So how many years has it been since the last Ben Aaronovitch Doctor Who related book? Wikipedia tells me it was 1995 when Also People was released and 1997 when So Vile A Sin was published (with Kate Orman). It’s a long time to wait for a book by an author with the writing class of Aaronovitch. 
 
I read Transit, his first Who novel, when I was 18 turning 19. And I’ll be the first to admit that I had no idea what was going on. When I re-read the book many years later I realised how simple the plot was and how cool the characters were and how the book sort of just… well… ends. But it didn’t really matter because the writing style sort of carried you across the line.
 
The Also People was always a much better book for me. The writing was more relaxed and so was the pacing. The characterization was great. The plot was interesting but not really that important. And the book sort of just… well… ended. But it didn’t matter because the writing was so damn fine.
 
And Genius Loci… well lets just say that not very much has changed. Aaronovitch still writes a mean sentence, his characters are great and his book sort of just… well… end. But you somehow feel satisfied by the whole thing anyway.
 
Genius Loci is set well before Benny Summerfield ever met the Doctor or became a resident of the Collection. In the story she’s 21, still figuring out what sort of person she is. She’s gone AWOL from the Army (still, I believe, in the middle of a horrid war with the Daleks, though the enemy for copyright reasons are never mentioned) and she’s jumping from planet to planet pretending she’s an archaeologist.
 
So yeah, you could call Genius Loci Young Indiana Benny, but just cooler with more swear words and lesbian sex.
 
So anyway, Benny finds herself on the planet Jaiwan, working as the Director of an archeological dig. There she meets Professor Ankola, Chay, Heidi, Simone, Pilar and Shawnee. The Professor knows that Benny is a fraud, but isn’t too bothered – as long as Benny does her job.
 
It takes about 40 or so pages to really get into the swing of this novel. The early stuff is good, but every scene seems to last about eight lines before jump cutting to something else. It’s as if Aaronovitch was in a hurry to get through the introductions, but unfortunately it means that it’s hard to get a handle on the book in the early stages.
 
But once you become accustomed to the characters and intricacies of archaeology, there’s plenty to like about Genius Loci. Aaronovitch delights in making this a book about the science of archaeology and the complexities that come with it. For Aaronovitch everything is about context, only through context can we understand the make-up of a culture, their art, their philosophy, their religion, what they ate and who they loved. But more then that, Aaronovitch raises some interesting questions about what can happenswhen we dig so deep that we unveil some truths that no-one wants to hear or see. Archaeology might seem like a real cool thing to do, until the uncovering of one artefact means the dispossession of an entire people.
 
I making the book sound like an academic text. It isn’t. There’s some fun stuff here. Aaronovitch is a funny bloke and through Benny you get plenty of that wit and charm and smugness and alcoholism we know so well. There’s also plenty of running around and shooting and explosions and tight escapes. And we get introduced to a bunch of really well rounded and interesting characters.
 
And Aaronovitch fills in some of the gaps in Benny’s back story. It does help if you’ve read the New Adventures stuff – especially regarding her father – but it’s not crucial. But it’s all handled with much subtlety and care and doesn’t impede the story.
 
Oh, and there’s a hint of some lesbianism later on in the book, but I’ll let you, dear reader, discover that for yourself.
 
The books major problem is one Aaronovitch seems to be making a habit of (if you consider three novels to be a habit). That is, Genius Loci seems to lack an ending. Oh, there’s a conclusion of sorts, but it’s one of those “connect the dots on your own people” type of endings. It’s as if the plot is never that important to Aaronovitch. He knows he needs one, otherwise the book would collapse in on itself, but buggered if he’s going to spend time developing it fully.  And that’s fine, I don’t think we needed to see the full resolution, but just on the level of catharsis it might have been nice.
 
Genius Loci might start a bit wobbly, and it’s ending might lack a certain oomph, but once you reach page 208 you’re really sad it’s all finished. I really hope there’s another Ben Aaronovitch book around the corner (it doesn’t have to be a Benny one – the Prisoner one will do if it ever comes out), because this guy can write and I can’t be bothered to wait another ten years.
 
If you’d like to buy Genius Loci, you can purchase it at: