 |
| List Price: $6.50 |
|
Our Price: $5.20 |
|
You Save: $1.30 (20%) |
| | |
 |
|
Product Description
You can find anything in the Nightside--if it doesn't find you first. John Taylor is not a private detective per se, but he has a knack for finding lost things. That's why he's been hired to descend into the Nightside, an otherworldly realm in the center of London where fantasy and reality share renting space and the sun never shines
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customer Reviews: - Humor, Mystery, & Magic = Good Read
If you enjoy a hardboiled mystery in a magical world or read Glen Cook's PI, you will enjoy this first book in the series. Reading is the only safe way to visit the Nightside unscathed.
Every city has a neighborhood that is unhealthy to visit. In the bowels of Londaon sits the Nightside. Any pleasure and vice is available. Lives, even souls, are bought and sold. Magic, time, and space hold sway as people, aliens, and gods visit the Nightside. Visitors come from the past to the future, and from across the universe.
John Taylor, the protagonist, is a hardboiled private investigator with a magical gift to always find things and people. He takes a case to find a runaway hidden in the Nightside. Born of a man and something more than female, John Taylor swore he'd never return to the city of perpetual night. Once a major player, he returns "home" and powerful enemies want payback.
With humor, wise cracks, street smarts, and powers that even he does not fully realize, John Taylor might find the girl inspite of the array of enemeis. In the Nightside power is the only coin that matters. Many want John dead and will use absolutely every means, and then some, to kill him.
Enjoy your visit but don't stay long....more info - Interesting start to a brilliant series
So far I have read books 1 and 2, and am eagerly looking forwards to the rest of this series.
Simon Green was a favourite of mine with his Blue Moon/Hawk and Fisher novels, but I only recently learned of these Nightside series.
Without giving too much of the plot away, this is an interesting, page turning book I have really enjoyed. The main character, while hard boiled, is authentic and easy to follow. The book flowed well and was easy to read, not becoming stale or boring at all.
I would highly recommend this for mystery and paranormal fans alike.
...more info - Excellent premise, poor execution
I'll say one thing for Simon R. Green: he's got ideas. Nothing in here was clich¨¦ or repetetive, although there was enough of the familiar to make me smile. His Nightside contains beauty as well as horror, which is something most urban fantasy and horror writers can't seem to do. His characters were fresh and original, and I'll be following this series with interest.
That being said, the main problem I had with this book was too much damn diologue. He was striving for a sort of gritty realism, and no hard-edged private investigator is that long-winded. There are literally three or four pages on end of him yammering on, being Mr. Exposition, only punctuated occasionally by the literary version of reaction shots. Plenty of passages that would have done fine simply as a part of the narration are declaimed, at lenght, by John. If I were Walker, or Joanna, or Razor Eddie, or any one of the other characters, I would get pretty bored having him tell me things I already knew, for the benefit of an invisible audience, for what would amount to minutes on end. Just for fun, I tried speaking out the little speech he gave about Walker near the end, which ended up being almost four minutes at normal speed. Four minutes of blathering on about something that is already common knowledge. If this was just regular narration, I wouldn't mind. In fact, a lot of it sounded like narration, not regular speech. People just don't talk like that, especially PIs with a reputation for terseness. It detracted from the overall atmosphere, in a big way....more info - not enough meat for a book
There is enough material in this book for a short story and it would have been better in that genre. In the first one hundred pages practically nothing happens that could not be summarized in five, and the author's lack of imagination for description is stunning. He is absolutely unable to show, he can only tell us what we are supposed to be thinking.
After our cardboard cutout main characters visit the future the pace picks up, testifying to a greater talent for plot than for characterization or setting. Unfortunately, towards the end of the book the author lets us down in that area as well - we find out nothing about Taylor's past or about the true nature of the enemy.
This was my first experience with Mr. Green's work and I suspect it will be the last one....more info - Fantastic!
I'm a big fan of Green's work, both sci-fi and fantasy. While the Nightside series is not what I would call a challenging read, the environment is so good that I can't bear to put the books down until I'm done. The para-world of the Nightside is so surreal and at the same time so recognizable as our own internal landscape that Green must be seen as one of the great world creators....more info - A nice fill-in while waiting for the next Dresden Files book to come out.
I picked this up as something to read while waiting for the next Dresden Files book to come out. I was prepared to be disappointed but was pleasantly surprised. While not as deep, detailed, or thought provoking as the Jim Butcher series, this book did grab my interest from the first few pages. The story is light, quickly paced, and surprising. You never know what is going to turn up on the next page. It took only a few hours to finish. While similar to the Dresden storyline, there are enough differences to keep you interested. The book mostly takes place over the course of one day. The story is told in first person like the Dreseden Files and the main character is funny, self-depreciating, but I never quite developed a bond with him. Maybe after a few more books when we get to know him better. I do plan to continue with the Nightside series. However, due to the short length of the book, I doubt I will pay full price, even for a paperback, and will look for bargain prices prior to purchasing the next one....more info - Fantastic! Haven't enjoyed a book this much in a LONG time.
I absolutely loved this book. Read it in two sittings.
Fast-paced, full of colorful, extremely likeable characters that I found myself genuinely caring about.
The writer keeps coming up with new ideas and creative supernatural concepts - the book is full of hints for things that will develop later on. Indeed, there's a great sense of continuity and an ongoing storyline which renders me incapable of waiting to get my hands on the next in the series (I wanted to go buy it now, but Barnes & Noble closed early for Christmas...)
Anyway, the book contains many mysteries that will be developped in the future, and it reminded me of the Buffy and Angel tv shows. I don't wanna give anything away, so I'll just say there is a LOT to look forward to.
The book is also full of humor, and the main character, John Taylor, always has a funny or tongue-in-cheek retort ready.
To conclude, an absolute crowd pleaser. I couldn't have asked for more....more info - A deliciously mean London
My brother turned me onto this series and I'm glad he did. The characters are bad, even when they're good, and the circumstances our hero finds himself in are both creepy and clever.
A good read, which I've read again and again....more info - Amazing setting, floppy plot, dated female
I read this, the first Simon Green book I've encountered, on a plane flight.
The setting - Nightside, London's evil twin - was amazing, with shades of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. I wanted to stare as I got off the train, too. The protagonist, a private eye with supernatural powers and a Nightside past, was a good series character. These two things carried the book for me, and I may look for more in this setting.
What put me off was the cliched characterization of the woman client, Joanna. She reminded me of a James Bond girl, and felt very dated, as though she'd come out of a time-slip, too. I actually checked the publication date to see when the book was published.
The plot didn't quite hold the book together. The set-up was pretty good: he has to go into the Nightside to find a runaway teen. But the bit that felt like the climax - a time-slip into a grim, empty, post-apocalyptic London - wasn't. It was just an interruption, and one that trivialized the actual climax when he finds and rescues the teenager.
It felt as though all the elements were there, but they just weren't properly arranged. I'll probably look for other Nightside books by Green. The weaknesses of this book might not carry over to others in the series....more info - Hard-boiled Nightside
I picked this book up wanting a spooky but good book-something not too terrifying. Something from the Nightside, was not particularly spooky, but it had some really good twists. I totally loved the beginning - it was a cross between hard-boiled detective and the X Files, two things I really love.
The first part of the book was the best for me. Taylor, the detective takes a case that leads him to his homeland, The Nightside, and half of the fun was the journey there.
It was a huge lead up that once there, wasn't always satisfying because some of the action took a few pages to get to. That door just beyond, came with a page or two of atmosphere sprinkled in with too much dialoque at times for me. I guess I get impatient.
I would recommend this book for a jaunt to a hidden place and relatively fresh place. This story is at times very interesting but at the same time lacks something - sometimes the characters were a little too introduced and I would have been happy to learn of their history or why they were the way they were by observing them instead of delving into their personal story as a lead in.
All in all, the action was good - the story kept me interested and it took only a day or two to read the book so it was entertaining. I would recommend a short trip to Nightside, I just wouldn't want to stay there too long....more info - KN Reviews: Novels of the Nightside
?? Green's novels of the nightside are absolutely wonderful works of urban fantasy fiction. Four novels in this series have been released thus far, all averaging about 244 pages. They are a fairly fast and extremely entertaining read telling the story of the main Character, John Taylor. The books are written in first person past tense and set in a 'world' called the nightside where it is always 3am and you can sell your soul for any kind of pleasure imaginable. Creative, witty, and sometimes a little playful (but not too much) the novels make me think of Piers Anthony's Xanth, if Xanth had been a dark, twisted world and Anthony had a macabre sense of humor.
?? John Taylor, the main character, is a private eye specializing in finding things. He literally has a private eye, one he can open and find anything. This power only works in the nightside, but anytime he opens it, his enemies (and he does not know who they are, but they have been hunting him since he was young) pick up on his presence like his gift is a homing devise. He as quite a reputation, some of which is true, some not and it gets him into trouble, or sometimes out of it, but it is the fact that some of it has nothing to do with him so much as that he is his mother's son. A mother he never knew and no one will tell him about.
?? One big case is covered in each book, but underlying tensions build up higher and higher running through out the series. This is not a book for those looking for romance and happy endings, so far there has not been one to happily end with boy gets girl, though in the final books it might end with boy destroys world. The fifth book, Paths Not Taken Is due out in September 2005, and he is working on a sixth book in the series as well. I highly recommend these books to anyone who likes (or is willing to try) a little witty horror....more info - from a book worm
I read this book by simon r green, its great. its a detective fantasy. a sort of parallel world, a city in a city. the main charaters a private eye with great narative. though hard to imagine with an english accent sinces its "off"set in london. nightside is a cool place with gods demons and everything in between. hes got a gift to find things and a mystery about himself his mother wasn't human and big hints on what she is are pretty strong that its a big deal and could hold heavy problems in the future. its a neat world were anything is possible and your friends are razor eddie the punk god of the straight razor and shot gun suzie kicks the doors down and blows the place up. fun and suspenceful go get a copy....more info - Urban Noir meets dark fantasy
Since this is the eightieth review of this book I can surmise that you have probably looked at quite a few other reviews here on Amazon about this introduction to Simon Green's Nightside. A short synopsis of this tale is that London has a diabolical and devious twin that is always shrouded in night and is filled with twisted and perverse magics, wonders beyond recogning and people like John Taylor, a man shrouded in mystery, with a father who was human and a mother who was something else. He has a gift, a talent, like so many others in the Nightside, but he has chosen to leave that world behind for the more benign trappings of our world's London, where he has become a private investigator.
When Joanna Barrett comes to him asking for his help finding her daughter, who has run away into the Nightside, John decides to go back to the place he abandoned five years previous, where there are those who would kill him and others who believe that one day he will come into great power.
Outside of the Garrett files, I have not read much in the way of fantasy/noir. I have enjoyed the Garrett files tremendously and while this series has a few slight similarities it is distinctly different. I am interested in diving deeper into this genre and will be reading more of Green's Nightside series. I found this story to be interesting and fun, with some intriguing characters that we stumble upon in John's quest for Joanna's daughter. Razor Eddy and Shotgun Suzie brought some spice to the story. The places, sights, and sounds were vivid and the author did a solid job of pulling you into this new realm.
I did grow weary of the constant refrain of "in the Nightside" which John and other's repeat incessantly when stating how incredibly different it is than our world. I can almost hear the overly melodramatic music in the background every time it is said. After a while I wanted to just nod my head and tell the author "I get it, this is a dark and wonderous place where our normal rules don't apply. Why don't you let the story reveal some of its magic on its own?" I do realize that we are coming in off the street as it were and a bit of narration from a Nightside native certainly helps but that element just seemed a bit over done.
The story here is fairly simple with some twisty elements at the end which I enjoyed but newcomers to this series should understand that this story serves mainly as a introduction to the Nightside and the mysterious past of John Taylor rather than a meaty, indepth mystery. ...more info - Borderlands meets Neverwhere rip off
I'm blown away by how unoriginal this book is. It's not like Nightside is reminiscent of other, much better, stories. It just a blatent "borrowing" of stories already created. Everyone's already mentioned Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. To me, it's so much like the Borderlands series long ago created by Terri Windling, but given a Neverwhere twist. Borderlands even includes the novella Finder about a suspiciously similar character.
To make things worse, whatever isn't borrowed is so boring! As so many have already said, the author is so repetitive, superficial with character and description. And the dialogue is laughably unnatural! By the last half of the book, instead of being involved, I was rolling my eyes and groaning with every page. I could barely force myself to finish it. I was so bored and disengaged.
As another reviewer here says, this reads more like a pilot for a (bad) tv series than a well-written, fully developed novel. There's so much tediously, awkward exposition instead of plot. There's a part towards the end where all the momentum and action stops so Taylor and Joanna can take a breather at a terrible recreation of a sixties cafe. It seems like the author was unable to otherwise work reams of background information into to the rest of the story so the whole uncomfortable scene was shoved into place. By that time I was ready to throw the book across the room.
If this was a tv show I'd be thinking, "maybe it doesn't get good until several episodes in." But this first book is so deeply flawed, I'm not sticking around to find out how much better or worse the series gets....more info - Welcome to the Nightside, hope it doesn't kill you
The Nightside is the black magical heart of London, where it's always 3:00 AM and anything may be had for a price.
Private detective John Taylor was born in the Nightside, of a human father and a mother that was something else, he's not sure what. As a result of that ancestory, Taylor has powers, including being able to find anything. As another result of his ancestory, Taylor has enemies that have been trying to kill him since childhood.
Five years before the novel opens, Taylor left the Nightside for the mundane world. Then a client waves a lot of money and hires him to find her runaway daughter, who's disappeared there. So Taylor goes home.
The story is told in flat, Hammett-like style that some of the reviewers didn't like, but I did. It fits the hard-boiled private detective genre this novel uses, while setting off the constant comic throwaway lines Green hands the reader -- 'A Neanderthal in a business suit was talking with a dwarf in full SS regalia.' A backpack nuclear bomb displayed in a shop window: 'Probably defective, have to supply your own plutonium or something. Otherwise, somebody would already have bought it.' Taylor and his client walk down a street, and find themselves in the future: 'Timeslip. Those things are supposed to be posted!' Or a man who stinks so badly, he attracts flies 'Every once in a while, one got too close, and the stench killed it.' An alley that can't always be found, because the alley doesn't want to be associated with a business located there. The reviewers who didn't find this funny are suffering humor impairment.
The setting is brilliantly realized: cars in the street, plus things that look like cars, many of them hungry for pedestrians; Strangefellows, the world's oldest bar; a street gang that consists of demons; the ghost of cafe from the sixties, where the Coke tastes better; the place the Timeslip takes them to, which makes the Nightside look cheery and harmless; the Harrowing, nameless beings without faces, and hypodermic sryinges for fingers; and the place where the runaway girl finally is found.
Taylor hunts for the missing girl, encountering old friends and old enemies, though sometimes he's not sure which is which. But regardless of what he encounters, he won't stop till he's done the job he was hired for.
This is the first novel of Green's I've read, and I'll be reading more as soon as I can get them. There are three more in the "Nightside" series, as well as other series by Green I intend to check out.
I like this book a lot. Highly recommended....more info - Fun Read!
I loved Something from the Nightside. It is not too heavy, not too light, needs a bit of brain working to catch all the nuances, but can be a great story regardless.
The character of John Taylor promises to be a lot of fun to follow, and I will definitely be adding Green to my permanent collection of books that I will read and re-read often!...more info - Superficial story for *very* light reading
Having just read the Man with the Golden Torque (pretty good book by the way) by the same author I was interested in reading more of his work and came by this series. The story and characters really have a lot of potential for being really good. I like what the characters could be though the bottom line is they never really reach their potential.
John Taylor is a Private Eye who has a gift for finding things when he's working in the inner heart underground supernatural world of Nightside which he has of course exhiled himself from for the past 5 years. He's down on his luck when he's approached by a woman with a daughter who has been missing for a month. The whole book is really a prolonged search for the daughter while explaining all the wonders and terrors of nightside. This is what all the conversations are about including 5 minute explanations for every person that John Taylor introduces to his client.
The bottom line is it's not a story with characters that you can connect with because there really isn't anything deeper to them than what's on the page. But if you really want a 30 minute read to pass some time and like the neon noir urban fantasy scene you're probably going to like this book. I'm just hoping that he digs a little deeper in the following books....more info - Excellent mix!!!
My hats off to Simon R. Green. He is quite the story teller. Being a fan of sci fi, horror, and fantasy, this series is right up my alley. He is a genius when it comes to blending all three elements together, calling up elements H. P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Beirce, Roger Zelazny, Edgar Allen Poe and yes, even Frederick Dannay/Manfred Lee. This book is first in a series I highly recommend reading. It's about a private detective who works on cases that delve into "otherworldy" places. The characters are vivid and unique...to say the least. There's plenty of action, adventure, and all kind of creepy crawlies to boggle your imagination.
It's like a cross between Clive Barkers fantasy books, Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles, and Ellery Queen novels.
Go out, buy it and read it!...more info - Finding boredom, in the Nightside
This book just isn't very good. Generally, the writing is lazy, the characters two-dimensional and uninteresting, the plot rather dull and lifeless. But these are not it's biggest fault.
My biggest problem with life, IN THE NIGHTSIDE (read the book and you'll get that particular phrase crammed into your eyeballs so many times, you'll see it when you're asleep) is that it just isn't that cool a place to visit. The writer seems convinced that what he's writing is so unbelievably original that the reader will be spellbound by all the otherworldliness. But it's almost all stuff we've seen before.
Talking horses: oh wow, what imagination! Demon street gangs: incredible! Evil faceless bounty hunters from beyond: groundbreaking! Even the final, terrifying evil is something I've seen before (in a far more interesting episode of The New Outer Limits)
I don't need my all fantasy to be startlingly new or original. Not every book has to recreate its mythos from the ground up. But when a writer as wholly unimaginative as this tries to pass this off as something new, it just falls flat. I'm amazed Jim Butcher liked this. The Dresden Files, which I'm not even a big fan of, are so much better.
To top it off, the novel, while short, isn't even really a story. More like a pilot for a television series.
A really dull television series, FROM THE NIGHTSIDE....more info - Every Bit as good as Jim Butcher...
The landscape of the Nightside is everything Jim Butcher fans have come to love but more. A vivid world where you'll experience more monsters, more character angst, and much more raw violence. A quick exciting read that you will not want to put down....more info - Reads Too Much Like "Neverwhere" Without the Same Punch
Something from the Nightside looked at first glance to be akin to one of Neil Gaiman's electrifying modern fantasies, but it lacks the raw power and emotion of Gaiman's work. Green's world is dizzying, and the conclusion of this novel is hard to understand and interpret. He never defines the rules of magic in his world, either, so the reader questions every supernatural act, wondering, "Could that really happen?" Good fantasies allow you to suspend your disbelief, but "Nightside" just reinforces your doubts.
I could forgive Green many of his offenses if it weren't the utter flatness of his characters. They are cold and lack emotions. I doubt even Green himself knows much about them, or cares, so he cannot expect much from the reader, either. Furthermore, the novel leaves you with a confusing ending that raised new questions without ever answering the old. Perhaps Green did this in an effort to hook readers for the entire city, but it left a decidedly bitter taste in my mouth. Please, don't bother with "Nightside". Read "Neverwhere" instead....more info - I wish I read the (negative) reviews first
I don't normally write reviews, but this one needs a warning label. Since I bought Glen Cook's and Jim Butcher's series, Amazon thought I would like this. Seems fair enough -I'm always up for a Pulp detective fantasy set in a darkly fantastic London.
I didn't expect something this awful. Wow. Thin plot "episodes" loosely strung out. Character de-development. Partially digested "world-building". The sheer volume of clumsy exposition. What editor gave this the green light?
When I finished the book, I couldn't help seeing some potential. With a bit of extra work, this novel may have been funny in that way a lurid sci-fi novel from 30-40 years ago is, sort of. I guess the best thing it left me with was a feeling that if Mr. Green could sell this, I should start penning my own half-baked ideas. Maybe this was a sign from above! A sign that either I am destined for greatness or maybe that I should read reviews first.
I suspect the latter....more info - Fast and fun, fans of Butcher should try this series out...
This is the first book of the Nightside novels by Simon Green. I think as of now there are 12 planned books for this series. The most recent book is book 7 "Hell to Pay".
I read somewhere that this is Simon Green's homage to the detective stories of old. I suppose that is a good description of this book but with a lot of twists.
The main character John Taylor is a finder, he can find things, anything. When Joanna Barett shows up requesting that John help find her daughter Catharine, John accepts the job. The only twist is that rumors are Catharine has been seen in the Nightside; the twisted evil center of London. John fled from the Nightside 5 years ago to save his own life. For some reason though the return back there feels like home to John.
This book was a fun and quick read. I liked the character of John Taylor; he has a lot of depth and some interesting abilities. There is a lot of history hinted at in John's past that will make some interesting fodder as the series continues. The descriptions of Nightside are very dark and horror-like. I would classify this book maybe more as a horror novel; although it still is part of the alternate reality fantasy genre. Some parts of this book reminded me of the Sonya Blue series; although this book wasn't quite as vicious as those books were.
There was a ton of well written action, some fun twists and surprises. This book is not for the faint of heart though as all the gore in the action scenes is visited in ...well...gory detail.
My only complaints with this book would be that 1)It was a really short book and 2) sometimes descriptions got a bit wordy and kind of took over the story. Otherwise it was a great book and I look forward to reading the next one in the series....more info - It's P. EYE, not PI.
Demons and monsters, tricksters and hell shadows, the Nightside welcomes any and all that can stomach its wares and allurements. But beware, one misstep, and you're as good...as...gone.
Not that PI John Taylor would agree or disagree--entirely. He would heartily with some toe-curling tales, and then some. But as interesting a place this harrowing world of pure evil and good evil and everything else inbetween, is, this small stretch of Hell that resides like a parallel universe in the middle of London will eat you alive. Just for fun.
So when a moneybags real world Londoner, Joanna Barrett, steps haughtily into his office, what he's asked to do, gives him a great deal of pause. His gift? He can FIND anything--any. thing. And Joanna asks for a very simple request and enough money to keep his pizza cravings in check. Find Cathy, find her only daughter who has a tendency of running away anyways, but this time, it's different. This time, she isn't referring to some scary backwoods of London.
Pauses, considers, sure he does. But the fear and warnings ringing in his head are not enough to say no. But it's been five years since he last stepped foot in that place, running like a bat out of Hell (literally) and death threats at his back. But Cathy's situation is unique. As they dig deep-deeper, he's finding out that little Cathy didn't just `accidentally' wander in, like most, but that she's been summoned. And John's having one hell of a time figuring out how, who, and most importantly why.
As the strangeness of the world encloses around Joanna, it's like old times for John. Not happy, but familiar. And he's not just a stranger among thousands, because even among the most ruthless and downright scary, he's a legend--with more enemies and vendettas to make Al Capone look like a jolly ol' saint. But all is not right with the Nightside as some unseen and well-protected Major Player is making moves that's got even the Authorities, the watchmen of the Nightside, scrambling to contain this new foe. But why Cathy, and what's John done, that would make him worth killing? If that's even what's this is all about, mind you.
While the first of this series has an interesting hook (and is a fairly brief, simple read), Green's very uncomplicated style and equally bland telling of it tends to read more like a movie script, with a deadpan sort of delivery and with so much repetition, it'll put your teeth on edge. On film or comic book format, visually, it would be stunning. As a result of the lack of depth, humor, wit and dull articulation of the main two characters or the action itself, this book lacks personality, emotion, more or less, that essential element to really suck you in. It's not a bad thing, but for me, I like a bit more. While introspection can get out of hand, there is none, and sometimes I wondered if I even liked the characters--and I found Joanna somewhat molded out of a stock-lock-barrel character, whose only purpose is to help John explain this crazy world. I'm not sure Green really thought about the presentation of his characters, or if this was the way he actually wanted it. Scary, that. Everything is just flatly stated, with little grace or even fluidness. The Q&A format in the dialogue was tedious and uninspiring, as well as overwrought with clich¨¦s, cheesy bylines and repeating phrases. The ending wasn't too bad, there is one moment you won't expect, but it spiraled into the usual closing of most horror/sci-fi/fantasy tales.
It's imaginative, this Nightside, and I get that this is the introduction so I'll wait to throw the ax. Empty calories? It might feel like to some, and to me, it did. However, the concept of a world without rules, where everything is mixed together, and mixed up, is managed quite well. This book IS a unique find. Green isn't afraid to mix genres or concepts and blends them together effortlessly. It's not a confusing world to get caught up in, even if the writer can't write. Yet Green allows the reader to visually conceptualize this world as you see fit, and I suppose, to a degree, the evocativeness of the characters.
Hit or miss, problems run amuck, but despite that, I like the Nightside, and I'm willing to offer a pint of blood, to see how our unlucky PI, with his special Private Eye, sloshes through. ...more info - The Nightside is My Side
Something from the Nightside by Simon R. Green is a wonderful new start in a series on Private Eye, John Taylor. The man with a gift for finding things. In this case, the usual wayward daughter of a rich client. Without having to repeat the synopsis that has been well described by previous reviewers, the book is a fast read and thoroughly enjoyable that gets better with each passing page. Suspend disbelief and let the story take you on it's journey that is part comedy, horror and adventure. Some parts are a little cliche but these are "send ups" that make the story fun and enjoyable. Sort of like a Twilight Zone on acid. The various odd characters (like the Collector and Shotgun Suzy) are fun and memorable, and we'll learn more about them in the succeeding novels. Enjoy!...more info - Nightside realy delivers
This is a very good book. Filled with Supernatural horror, action, and suspense. Mr. Green effectively creates a sinister,Gothic place and atmosphere surrounding the characters in this book! plenty of action and elements of some science fiction. ...more info - Interesting and Different
This novel tries to be a bit mystery and a bit horror. Detective novel mixed with scary things that go bump in the nightside. I have to say that there isn't much of a plot here. The premise is that a detective is hired to find a missing daughter who is said to be in the nightside, a scary place that our main character said he would never go back to. He travels to the nightside, takes the mother from one place to another, meeting one interesting character after another. I say interesting because that's what they are supposed to be, but I got bored after the second or third person was introduced. There is nothing special or scary about the people in the nightside as far as I can tell, so this novel didn't do much in the horror aspect. Events unfolded nicely one after another with no real mystery, so I would say it failed as a mystery novel. There was a nice twist at the end, and potential for a continuing plot string, but if this series continues to be this trivial I will have to quit. As an introduction into a world this book acts like a boring tour guide. If you look over there you will see Switch Blade Sam, and to your left is Back Hand Bob, behind you is No Nose Nancy. The idea of a scary area inside of London is decent, and the mystery surrounding the main characters mother and his powers may make for good future novels. A decent and different story, worth trying....more info - A Waste of Good Paper
After ordering a book in the very entertaining "Garrett" fantasy detective series by Glenn Cook, I was given the link by Amazon to this work by Simon R. Green. The premise sounded so entertaining, and I enjoyed the series by Cook so much, that I enthusiastically ordered "Tales from the Nightside" along with its sequel "Agents of Light and Darkness". Unfortunately, this proved to be an utter disappointment.
Firstly, the charactersin "Tales" are utterly unbelievable and trite. There is not a single character, monster, event, or concept that has not appeared in other books of fantasy. Its as though Green borrowed all of these from other works, but did a more sloppy job than in the originals. Secondly, the story is simply so poorly written that it is impossible to suspend disbelief and get into the book. As an example, the main character Tailor, tells his female client that the oh-so-mystical and oh-so-terrifying secret fantasy world of the Nightside exists right under London and has always been there. When he brings her to it, it takes her all of two seconds to unquestioningly accept it with zero skepticism or even questioning if there is not a logical reason for what she is seeing. I would love to meet someone like this and discuss Florida swamp property with them. As another example, every single scene is so overblown and so exaggerated it is impossible to credit. Tailor lived in the Nightside for some twenty years before returning with his client, and yet every time something new happens, it is always "the most frightened" he has ever been, or always "the most dangerous" creature he has ever encountered. What will happen in the next adventure..will it be "the second most frightened" he has been, or "the second most dangerous" creature? Lastly, and perhaps most annoyingly, was the poor description in the book. He tells us over and over about how terrible and frightening the Nightside is, and really seems in love with the idea, but never really describes the place or let's the description tell us how bad it is. It's like the reader has to take his word for it, and can't get the idea from just reading the descriptions in the book.
For fun fantasy/detective work try Glenn Cook. For a much more entertaining secret world under London, try Neverwhere by Gaiman. I am not going to bother reading the second book in the series I bought at the time, but will see if I can sell it on eBay.
...more info - Nearly Perfect
I can't fault the story or the writing. The main character is compelling. Why did I give it only four stars? This felt more like an hors d'oeuvre than a novel. I've read inflight magazines that were longer. Green's Deathstalker books are of a proper, novelistic length. Maybe he decided he needed a vacation with this series; all I know is that I felt grossly disappointed. Cheated, to be precise, by pithiness bordering on theft....more info - Potential lost - My negative review
Ok, so I stated this book with a smile on my face. The aforementioned comparisons to Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe are accurate enough, and I thought the idea of a pulp, comic book type hero invading the world of modern fantasy sounded like fun. The book's beginning is very tongue and cheek, with dialogue that sounds like it's been pulled from "Max Payne." It's a pretty entertaining read until about halfway through.
Basically, the novel reads like a rehash of either Neal Gaiman's masterpiece "Neverwhere," or Edward Lee's visually distressing "City Infernal" but with characters you never grow to like past the point of thinking "oh, that's an interesting power." There are a few god awful attempts at romantic interludes with a proclamation of love that an adult film star could do more convincingly, and the scenes are set up in "now walk down this street and encounter the next occurrence" order.
All of these things I found annoying, but nothing compared to sheer overuse of the title in the book. The word Nightside can be found at least four times a page throughout the entire read. It's as if Green thinks it's the greatest thing ever invented. He must get paid every time it's printed. He uses it where it could easily be substituted for other words, lessening the insane repetition. He uses it where it really doesn't make sense to have it at all, like the end of a sentence where the idea has already come across. This constant overuse ended up bothering me more than all the novel's other failings.
So, If you want a better version of this book, check out "Neverwhere," and if you want an X rated version, pick up City Infernal" it's pretty good too, (although the sequel is terrible.)...more info
|
|
