the way they are depicted. It's exhausting.

2 stars maybe

I hadn't read any of the London River series before, but after some research I saw that you didn't have to read the whole thing and that you could read this book on its own. But after my experience, I wouldn't recommend doing it that way.
Even with the summary and some more research, I found the story confusing, it was a bit chaotic at times and I couldn't get hooked on the plot. I didn't find the characters likeable so it was hard to empathize with them...

Despite that fact, there were some good ideas, I loved the few modern jokes (especially the one about Hunger Games) and I liked the drawing style!